Purdue University Makes Right Move by Making Governor Daniels the Next President

When I came out of law school in 1987, before even sitting for the bar, I sent my resume in to IUPUI to teach political science.  My undergraduate degree from Ball State is political science and I had interned in the Indiana State Senate as well as been involved in local politics.  Fortunately, my resume hit IUPUI at the right time, i.e. when they needed someone to fill a vacancy for an adjunct instructor.  I got the job and over the next several years, I every semester taught one of the two introductory level courses, American National Government or Introduction to Political Science.  I also had the chance to teach a couple advanced class I designed, Media and Politics and Campaign Organizations, i.e. how to run a campaign, including basic strategy.

Governor Mitch Daniels

Later I went on to the University of Indianapolis teaching State and Local Government and American National Government.  This summer I'm teaching the latter.  With the exceptions of a handful of semesters, I have taught consistently at the college level since 1987.

During that quarter century the price of tuition and expenses such as for books has soared, far above the rate of inflation. Meanwhile college campuses have modernized considerably, building often opulent facilities for their students. 

When people talk about the enormous cost of higher education, the focus is always on how to  make more money available to students, either through grants or loans.  No one ever challenges the spending by colleges and universities, demanding that they hold the line on costs or educate students for less.

I have at times complained about Governor Mitch Daniels' failure to exercise strong oversight over state agency officials and the decision to ignore whistleblowers who have pointed out problems at the agencies.   It is frustrating  to me that Governor Daniels otherwise excellent tenure is marred by scandals and mismanagement that were entirely avoidable.  But where Governor Daniels has excelled is on budgetary matters, characterized chiefly by a steadfast demand that state government hold the line on costs.  He was even willing to touch the third rail of Indiana politics - K-12 education - which for years have had their budgets increased far above the inflation rate.

I don't buy for a second that Governor Daniels hailing from a non-academic environment is a bad thing. There is a reason the term "ivory tower" is part of our lexicon and most often applies to colleges and universities.  Too often administrators and faculty at those institutions are oblivious to the practicalities of living in the real world inhabited by their students.  It is about time we had a university president who demanded that the school hold the line on spending and offer a more affordable education product for its students.    Governor Daniels' insistence on controlling costs at Purdue, as he has as Governor, has the opportunity to revolutionize higher education in Indiana.