The University of Vermont’s latest proposed re-invention of itself — what it calls its “Spires of Excellence” vision – is complicated, a bit convoluted, and, somewhat controversial.

One might think it’s hard to voice harsh opposition to a proposal that is not yet fully formed, not to mention one that so far has been described in the blandest of bureaucratese, as for example: “will build to the highest levels feasible for the area the capacity to secure external, often highly-competitive, funding for the long-term sustainability of the program, including grants for national research centers…that address critical societal issues…)

Still, the “Transdisciplinary Research Initiative” recently unveiled by UVM has aroused some opposition from the faculty, especially those who think their piece of the pie may shrink.

Which is not to say that the dissent is inspired merely by turf-protection. It is also inspired by the fact that college professors are genetically predisposed to complain.

The above is description, not condemnation. First of all, turf-protection is the default reaction everywhere – in academia, government, business, religion, and, in all probability, the Kiwanis Club. Furthermore, nobody – at least nobody who has a good gig – likes change.

Besides, scholars should be “aginners.” Like reporters, their first reaction to every new proposal should be to look at what may be wrong with it. It’s the lower-class version of what literary critic Lesley Fiedler called the novelist’s duty to shout “No, in thunder,” to respectable social norms.

Essentially, what UVM’s administration wants to do is concentrate on a few areas that transcend the customary academic subject departments in an effort to make the university a leader in selected fields. The chosen “spires” are biological science, complex systems, culture and society, environment, food systems, neurosciences, policy studies, and public health.

As Domenico Grasso, vice president for research and dean of the graduate school, put it “If we want to truly distinguish ourselves and be considered among the very best, we have to be strategic and focused in our allocation of resources. In the past, we’ve tried to be all things to all people. Identifying spires of excellence is the path we need to pursue to become truly exceptional.”

A reasonable outlook especially in the context of the realities of public higher education these days. State universities get less money from federal and state government. That means they have to get more from private grants and tuition. So they have to “market” themselves, both to students and their parents (especially upper-income parents) and to businesses.

By concentrating on the sciences, with their greater appeal to businesses, and aspiring to “excellence” in certain fields, UVM hopes to appeal to both sets of “customers.”

Makes sense. On the other hand, it also makes sense to wonder whether the realities of public higher education these days is really desirable, a question which requires a quick trip back in history.

Like most major social transformations, the growth of public higher education didn’t just happen. It came about because of government planning, a pursuit Americans sometimes try to pretend does not exist. The post-World War II G.I. Bill allowed hundreds of thousands of men to go to college. The 1947 “Truman Commission” report (“Higher Education for Democracy”) paved the way for state and federal policies dedicated to the then-radical notion that college should be available to all qualified students regardless of income.

So for the next few decades, tuition was low, faculty jobs were plentiful and secure, and millions of students were educated. As a result, the United States had more highly trained technicians, engineers, and managers than any country in the history of the world, one reason it became richer than any country in the history of the world.

About 30 years ago, government policy changed, executing a partial but substantial reversal. Government funding dropped, tuitions went up, and so did dependence on private grants. Outside of the sciences, faculty jobs became both scarcer and less secure. State Universities had to be more enterprising to thrive, making it harder for them to be “all things to all people.”

The reasonable question that some faculty members are raising now (and some public officials might raise soon) is whether, assuming it makes this “spires of excellence” transformation, UVM will still be enough things to enough Vermont students.

For example, the concentration on science, especially health-related science, enhances the likelihood that a UVM-educated physician or PhD will one day become a world class researcher, perhaps helping find a cure for a terrible disease. That researcher will, in the words of acting Provost Jane Knodell, be “making a difference in the world,” which is the goal of “Spires of Excellence.”

Great. But will the university still be a good place for a Vermont student who wants to become a family practitioner in his or her home town? That could be considered “excellence,” too, and, in its own way, “making a difference in the world.”

What some professors fear is that the fields with less glitz (and less revenue-attracting potential) — Greek and Latin, theater, English literature, even pure research science (Dennis Clougherty, chairman of the physics department, is a leading dissenter) — will suffer as more of the University’s scarce resources flow into “the spires.”

UVM insists that this will not be the case. But it is pretty much what the administration of President Daniel Mark Fogel just did with athletics – dropping the baseball and softball teams to concentrate resources on its de facto “spires of excellence: — basketball and hockey.

State universities have always been places where elitist and egalitarian values met, collided, compromised, and co-existed. This proposal to tilt UVM not just toward the elite, but toward selective elites, is in its early stages, and likely to be altered by public opinion, politics, and of course, the complaints of professors. They’re good at it.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 26th, 2009 at 12:15 am and is filed under Schools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.