An rendering of the planned UT expansion site. | Courtesy of Houston Business Journal
UH has developed a case of little brother syndrome — feeling inferior to a bigger, seemingly superior university. In this case, it’s the University of Texas and its proposed expansion into Houston.
The Board of Regents even approved a statement in November opposing UT’s plans, described by UH law professor Michael Olivas as a Trojan horse that Houston should not let inside its gates.
This Trojan horse is threatening, and The Cougar Editorial Board understands that. UH has been numbed by the numerous comparisons to other public state universities in the state. In UH’s mind, it’s the only one that matters — a fair point made by a university that is on the brink of national recognition for numerous programs.
But, on the other hand, UT has every right to expand into Houston. If you think about it, UT has 14 institutions in its system scattered all around the state, and the closest thing they have to a hunting ground in southeast Texas is UT-San Antonio, about 220 miles west of UH.
It makes sense that they want something closer to the coast, a gateway into bringing potential students from the Houston-area as well as from Louisiana. UT has every right to expand their uber-successful system. But as Cougars, it stings a little — even if you were a dead-set Longhorn from birth.
UT is one of two universities in the state that receives money from Permanent University Funds, a metaphorical bucket of wealth meant to fund higher education within the state.
But UH doesn’t.
The Higher Education Coordinating Board hasn’t approved UT’s expansion, a breath of relief from anyone rooting for UH.
Ultimately, being the head of a university is a business. President and Chancellor Renu Khator is our CEO, just like System Chancellor Bill McRaven is UT’s. Their jobs are to divide and conquer.
Both systems are doing that well by focusing on gaining more possible alumni within their ranks. This expansion business is dog-eat-dog. What UH has to do is prevail over any possible road bumps and dodge any cattle that may stand in its way.
With strong alumni support shown by a petition started by the UH Alumni Association, UH could come out on top of this waiting game. All it needs is for the state to see what UH has accomplished in the past couple of years and rule in its favor.
Sure, UT has the means to build wherever it wants, but what it doesn’t have —what it will never have — is UH’s valor.
— The Cougar Editorial Board
Does it seem odd to anyone that this rendering of UT proposed pure research facility has athletic fields ?
completely uninformed and classless article written by a ut hack posing as a UH journalist. It has nothing to do with little brother syndrome but i really don’t feel like going into length explaining it to you. I am guessing it would go over your head anyway based on the unprofessional ism of this opinion piece.
completely uninformed and classless comment written by someone who isn’t intelligent enough argue their point. If this article was written by a “ut hack”, then why are they on the UH staff editorial board? Why would you feel as if someone who graduated from a more prestigious university would be incapable of understanding your explanation? You say you don’t feel like it, but in reality you can’t explain it because you’re not intelligent enough. I think you’re just mad because of your inferiority complex…
yeah burt that is it. lol
All details can be pretty easily researched so if you want to know what rules ut has broken then just do it. The truth is ut will probably buy their way out of the mess they have made but in now way can they put a campus when the same amenities they have expressed this close to another public university. And your last sentence pretty much explains who you are and your motives. The University of Houston is an unbelievable campus that offers a great education and with some of the finest programs in the country. I don’t think there is an”inferiority complex as you suggest from everyone opposing this expansion. There is a reason ut lied when purchasing the land and what they really want to build in Houston. They know UH is building something pretty special.
Why UH doesn’t have access to the PUF is puzzling to me. It is, to put it lightly, unfair that UT is able to use its incredible state granted funds to encroach on a city that already has a well established public education system in place.
It’s baked into the state constitution that UT receives generous state funding. I’m surprised Texans don’t know how funding for their state’s flagship university works.
Sorry, my DeLorean is in the shop for a malfunctioning flux capacitor.
And I understand that it was one of those things that was incorporated into the Texas constitution when the universities were established, but the state’s constitution is amended all the time. Sure, the legislators who set up the PUF could have never anticipated the growth of several other state universities in the time since its inception, but aside from aside from Mayor (then city council member) Turner’s failed petition to the state in 2013 to reallocate part of the PUF to UH there doesn’t seem to be any serious attempt by anyone in the current day legislator to amend other schools into the PUF.
I expect there’s won’t be any successful “attempts” anytime soon to upgrade the PUF. I suspect that’s because there would be too may feeders to that trough given, as you note. the “growth of several other state universities in the time since.” it was established. Yes, Texas’ is by far the most convoluted and over-amended state constitution in the U.S. Sorry for your capacitor.
It is the year 2016 afterall!
And that’s true, UH could never expect to be given access to the PUF without many other state schools being granted it as well, and it would absolutely dilute whatever state money guaranteed by the fund would eventually end up at our campus, but it is arguable that the Permanent University Fund was set up originally to help subsidize UT and A&M as they were getting their start and didn’t have the means to grow on their own. Well, I think it’s safe to say that with the other sources of state funding and the massive alumni support both those schools have they don’t need as much state subsidizing especially under what the PUF guarantees.
I guess what is interesting to me is that underneath the weight of a constantly changing Texas constitution, the state still has the propensity to hold some of its most antiquated amendments near and dear.
“…the state still has the propensity to hold some of its most antiquated amendments near and dear,” while introducing equally useless ones based on kowtowing to special interest groups and corporate greed.
Welcome to Texas. Where your vote counts…for absolutely nothing.
