Does Governor have too much control over universities, industry?

Some complain about politics behind the departure of Texas A&M's president

Collection of articles with Highlights and [bracketed comments] added

[HOT: You might want to read these articles from the oldest first (at bottom) and work your way up.

Homeowner Relevance: With support from the Texas homebuilding industry, the Texas A&M Construction Science Department helped the TRCC replace the implied warranty of habitability with a 1-year workmanship warranty that applied to almost every element of a new home. Extended coverage was limited by warranty exceptions such as soil conditions. Thanks to the Senate's vote to abolish the TRCC, however, the agency and its illusory warranties will expire 09/01/09 with the expiration date of the TRCC Act.

One empty seat, one hot seat

By EDITORIAL BOARD, Austin American-Statesman, 06/17/2009
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/editorial/stories/2009/06/06/17/0617murano_edit.html

The state's great agricultural and mechanical university, one of Texas' tier-one institutions of higher learning, has presented itself with a tier-one problem.

The invited resignation of Texas A&M President Elsa Murano after only 17 months on the job has not been pretty.

We don't claim to know the inner workings at A&M, and we will give a firm nod to the authority of Aggie regents to decide who should be campus president.

"Presidents and chancellors come and go," Gov. Rick Perry, Texas A&M class of '72, said of Murano's demise.

Is A&M better off without her?

"That's yet to be seen," Perry said.

We hope the answer is yes. If not, Aggie regents (all Perry appointees) and Chancellor Mike McKinney (former Perry chief of staff) blew it in forcing Murano out.

So now the pressure is on, and huge, for the regents to find a better president.

Some of that pressure also is on Perry. And it's fair game next time he faces the voters.

"Presidents and chancellors come and go," he said.

As do governors.

Texas A&M regents accept Murano resignation

Regents Monday name R. Bowen Loftin, vice president and chief executive of A&M's Galveston campus, to serve as interim president.

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz (rhaurwitz@statesman.com; 512-445-3604), Austin American-Statesman, 06/16/2009
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/2009/06/16/0616murano.html

COLLEGE STATION — As a political science major at Texas A&M University, Brandon Honore is by definition a student of politics. But that doesn't mean he likes the political dimension of a dust-up that culminated this week with the resignation of A&M's president, Elsa Murano.

"We're a world-class institution," Honore, a senior, said Monday. "And I don't think politics has any place in our leadership. But it has infused itself."

It would be difficult to keep politics out of public universities in Texas. After all, governors get to appoint the regents who oversee the schools, often choosing campaign contributors. And although the regents serve terms that can overlap governors, Rick Perry has occupied the governor's office long enough to have left an imprint.

Nowhere is Perry's stamp more apparent than at A&M, where he was a student yell leader. The governor named all nine members of the A&M System's Board of Regents, and he is also close to several top officials of the campus and the system, including Chancellor Mike McKinney, a former chief of staff for Perry.

During a visit to the Alamo on Monday, Perry said he knew that changes were afoot at his alma mater: "I always keep up with what's going on at universities. I'm generally not in the dark about those types of things.

"When the chancellorship at the University of Texas was being decided, I was in the loop. I think that's part of governing — being in the loop and being knowledgeable about what's going on."

As for Murano, Perry said, "She served well and decided it was time to go on and do something else." He added that "presidents and chancellors come and go" and that "the board makes those decisions."

[HOT: Yeah, right....]

Murano announced Sunday that she was resigning, effective Monday. The regents, meeting in College Station, accepted her resignation and named R. Bowen Loftin, vice president and chief executive of A&M's Galveston campus, to serve as interim president.

The regents also agreed to pay Murano $425,000, which had been her annual salary as president, for a one-year leave, plus a separate payment of $295,000, in exchange for her promise not to sue. [HOT: and to be quiet]

The developments followed the system's release of Murano's performance evaluation, in which McKinney gave her low marks for honesty, integrity, decision-making and being a team player.

