As the state's universities are bracing for a potential 10 percent funding cut, Gov. Rick Perry was asked by a Houston Chronicle reporter about the reductions. His answers riled some, who believe they are misleading and show Texas' top official doesn't have a grasp of how research universities such as Texas A&M work.
In the interview printed last week, Perry was asked about layoffs and buyouts of experienced faculty. He was quoted as saying, "We're laying off professors because there was a huge hiring increase that went on in the mid-2000s and these people are not even in the classrooms teaching our kids. I totally support that concept. Reductions in personnel that are nonessential at universities is good fiscal management."
Perry's campaign did not dispute the accuracy of the comments. A spokesman said Perry is a supporter of research universities, noting that he signed legislation last year that promotes the creation of more top-tier research universities in Texas.
"Just like families, and businesses, and corporations throughout the state, universities have to make the difficult decision of where their resources are being spent," said Perry spokesman Mark Miner. "Those resources should be in the classroom. The goal here is to educate students."
Perry -- who appoints the members of the state university systems' governing boards -- is devaluing the role of a major research university, said Peter Hugill, the head of the local chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
"He really seems to have a very limited understanding of how Tier One research universities work," said Hugill, a faculty member and former head of the geography department. "Much of the reason that A&M operates as efficiently as it does is because a large number of faculty bring in a large amount of money in research grants."
On the layoffs and buyouts, he added, "It's not deadwood that's being eliminated."
Huge hiring increase?
Faculty hiring in the Lone Star State over the past decade increased only slightly when the rise in student population is factored in.
From fall 1999 to fall 2009, the number of full-time equivalent faculty members at Texas public universities increased 33 percent, to 23,205, according to Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board data. During that time, the student head count increased at the state's public universities by 31 percent to 532,226.
When counting only the highest-ranking university teachers -- full professors -- the increase was only 5 percent over the decade, to 4,603, meaning there are fewer professors in Texas universities per student than in 1999.
Texas Tech, meanwhile, saw a slight decrease in FTE faculty members over the decade, even while the student population increased 24 percent, to 30,097 students, according to the data.
Perry's statement about a "huge hiring increase" is more accurate if the state's only two major research universities were on his mind.
Texas A&M increased its FTE faculty 23 percent, to 2,676, while increasing its student population only 12 percent, to 48,700. That was by design. The faculty reinvestment program, spearheaded by former Texas A&M president and current U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, boosted faculty ranks by 450 to decrease class sizes and ramp up research prowess. At the University of Texas at Austin, the number of FTE faculty increased 26 percent, to 2,857, while the student population only increased 4 percent to 50,995.
Bob Strawser, Texas A&M's Faculty Senate speaker, said the faculty reinvestment program helped the university in ways not captured by those numbers.
"It doesn't take into consideration the learning that takes place outside the classroom, in the labs, and the work with the doctoral students," said Strawser, a business professor. "That has increased over the same period of time."
Who would leave?
The governor is inaccurate in implying that it's these new hires who will be let go or take a buyout. In fact, the new, young hires aren't being let go and are not eligible for a buyout. At Texas A&M, a minimum requirement for all colleges is employment at the university since 1995. The reinvestment program was unveiled after Gates became president in 2002.
The University of Texas at Austin's College of Liberal Arts, which this month unveiled a buyout program, also has a mechanism to ensure recent hires aren't eligible: The faculty member's age and years of service to the state must add up to at least 93.
In addition, contrary to Perry's implication that the people being laid off "are not even in the classrooms teaching our kids," the faculty members who would be let go are disproportionately just that: those who teach more than conduct research.
According to initial budget-reduction plans at Texas A&M, tenured professors -- who conduct research in addition to teaching -- are safe from forced position eliminations, which fall entirely on non-tenured faculty members whose efforts are more often dedicated solely to the classroom.
The initial plans indicate a direct impact on the classroom, including the loss of 200 course sections just in the Mays Business School, and larger class sizes or fewer course sections throughout the colleges.
"I would agree that if they're non-essential, they shouldn't be here in the first place," Strawser said. "But some of the people that we're laying off are essential."
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