Distinguished A&M Alumni Slam Perry, Reforms

Gov. Rick Perry and the educational reforms he advocates are catching heat from his own alma mater, Texas A&M University.

In a letter addressed to the A&M community, 22 "distinguished alumni" of the university criticized Perry as well as his major campaign contributor Jeff Sandefer, for their controversial views working to "fundamentally change how research universities in Texas fulfill their educational responsibilities."

Sandefer is author of the "Seven Breakthrough Solutions," which Perry has advocated for cutting costs in higher education. Sandefer's reforms have also drawn fire from the Association of American Universities, which is comprised of the nation's top research institutions, including both The University of Texas and A&M.

In response to Sandefer's calls for reform, A&M published a listing of faculty salaries and class loads, which sparked criticism from the AAU.

The letter's signatories are graduates of A&M and largely comprised of successful Texas businessmen. The letter calls on the A&M community to appeal to the Board of Regents in order to reject these proposals, which they believe would put the university's reputation and rankings in jeopardy.

This letter also cites the letter written a couple weeks ago by student leaders at the University of Texas to their own Board of Regents, wherein they expressed their opposition to similar reforms, ones they believe opposed UT's position as a top tier research institution.

The alumni argued that "the Texas A&M leadership should be as vigorous as UT" in protecting its own reputation and rankings. They characterized the reforms as "naïve… proposals from inexperienced individuals."

In related news, UT President Powers highly stressed the importance of research in his speech earlier this week to the UT community.