Murano said the review was "not based on facts" and that system officials had usurped her authority by, among other things, working out agreements with some faculty members to commercialize scientific and technological advances.

Murano and McKinney also differed sharply on "shared governance," the practice of getting input from faculty members and other university stakeholders before making major decisions on personnel and policies. McKinney had essentially said he takes his marching orders from the regents, while Murano argued in favor of much wider input.

Morris Foster, chairman of the regents, said Monday that he supports shared governance and that McKinney does as well.

The committee that will search for a new president will include faculty members and others with an interest in the university, he said.

As for the governor's involvement in A&M matters, Foster said, "I will be very quick to tell you this governor doesn't tell me what to do."

[HOT: Yeah, sure....]

Ray Bowen, a former A&M president who is now a professor of mechanical engineering, said Perry and his regents have been more hands-on than Govs. George W. Bush and Ann Richards and their regents. Bowen's presidency overlapped the terms of all three governors.

"Bush told the regents, 'Don't try to run the university. Don't micromanage.' This governor is setting different expectations for regents," Bowen said. "That's his business. He's empowered to do those things. I just don't think it's appropriate."

U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, who is expected to challenge Perry in the Republican gubernatorial primary, called the leadership situation at A&M "unacceptable" and said she hopes the Board of Regents "ends the politics involved now."

Robin Smith, a professor of philosophy and a member of the Faculty Senate, said he was encouraged by Foster's pledge to consult with faculty members but added that it's important to keep politics out of university governance.

Robert Bednarz, speaker of the Faculty Senate, said he fears A&M's academic reputation has been tarnished.

And some faculty members rallying outside the Memorial Student Center, where the regents met, held a sign bearing the A&M logo and the words "Absolute Mess."

Murano steps down as A&M president

Though not a surprise, what happens next is uncertain.

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz (rhaurwitz@statesman.com; 512-445-3604), Austin American-Statesman, 06/15/2009
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/2009/06/15/0615murano.html

Elsa Murano's rise to the presidency of Texas A&M University was controversial. Her resignation Sunday is even more so — but it was not a surprise.

Meeting in College Station today, the A&M System's Board of Regents is expected to discuss Murano's decision, issued in a statement, to return to the faculty. She holds a tenured professorship in the agriculture program as a microbiologist specializing in food safety.

What's not clear is how the regents and the system's chancellor, Mike McKinney, will handle the fallout from what appears to have been a forced resignation.

The abrupt departure of a president would be a destabilizing event at any major university, but it could prove all the more so at A&M for a number of reasons:

• Murano, 49, is the first woman and first Hispanic to lead A&M, a formerly all-male and mostly white institution that has been trying to diversify its employee and student ranks.
• Faculty members are increasingly upset by what they perceive as a command-and-control management style by the regents and McKinney, and they see Murano's resignation as the latest and most stunning example.
• A&M's personnel and policies have been influenced considerably by Gov. Rick Perry, a graduate of the university. McKinney is a former chief of staff to the governor. Several other system and campus officials are close to Perry or were Perry picks. And the governor appointed all nine regents.

Tensions between Murano and her bosses — McKinney and the regents — had been simmering for months. For example, she questioned a Perry-favored plan that was implemented by McKinney to award bonuses to faculty members based on student evaluations. Such bonuses were touted at a May 2008 summit on higher education organized by Perry.

Tensions approached the boiling point a few weeks ago with McKinney's suggestion that it might be possible to save money by combining the chancellorship and the presidency — an option that almost no one expects to occur.

And matters reached a full boil with the disclosure of a sharply critical performance evaluation of Murano in which McKinney gave her poor ratings on many fronts, including a 1, the lowest of five possible scores, on being a "team player."

Murano submitted a rebuttal that dismissed the evaluation as "ludicrous" and "not based on facts." And in a memorandum dated June 5, Murano's office speculated on the impact that her departure would have: "The removal of President Murano would raise the normal concerns about such actions and cause questions about the system's and university's real commitment to diversity and excellence."

