USF Can't Achieve Greatness If Branch Campuses Run Amok

[Drewski]

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/11/na-usf-cant-achieve-greatness-if-branch-campuses-r/

The state Legislature made a mess of the University of South Florida's governance when it granted virtual independence to the St. Petersburg campus. Now USF leaders are about to make the same mistake with the Sarasota-Manatee and Lakeland campuses.

The USF Board of Trustees later this month will be presented a recommendation that the two campuses move toward earning independent accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools by 2012. The accreditation would allow these campuses to be nearly independent of USF's main Tampa campus.

This would be a grave mistake.

USF should have learned from its St. Petersburg experience that letting a branch campus go its own way is a costly distraction, one that undermines the university's primary goal of gaining membership to the prestigious Association of American Universities.

The independent accreditation allows the branch campuses to largely set their own agendas, do their own hiring and promotions, set their own admissions standards and run their own fundraising - without much regard for the concerns of the greater university. The arrangement creates more bureaucracy and expense, since each campus must support independent operations.

Creating these hybrid institutions may boost hometown politicians' egos, but they don't help students or taxpayers.

Nevertheless lawmakers have already directed the USF Sarasota-Manatee campus to seek separate accreditation, and USF officials believe the Legislature will do the same with the Lakeland campus this spring.

This is unconscionable, particularly given the immediate crisis in Florida higher education, where dismal financing and overcrowded classrooms threaten quality.

The bigger concern for USF and other state universities should be holding their ground, not launching expensive bureaucratic exercises at fledgling campuses still in need of buildings and professors.

It's time Tampa's legislative delegation stepped in to protect USF from further erosion.

St. Petersburg, at least, existed for 40 years before it sought its own accreditation two years ago. But already SACS has put the school on warning status for six months for failing to comply with two standards on student competency and academic achievement.

SACS is strict with newly accredited institutions and now resources that might have gone toward academics must be directed toward clearing administrative hurdles. It is unlikely this would have occurred had St. Petersburg remained under the main campus' authority.

USF administrators also should remember how the St. Petersburg campus' library leadership fought reporting to Tampa, though such a library system hierarchy is necessary for USF to achieve AAU membership. The St. Pete branch has shown scant interest in helping the university meet that goal.

The Lakeland campus is still in its infancy. Established in 1988, it serves just 2,000 students - which makes it smaller than many Florida high schools. It's ridiculous for officials to consider separate accreditation, which would require an enormous investment of limited education resources.

USF President Judy Genshaft has a solid plan to develop Lakeland into a polytechnic university on the Florida High-Tech Corridor between Tampa and Lakeland. But once Lakeland has its own independent accreditation, its leadership could go in any number of directions, without regard for the greater university's goals.

It makes sense for USF to have branch campuses that serve undergraduates while the main campus focuses on research. It doesn't make sense for each campus to set its own agenda.

To achieve its ambitious goals, USF needs to maintain a single vision and a coherent structure. It won't if each campus becomes a separate fiefdom. The plan should be dropped or USF should simply cut the campuses loose and rid itself once and for all of this distracting academic tribalism.

[EduBull]

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2008/jan/11/na-usf-cant-achieve-greatness-if-branch-campuses-r/

I agree.  Create a structure that will all sail in the same direction, and keep the politicians out of academia.