Before I begin I am an alum of the University of Houston (Spring 2013). Now with this tidbit out of the way here are some thoughts:
1.) To respond to Organite and others who are somehow confused as to why UT and Texas A&M receive funds from the PUF and NOT UH. Its rather than simple…when UT and Texas A&M were founded (before Houston became what it is and UH wasn’t even on anyone’s mind) the State of Texas set aside funds and land to support these two institutions.
The government at the time did not foresee Texas growing to the extent it did and as such wanted to develop two institutions with two separate purposes. UT to educate the best and brightest of Texas and Texas A&M to provide an agriculture and engineering education to Texans.
2.) Why UH alums and admins are up in arms over a UT campus in Houston is puzzling. I for one welcome a UT in Houston because it allows students who are unable to gain admission to UT Austin (various reasons why and a topic for another time) and have access to a brand name that UH lacks outside the state.
If UH admins wanted to prevent such a move maybe they should have focused on academics and raising the admissions standard. Maybe they should have focused on improving the academic rigor (or rather lack of) and show the state that UH is on par with the likes of UT and Texas A&M.
It instead focused on athletics and diversity. Now that UT wants to push into Houston, the admins at UH feel threatened as they know that a significant pool of students from UH will reconsider and attend UT Houston instead.
If this occurs UH is not too far from becoming another TSU, an institution solely created to appease the blacks within the community who do not have the academic discipline to gain admission to a more prestigious institution.
In closing, whether anyone likes to admit it or not UH does NOT have the brand recognition nor the academic rigor of UT or Texas A&M. This fact was made very clear to me when I had an opportunity to interview of an internship at Goldman Sachs and not a single interviewer had heard of UH (they did of Texas A&M and UT).
There is a reason why UH only seems to attract companies like Reynolds & Reynolds and other bottom tier “companies” instead of firms like JP Morgan, Adobe, Facebook, KKR, and others.
Advice to the UH admins and alums is to focus the attention not on a UT campus in Houston but on improving UH academically and preventing your students from being robbed on campus.
Go Coogs
What started off as well-researched comments, turns racial for the wrong reasons, sir!
The institution that morphed into the current TSU, which starred as a “colored junior college,” history dates back to “February of 1946, Herman Marion Sweatt, an African American Houston mail carrier, applied to enroll in the law school at the University of Texas. Because Texas was one of the segregated states, Sweatt was denied admission and later filed a suit against the University of Texas and the State of Texas with the support of the NAACP. In response, believing the separate but equal doctrine would carry the day, the Texas Legislature passed Senate Bill 140 on March 3, 1947, providing for the establishment of a Negro law school in Houston and the creation of a university to surround it. This bill was complemented by House Bill 788, which approved $2,000,000 to purchase a site near Houston to house this new college and support its operation.”
The white man’s segregation is why there is a TSU (from the start, as a Jr. College), not because of aptitude!!!
Fact Check all information; PUF was researched, why not TSU?
For future reference, though I appreciate you addressing my concerns a direct reply ensures I see it.
My response to your first point can be outlined in my reply to another comment in this thread:
“I understand that it was one of those things that was incorporated into
the Texas constitution when the universities were established, but the
state’s constitution is amended all the time. Sure, the legislators who
set up the PUF could have never anticipated the growth of several other
state universities in the time since its inception, but aside from Mayor
(then city council member) Turner’s failed petition to the state in
2013 to reallocate part of the PUF to UH there doesn’t seem to be any
serious attempt by anyone in the current day legislator to amend other
schools into the PUF.”
Your second point about academic rigor is very debatable especially in the case of UH versus UT/A&M. According to gradeinflation.com UH is the 11th hardest grading school in the country, and many of UH’s undergraduate programs are overtaking its older brethren in programs of a similar nature. I may be a bit biased here, but from what I can tell, the biggest thing the UT system (or A&M for that matter) has going for it is age and name recognition; not necessarily quality of academics.
Now, the reason that it’s not healthy for UT to put a fully functioning campus in Houston is because it is literally putting two established, state funded schools at odds competing against each other which is against the Texas Commission of Higher Education recommendation to prevent duplication of public education services. UT putting a campus in El Paso or San Antonio or even Dallas (with UNT in Denton being like 40 miles away) is great because it opens up good public education opportunities for students who would otherwise have to travel very far or front the additional expenses of living on campus to attend, but to say that there needs to be a UT campus in Houston 4 miles away from UH where we are establishing our own educational foothold putting our own satellite campuses around the state is well beyond what many would consider duplication of services. This due in remembrance of course to the fact that UT admit to using funds from the PUF to purchase the land on which the system proposes to build which is actually only supposed to be used to improve facilities on existing institutions.
At the end of the day, it just seems like UT doesn’t care to play by the rules, and no one seems to care because it’s UT.
This is funny and so incredibly ignorant and naive.
2.) I for one welcome a UT in Houston because it allows students who are unable to gain admission to UT Austin to have access to a brand name that UH lacks outside the state.
So people are clamoring for the UTSA and UTEP name brand? You won’t be getting UT-Austin in Houston. You will be getting UTEP, UTSA, UT-RGV.
As a UH alum of 1971, I can say I’m not and most alums I know have never been “scared” of UT but rather resentful that they seem to have a different set of rules to play by