When the regents named Murano the sole finalist for the presidency in December 2007, they said sex and ethnicity had nothing to do with her selection. Then-Regent John White said at the time that she was chosen for her leadership abilities, integrity, research credentials, global understanding, willingness to listen, decisiveness and experience running a large, complex organization.

Murano, who left Cuba with her family when Fidel Castro came to power, had been A&M's dean and vice chancellor of agriculture and also served a stint as undersecretary for food safety at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Murano said in the statement Sunday that her resignation is what is best for A&M.

"Our university is strong and I know that we will weather this storm," Murano said. "I sincerely hope and pray that we will intensify our efforts to protect and enhance Texas A&M's reputation.

"I trust that the important issues raised in recent weeks will be addressed in the Aggie way — with integrity, selfless service and indomitable spirit. God bless you all, and gig 'em!"

Morris Foster, chairman of the regents, said in a statement from the system that Murano has served with distinction.

"We look forward to having Dr. Murano rejoin our faculty and continue her nationally recognized work in food science," McKinney also said in the statement.

Plans for replacing Murano will be taken up by the regents in the near future, the statement said.

Murano assumed the presidency in January 2008 under difficult circumstances.

Hers was not one of three names submitted to the Board of Regents by a search committee, said R. Douglas Slack, a professor of wildlife and fisheries sciences who led the panel, which also included representatives of the administration and the student body. The three names were of sitting presidents of universities.

The regents rejected all three and chose Murano instead.

"We assumed they would ask us to look at more names and continue the search," Slack said Friday. "But they continued the search, which was their prerogative. They can make the rules, and they did.

"It's a difference in philosophy. The faculty at Texas A&M do not want to run the place. We want to have input to the process."

A&M president quits, regents pick temp replacement

By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer, Austin American Statesman, 06/15/2009
Associated Press writer Michelle Roberts in San Antonio contributed to this report. 
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/shared-gen/ap/National/US_Texas_AM_Murano.html?cxntlid=inform_artr

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Texas A&M University named an interim president Monday, a day after the school's first female and first Hispanic president stepped down following a scathing performance review of her first year on the job.

The A&M System board of regents quickly approved Elsa Murano's resignation and approved A&M administrator Bowen Loftin as interim president during a crowded and brief special meeting. Regents had called the meeting last week to discuss Murano, before she resigned on Sunday.

Murano held the post for just 17 months after succeeding Robert Gates, who left to become U.S. secretary of defense. A feud between Murano and the regents peaked this month after the university gave her low marks for leadership and management in an unflattering review.

Regents chairman Morris Foster deflected specific questions about Murano after the meeting. About 50 students and faculty members who gathered in protest — some wearing black arm bands — worried the turmoil would harm the university's vision and national reputation.

Foster said it was a tough situation he'd rather not have gone through but that A&M would endure.

"All I'd ask you to do is wait and see," he said. "Don't ask me to speculate right now."

Murano, 49, did not attend the meeting and declined to comment through her spokesman. Her attorney, Darryl Carter, released a statement that said Murano "was committed to a quick and constructive resolution of the matter."

Foster said he hopes to name Murano's permanent successor within six months. Until then, the 48,000-student university will be led by Loftin, the vice president and chief executive officer at A&M's campus in Galveston.

Murano will return to the faculty under an agreement reached with the university. She will take a year off while collecting her salary of $425,000 and will be paid an additional $295,000.

Murano was celebrated as a historic choice at a university that was founded as an all-male military institution and didn't admit women on an equal basis until 1971. But her selection was also controversial: Murano wasn't among three finalists recommended by a 15-person search committee in 2007.

Bob Bednarz, speaker of the A&M faculty senate, said Murano came a long way from a skeptical choice to winning approval throughout campus.

