The UH Faculty Senate hosted Mayor Bill White and former UH Chancellor William P. Hobby, who spoke on research and Proposition 4, at its meeting Friday.
White said universities need to have freedom to research, and that higher education is one of the few jobs where security and tenure are the most valuable parts of employment.’
‘ ‘[We need] a university having the sheer capacity to do research and have people with the freedom and understanding’hellip; to do it,’ White said. ‘Part of that has to do with the freedom to pursue their thoughts and their dreams without someone looking over their shoulder.’
White also said the value of faculty has been diminished by pay cuts, and voiced his disdain for the practice of salary reduction.
‘ ‘We’ll pay you less than you’re worth just so we don’t have to raise the budget.’ White said. ‘We should not create a market system in higher education.’
Hobby was invited by UH President Renu Khator to talk about flagship status in her place as a guest and co-chairman of the flagship status campaign.’
‘I’m not a state employee so I can tell you (to) vote for (Proposition) 4,’ Hobby said.’
The Proposition 4 fund contains about $500 million designated for universities that meet certain goals.
The universities closest to reaching the goals are UH, Texas Tech, the University of Texas at Dallas, the University of North Texas, the University of Texas at Arlington, the University of Texas at San Antonio and the University of Texas at El Paso.’
‘ ‘Houston is the largest city in the United States without a public (flagship) university,’ Hobby said. ‘I hope we can cure that problem.’
The Faculty Senate voted to reject the Task Force on Graduate Faculty proposal that would allow non-senior faculty to participate in graduate education.
The proposal went through both the Faculty Affairs Committee and Faculty Governance Committee, and both committees decided against the proposal. The committees were concerned about the proposal’s effects on doctoral education and its lack of specifics between graduate education and professional education such as law school.
