Hard to feel bad for any higher-ed institutions nowadays. It's clear that degrees are essentially signaling that's captured by outrageously bloated, rent-seeking institutions. I'm completely sympathetic to the idealism that colleges are vital institutions of education, but there's something systemically wrong with college price, criminally so, and the issue isn't just "we're not spending enough."
Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
71–80 of 96 posts
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't think the disparity was expected and doubt the founders would conclude that sparsely populated states with very little economy should lead an entire branch. This is certainly not working.
How about representation proportional to economic activity instead of the quantity of state-ness being one or zero? With guaranteed representation of at least one seat, so the representation turns out to be slightly skewed against the powerhouses. Also note that Puerto Rico and Washington DC earn their seat by virtue of having enough economic activity, rather than by default. "Seats" is senate seats per state; "rep"…
Economic activity would be a bad choice to tie to representation from perverse incentives. It would encourage outright sabotaging other states to preserve power when it would be more optimal to go with national net economic output instead of "best for my region". Essentially the same issues as regulatory capture but worse. It is also why auctioning off positions of power for fundraising would be a terrible idea - it encourages the biggest vested interest to buy it up and exploit it at the cost of everyone else.
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#73Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem with your parenting analogy is that we live under democratic systems, where the voters get to choose how to run things (indirectly, by electing representatives). The voters are all adults. If they want to do something utterly stupid, who's supposed to step in and stop them? Any person doing so would be acting in an anti-democratic manner; usually we deride such systems of government as "authoritarian". So…
A representative democracy, which is what we have, is a good middle ground. If the governor had campaigned on gutting the university in particular to achieve his goal, rather than on a vague promise of "more $" I might be more inclined to agree with you. As it is I think the responsible thing to do is for the legislature to override him on this if possible until the next election.
How exactly did the voters think the governor was going to make "more $"? Create it out of thin air? The voters got exactly what they voted for, and most likely they voted for legislators with the same views as the governor.
You're right though: it is a pretty good middle ground. It results in a state/nation that operates more or less according to the wishes of its citizens. The citizens of Alaska want bigger oil dividends and don't care about university education, so that's exactly what they're getting. Of course, this doesn't mean the citizens are getting what's best for them, but they're getting what they think is best, and if that means disaster for them in the future, it's their own fault.
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
A representative democracy, which is what we have, is a good middle ground. If the governor had campaigned on gutting the university in particular to achieve his goal, rather than on a vague promise of "more $" I might be more inclined to agree with you. As it is I think the responsible thing to do is for the legislature to override him on this if possible until the next election.
How exactly did the voters think the governor was going to make "more $"? Create it out of thin air? The voters got exactly what they voted for, and most likely they voted for legislators with the same views as the governor. You're right though: it is a pretty good middle ground. It results in a state/nation that operates more or less according to the wishes of its citizens. The citizens of Alaska want bigger oil div…
> How exactly did the voters think the governor was going to make "more $"?
They probably had no coherent picture of how that would happen, specific benefits with vague sacrifices is a pretty standard approach to political messaging.
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#75Unpopular opinion: there's probably a lot of fat to be cut and this is possibly the only way to do it. Prediction: The most customer-unfriendly trimming will come first.
That is unfortunatly true but with that cut it will not only be the fat that is cut but also a lot of the meat. UA is already struggling and it needs help. The way to fix is that is not to cut funding from it. A better solution that I heard would be to hold a mass audit of some kind to figure out what people are actually useful.
UA provides an essential service to the state which is basically making and keeping smart people in AK. without UA there would be a severe brain drain and that would really hurt the economy.
One final point UA is NOT a for profit institution and that effects the dynamics of the university. There is not as much pressure to nickel and dime people as one would think.
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
How exactly did the voters think the governor was going to make "more $"? Create it out of thin air? The voters got exactly what they voted for, and most likely they voted for legislators with the same views as the governor. You're right though: it is a pretty good middle ground. It results in a state/nation that operates more or less according to the wishes of its citizens. The citizens of Alaska want bigger oil div…
> How exactly did the voters think the governor was going to make "more $"? They probably had no coherent picture of how that would happen, specific benefits with vague sacrifices is a pretty standard approach to political messaging.
Yes, but it's the voters' responsibility to understand this. They have no one to blame but themselves. Remember, we're adults now, we aren't children in a playground where we can call for adults to set things right when we screw up. The voters have the ultimate power to choose who runs the government, so the results are their own responsibility.
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#77Earlier quoted context omitted.
Cutting the budget by 41% just isn't responsible, no matter how you slice it. The governor is explicitly making this cut in order to increase the oil revenue dividend for residents to $3K per year.
It wasn't the budget that was cut by 41%, just the government's contribution. There's still tuition, bonds, etc.
That is still a huge cut to UA. The quality of education and research will be severely hurt by that cut. Many of the education programs do not make money and that is fine because they provide an important service to the state. That is creating smart people who work in AK rather than leaving AK forever
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#78Earlier quoted context omitted.
The ironic thing here is the presumedly Republican majority (of voters) voting for a guy promising what amounts to a monetary handout. But are typically vehemently opposed to government handouts?
Alaskan politics is weird and doesn't quite track with politics in the lower 48.
This election cycle was also pretty wierd. Our choices were basically a mayor and senator that drove anchorage into huge debt or an unknown republican
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
> How exactly did the voters think the governor was going to make "more $"? They probably had no coherent picture of how that would happen, specific benefits with vague sacrifices is a pretty standard approach to political messaging.
Yes, but it's the voters' responsibility to understand this. They have no one to blame but themselves. Remember, we're adults now, we aren't children in a playground where we can call for adults to set things right when we screw up. The voters have the ultimate power to choose who runs the government, so the results are their own responsibility.
> Yes, but it's the voters' responsibility to understand this
Perhaps, but “X was responsible for understanding that this would be the consequence” and “X was aware that this would be the consequence and actively preferred it” are very different claims.
Re: Blindsided by a Devastating Veto, Alaska University System Pleads for Lifeline
#80Hard to feel bad for any higher-ed institutions nowadays. It's clear that degrees are essentially signaling that's captured by outrageously bloated, rent-seeking institutions. I'm completely sympathetic to the idealism that colleges are vital institutions of education, but there's something systemically wrong with college price, criminally so, and the issue isn't just "we're not spending enough."
UA is nothing like a corporation it is tied to the state. Yes it has quite a bit of waste but fundamentally the institutions goal is to do research and to educate