Time to liberate our universities

Discussions in the Alaska Dispatch News surrounding the University of Alaska Anchorage, University of Alaska Fairbanks and University of Alaska Southeast and the statewide University of Alaska clearly show a fundamental misunderstanding of the university system.

There are four major academic units in the system. Degrees are granted by the units accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. These are UAA, UAF, and UAS. Colleges within these three universities are also accredited by discipline-specific accrediting agencies. Engineering, nursing and business are examples.These accreditations are campus-specific and not transferable. Faculty qualifications are a major driver in gaining and maintaining accreditation. Without accreditation your degree means nothing.

The fourth major academic unit, UA statewide, is an administrative unit whose original function was to support the board of regents in developing policy and strategy at the highest levels. UA has no faculty, no students, no contracts or grants, no accreditation, nor degree-granting authority.

UA statewide has expanded its scope to include deep involvement in day-to-day operations of the degree-granting units. This micromanagement limits the ability of the three chancellors to manage their budgets. It is not helpful to have an administration that has no direct knowledge of the day-to-day operation of the academic units making decisions that hinder local response to budget cuts.

[UAF faculty joins UAA's in voting no confidence in statewide leadership]

UAA's budget has been continuously cut for decades. In response to the current economic downturn Chancellor Tom Case and his administration conducted a prioritization effort resulting in discovering ways to increase our efficiency and effectiveness. This initiative is an example of functional shared governance. There is another program under way, UAA 2020, that has goals aimed at further increasing our efficiency and effectiveness. The extremely competent leadership at the helm of UAA has the support of the faculty, staff and administration.

Strategic Pathways, the statewide plan, is neither strategic nor is it a pathway to success. Instead it is a wasteful and unnecessary distraction from the important work needed to accommodate budget reductions. To date there has been no cost justification for any of the phase 1 changes in spite of numerous requests.

If Alaskans need savings, look to the UA statewide's budget. UA statewide administration presented the following budget numbers (Approved Operating and Capital Budget, Campus Summary, Page 10) for the major academic units for fiscal year 17: UA (statewide administration) $58.8 million, UAS $55.8 million, UAF $469.6 million, and UAA $313.6 million. Oregon provides the services of UA statewide for about $29 million, half the cost of UA. We estimate by creating a shared services agreement between the degree-granting academic units and cutting UA statewide we can free up $25 million and reallocate that to student support, teaching and research or return it to the state.

[University is on a pathway to decline]

Last weekend an opinion piece looked only at the state appropriation to UA's budget and stated the budget is below the proposed savings. However, UA statewide also receives another $40 million, mainly from the other academic units (e.g. intra-university $13.4 million, student fees $1.5 million, university receipts $8.3 million, and other sources). Other states have reduced central administration and saved money while putting the decision-making power where it belongs, in the hands of the university campus leadership.

We should be looking for ways to save the state money and that is what the faculty is attempting to do. When 47 percent of the faculty leave in three years the replacement costs are huge. When the central administration has a larger budget than UAS, generates no revenue, and produces no graduates that is a problem.

In a well-functioning organization the board and CEO set policy and strategy and delegate the operational implementation of the policy and strategy to the people responsible for doing the work. The administration, faculty, and staff at UAA, UA, and UAS are competent and qualified professionals. It is time to empower them and hold them accountable to do their jobs. This can be done by reducing the size of UA statewide's central administration and eliminating the command-and-control model of central administration. This reduced role would get them out of making operational decisions and return them to supporting the regents in creating strategy and policy. This will free the leadership at the respective campuses do their jobs.

Frank Jeffries is a professor of business administration at the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The views expressed here are the writer's and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a piece for consideration, email commentary@alaskadispatch.com. Send submissions shorter than 200 words to letters@alaskadispatch.com.