"One of the frustrating things about this situation is that there is no information," Bednarz said. "We generally do not know how decisions are made, or why the regents or the chancellor makes those decisions."

Born in Cuba before fleeing with her family in the early 1960s, Murano first joined the A&M faculty in 1995 and rose to become dean of the university's agricultural school. Under the terms of the agreement, she will return as a professor with a starting salary of $260,000.

Power struggle under way at A&M

Regents to meet Monday to consider future of top executives.

By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz (rhaurwitz@statesman.com; 512-445-3604), Austin American-Statesman, 06/13/2009
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/2009/06/13/0613aggies.html

Ten years ago, Texas A&M University adopted a strategic plan intended to propel it to greatness. The plan's 12 "imperatives" included "enlightened leadership" by officials of the College Station campus, the A&M System and the system's Board of Regents.

Achieving such leadership remains a work in progress. Recent events and disclosures reveal a power struggle involving system Chancellor Mike McKinney, campus President Elsa Murano, the regents, the faculty and, to some extent, Gov. Rick Perry.

In the latest development, the regents announced Friday that they would meet Monday to consider reassignment, discipline or dismissal of top system and campus employees, which could include the president and chancellor.

The meeting comes a little more than a week after the A&M System released personnel records to the American-Statesman and other news organizations revealing a deep divide between McKinney and Murano. The release followed McKinney's comments that combining his job and Murano's could save money and that his approach to governing is heavy on following the regents' directives and light on committees and lengthy review.

As chancellor, McKinney is the chief executive of the system, which includes the College Station campus, eight other universities, a health science center and seven state agencies.

Apparently worried that Murano could be shown the door, a group of top researchers and Faculty Senate leaders at A&M issued an open letter Friday saying that the school's standing as one of 60 top-tier universities in the nation is at stake.

"What talented administrator or faculty member would move to an institution where decisions are made unilaterally, disagreement is viewed as disloyalty and transparency is not valued?" they wrote.

Rod Davis, a spokesman for the system, said he could not comment on personnel issues.

McKinney's most recent performance evaluation of Murano — and her response to it — amount to a bare-knuckle brawl in the usually staid academic arena.

The chancellor gave the president low marks for honesty, decision-making, integrity and other attributes, and said that she does a "very poor" job of carrying out board decisions with which she disagrees. He added this handwritten comment about her decision-making: "Too slow. Is very inclusive. ... Should work WITH faculty, not FOR."

Murano, in a 10-page typed response, said the review is "ludicrous," "besmirches my character" and is "not based on facts." "Allowing constituents to provide their input on important issues — to have a seat at the table — is what enlightened governance is all about," she wrote.

In a separate document submitted to McKinney in advance of her review, Murano said that system officials have sometimes bypassed her in working out agreements with faculty members or private companies to commercialize scientific advances. Such scientific initiatives have been a particular interest of Perry's, and his influence in policy and personnel at his alma mater and the A&M System is considerable.

Not only did Perry appoint all nine regents, but McKinney is a former chief of staff for the governor. Guy Diedrich, vice chancellor for federal relations and commercialization, is also close to Perry. Mark Ellison, associate vice chancellor for economic development, is a former director of the state's Emerging Technology Fund, a pet project of Perry's.

[HOT: We agree that Governor Rick Perry's cozy relationship with big businesses, and his use of tax revenue to fund commercial research and development, is disturbing. Shouldn't such research be the role of industry and not the public sector?]

Perry also had a hand in recruiting Brett Giroir, a former official of the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, to the position of vice chancellor for research. And retired Lt. Gen. Joseph Weber, the vice president for student affairs, has been friends with Perry since they were classmates at A&M.

Some faculty members say the governor's influence has led to excessive emphasis on research that can be commercialized as opposed to basic research. Some also express concern about a Perry-flavored program under which faculty members can receive bonuses of up to $10,000 based on evaluations by students. Critics say that amounts to a one-dimensional view of teaching and smacks of consumerism. McKinney established the program after such bonuses were touted at a May 2008 summit on higher education organized by Perry.

