PASCU Reaches Out to the Two
Candidates for Governor in the November 4, 2012 Election
On August 25, 2014 PASCU delivered identical packets of information to
the Campaign Offices of the two announced candidates for Governor of
Pennsylvania—Gov. Tom Corbett and Sec. Tom Wolf. That same information was delivered that same
day to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and the Republican Party of Pennsylvania. And in the next few days, that same
information will be sent to the College Democrats and College Republicans at
the fourteen PASSHE Universities, and will also be posted on the PASCU website
at http://www.pascu.net/.
PASSHE is the 14-University system of taxpayer-supported institutions of higher education that includes Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities.
The purpose of PASCU’s outreach to the two candidates
is to invite each one to make their individual cases for support in the
upcoming election to the “Majority Stakeholders” at the 14 PASSHE universities.
Background
The Pennsylvania Association of State Colleges and Universities (PASCU) is a non-partisan, non-profit association whose mission it is: “To ensure that the statutory purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania as specified by Act 188 of 1982: ‘High Quality Education at the Lowest Possible Cost to the Students,’ is indefinitely preserved and faithfully delivered.”
PASCU was founded in June of 2012 as it was becoming abundantly clear that the statutory purpose of public higher education in Pennsylvania, cited above, had neither been preserved nor delivered since 2002. In fact an analysis of official PASSHE data, which I carefully conducted, showed that:¹
a) Half the gains in educational quality delivered to PASSHE students by the Board of Governors (BOG) during PASSHE’s first 18 years of existence (1984 to 2002) were subsequently undone by the BOG in the subsequent 11-year period (2002 to 2013); and,
b) The BOG isn’t providing a PASSHE education at anything like “the lowest possible cost to the students.” Financial aid packages for students across America average 51% grants and 42% loans, while financial aid packages for students at PASSHE universities average 27% grants and 65% loans.
Key Questions about Pennsylvania “Public” Higher
Education
Two key questions include these: 1) Who pays? And; 2) Who Decides?
Many people are surprised by the answers to those questions:
a) 75% of the cost of “public” higher education is paid—not by the State—but by the students, parents and alumni donors at the 14 PASSHE universities—i.e., by the “Majority Stakeholders.” (In particular, students and parents account for 70% while private donors account for 5%.)
b) 25% of the costs are paid by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania—the “Minority Stakeholder.”
c) But the 25% Minority Stakeholder controls 100% of the 174 governance seats on the boards where all key decisions affecting the Majority stakeholders are made; and
d) The 75% Majority Stakeholders control 0% of the 174 governance seats on the boards where all key decisions affecting them are made!
This huge Funding/Governance Disparity has been called ‘Privatization Without Representation,’ and is an “un-American” travesty of justice that demands redress. The Majority Stakeholders at the PASSHE universities currently have no voice in exchange for their 75% funding share, but PASCU aspires to become the voice of PASSHE’s more than 700,000 individual Majority Stakeholders.
Pennsylvania Voters will Elect a Governor
on November 4, 2014
In eight weeks Pennsylvania voters will decide who our Governor will be
for the next four years.
Each candidate is associated with one of our two major political
parties: Democrat and Republican.
But for PASSHE’s Majority Stakeholders—the Students, Parents and
private donors, primarily Alumni, who now pay 75% of the cost of
education—party politics will be no help in deciding whom to vote for—unless
both candidates agree to be held to account by being asked, before the
election, to provide written answers to questions on whether and how they will
support the issues of greatest concern to the Majority Stakeholders at the 14
PASSHE universities.
The packet of information sent to the two candidates included a one-page Cover Letter,² a four-page Factsheet,³ a two-page Preliminary Statement and Candidate’s Questionnaire,⁴ a one-page Agreement⁵ and a one-page Guidance for Candidates.⁶
Taken together, these five documents represent PASCU’s attempt to hold both candidates accountable when it comes to the serious issues affecting the Majority Stakeholders at the 14 PASSHE universities.
The most serious of these issues is Privatization Without Representation.
“Privatization Without
Representation” is the rapid defunding of public higher education by the State
(the Minority Financial Stakeholder), which shifts the cost of education to the
PASSHE students, parents and private donors, primarily alumni (the Majority
Financial Stakeholders), while the State retains 100% control of PASSHE’s
governance seats where all key decisions affecting those stakeholders are made.
PASCU sees the current disparity between funding shares and governance
shares as a gross injustice in which the appointees of the Minority (25%)
financial stakeholder make all key decisions, while the Majority (75%)
stakeholders now choose zero appointees who would give voice to their best
interests.
To correct that injustice, PASCU is committed to giving the Majority Stakeholders a governance share comparable to their funding share and, in that way, providing the Majority Stakeholders with a proper voice in the operation of the 14 PASSHE universities, a voice currently and unjustly denied to them.
² https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/7328870/pascu-ec-cover-letter-august-19-2014-pdf-172k.
³ https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/7328871/pascu-ec-factsheet-august-19-2014-pdf-384k.
⁴ https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/7328872/pascu-ec-preliminary-statement-and-questionnaire-august-22-2014-pdf-283k.
⁵ https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/7328873/pascu-ec-agreement-august-22-2014-pdf-169k.
⁶ https://www.keepandshare.com/doc/7328874/pascu-ec-guidance-for-candidates-august-22-2014-pdf-165k.
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