Asked to comment on the various A&M matters, Allison Castle, a spokeswoman for the governor, said: "The governor appoints the Board of Regents to do what is best for the system, the universities, the students and the taxpayers. The governor continues to encourage our universities in their ongoing efforts to commercialize research.

"The governor is pleased that the Legislature reauthorized funding for the Emerging Technology Fund, which helps to recruit some of the brightest researchers in the world to our universities and in turn commercialize that research, creating jobs and economic development in the state."

A poll of faculty members found that 85.5 percent of those responding oppose combining the jobs of chancellor and president, said Robert Bednarz, a geography professor and speaker of the Faculty Senate. The Senate has called on the regents to meet regularly with a faculty committee and has prepared a draft resolution that urges regents to consider the views of faculty members and other university constituencies before making decisions.

"We are a tier-one institution," said R. Douglas Slack, a professor of wildlife and fisheries sciences and a former Faculty Senate speaker. "If you look at the governance at any of those schools, the presidents have autonomy over decision-making within the school. That's where the power struggle seems to originate: over who would have power to define positions and who would get positions."

Faculty members and students haven't always been happy with Murano since she was named sole finalist for president in December 2007. They criticized her for offering Weber the vice presidency of student affairs without consulting with students. She rescinded the offer, gathered input and then moved to hire him.

Erle Nye, a former chairman of the A&M regents who currently chairs the investment company managing endowment funds for the A&M and University of Texas systems, said the dust-up in Aggieland is troubling. "I trust and I hope that it is resolvable," he said.

Texas A&M president scores poorly in first review

Austin American Statesman, from ASSOCIATED PRESS, 06/06/2009
http://www.statesman.com/search/content/news/stories/local/06/06/0606tamu.html?cxntlid=inform_artr

COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M University President Elsa Murano received low marks for leadership and management in a highly critical performance review released Thursday by the A&M system.

Murano, the first female and first Hispanic president in A&M's 132-year history, got the lowest possible marks when it came to follow-through, acting decisively and quickly, and being a team player in her first full year on the job.

System Chancellor Mike McKinney wrote Feb. 9. in the five-page review that Murano "fails to assume responsibility for decisions" and is "too slow" in making decisions.

McKinney's review lacked specifics and was handwritten. He left blank a page for him to write down goals for the president, as well as a summary of her strengths and areas needing attention, the Bryan-College Station Eagle reported.

Murano, 49, disputed the review in a 10-page typed response sent March 10 to the chancellor and regents. "Given the complete disconnection between Dr. McKinney's perception of my performance as president and all the evidence to the contrary, I can conclude that this review was not based on facts," she wrote.

Murano declined to comment further Thursday. On behalf of McKinney, A&M System spokesman Rod Davis said the system could not comment on personnel matters.

Murano was a celebrated internal choice for the presidency in January 2008 when she succeeded Robert Gates, who left to become U.S. secretary of defense. But a little more than a year into the job, the review reveals signs of tension between Murano and A&M system leaders.

McKinney previously told the Bryan-College Station Eagle that regents were considering merging the positions of chancellor and president to save money, which could push Murano from her post. But Davis said Thursday that no merger plans were in place.

Murano's review included rankings in 40 categories graded on a scale of 1 to 5. Murano received 1s and 2s in more than a dozen categories.

Her highest marks were 4s in the categories of crisis management, focus on the organizational mission, and relations with colleagues and associates. Murano wrote in her response that she would welcome a discussion of her evaluation with regents.

Many A&M faculty members and former A&M President Ray Bowen have said Murano didn't receive the kind of mentoring and guidance required for a first-year president.

"I'm just kind of shocked at the nature of the document," said R. Douglas Slack, a former speaker of the Faculty Senate. "It doesn't look like something that was well thought-out. It's a contrast to the president's well thought-out response."