<p>Yeah, Mitch? Well you’re a career politician and I deplore the state of that field a lot more than I do higher ed. As a politician hired by a university for the sake of your connections, please just realize that the role of colleges and universities is much broader than preparing students for entry-level roles in Indiana’s current industries.</p>
<p>I wonder how long the terms “objective of providing a bona fide education to students” will remain absent from the rhetoric of Mitch’s detractors. </p>
<p>Oops, my bad. I forget that the main objectives of an academic institution are self- preservation and the pursuit of unabated benefits for the inner circle in its ivory tower.</p>
<p>Along the way, a good battle with one of the few politicians who was not properly bribed previously makes good press and keep the smoke and mirrors alive. Where is Robert Weisbuch when one needs him?</p>
<p>Oh, such pretension!</p>
<p>Monographs and lit papers are rarely funded. I was talking about funded research which is most of the valuable work. Lit profs can do that stuff all they want but nobody cares. It keeps them happy.</p>
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<p>Like many “commoners” care about the rest of the contributions? And pushed to its “insider” limit, how do you “splain” that only 40 percent of the articles published in the 4,500 top scientific journals are cited within the first five years after publication.</p>
<p>Collateral damage? Oh yes, that does not cost any money!</p>
<p>Mitch still sounds like a Governor fighting for cheaper college education. Rick Perry keeps harping on the same every few months. How long is he planning to stay at Purdue? One of the local professors told me it was supposed to be an year while he finds something better.</p>
<p>On a sidenote, I nominate Perry to run Texas A&M if he ever decides to retire.</p>
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<p>In other words, there are not enough right-wingers in academia. We need more global-warming deniers, more “economists” who believe that you can increase tax revenues by reducing tax rates, more creationists, etc.</p>
<p>I’d rather have a professor with integrity than Daniels.</p>
<p>Bacow maybe…</p>
<p>socaldad2…no need for in other words…it was spot on</p>
<p>Barrons, in answer to your question/statement; “Who is doing worthless research? Most funded research is in science, medicine, and engineering with a bone for education.” How about this top ten from our National Institute of Health (who is funded with $32 Billion of our tax dollars):</p>
<p>10) DRUG-INDUCED ARTHRITIS IN RATS MAKES EXERCISE HARDER</p>
<p>9) RATS WHO RUN AROUND MORE APPEAR TO BE MORE ANXIOUS</p>
<p>8) PRAIRIE VOLES STUDY SUGGESTS SINGLE MOMS RAISE LESS LOVING CHILDREN</p>
<p>7) DIETING HAMSTERS CHOOSE FOOD OVER SEX</p>
<p>6) RAT BITTER-TASTE NERVES APPEAR TO WORK</p>
<p>5) CONTAGIOUS YAWNING IN CHIMPANZEES IS EMPATHETIC</p>
<p>4) ALLIGATORS’ SOUNDS AND ANATOMY DIFFER FROM HUMANS’</p>
<p>3) LEMON-FRESH SCENT CAN INDUCE ERECTIONS IN MONKEYS</p>
<p>2) RATS FIND MILES DAVIS IS BETTER WITH COCAINE</p>
<p>1) LABS ARE STRESSFUL PLACES FOR MONKEYS </p>
<p>See the following link if you’d like to know which universities took on this valued “research”: [Real</a> Ridiculous Research - Top 10 Reasons why Animal Research is a Cruel Joke](<a href=“http://www.idausa.org/realridiculousresearch/]Real”>http://www.idausa.org/realridiculousresearch/)</p>
<p>Socaldad, no, we need a mix of about 10% more communists and socialists so that we can call it a 100% sweep on college campuses…guessing you must be a professor or work for the government (or professional student on research grants)…</p>
<p>It’s easy to cherry-pick “funny-sounding” titles out of context and with absolutely no comprehension of the basis for the research design.</p>
<p>FINCHES OF THE GALAPAGOS FOUND TO HAVE MANY DIFFERENT BEAKS</p>
<p>What the hell is that Charles Darwin dude measuring a bunch of finch beaks for, anyway? Nothing will ever come of that. Who cares what beaks finches have? Totally worthless research.</p>
<p>Thanks for the laugh Exh dad</p>
<p>“In an elaborate study of the obvious, University of New England researchers injected rats’ knees with a substance that causes arthritis and then discovered that those rats would run less on their exercise wheels due to chronic pain”</p>
<p>who would have thought??? Reminds me of the top 10 of pork that was passed in the stimulus bill…sickening stuff.</p>
<p>LEMON-FRESH SCENT - has a human test been conducted on this yet? Not sure about other research but this one seems important enough to keep human species from going extinct.</p>
<p>It should not be surprising that the insiders hurl criticisms at Daniels. </p>
<p>After all, nobody was to read one more time how “The mission of undergraduate instruction is increasingly subordinated to research and to work with graduate students.”</p>
<p>The truth does hurt! And when facts are hard to deny, the weapon of choice is to attack the person and his motives. Works well in those leftist power bastions that hide in our higher education.</p>
<p>The point of the study was to develop baseline pain thresholds for rats, so that future studies of new pain-killing and anti-inflammatory drugs would have accurate measurements and understandings of how a given level of pain produces a given behavioral reaction in rats.</p>
<p>[Monosodium</a> iodoacetate-induced osteo… [Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2011] - PubMed - NCBI](<a href=“http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21147151]Monosodium”>Monosodium iodoacetate-induced osteoarthritis produces pain-depressed wheel running in rats: implications for preclinical behavioral assessment of chronic pain - PubMed)</p>
<p>But apparently the way science works to build knowledge through foundational research is too complex for you to understand, so all you can do is point and laugh OMG LOL THAT RESURCH SOUNDS FUNAY.</p>
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<p>Hilarious! And, so true. Pure research never accomplished anything (as I type on my laptop computer). LOL!!!</p>
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<p>Are you trying to deride bad spelling now, or is this more of your earlier gem in grammar, sentence construction, and spelling?</p>
<p>“Basically he means that public colleges are librul communist fascism”</p>
<p>In all seriousness, taking the four points cited:</p>
<p>1 - costs too much, delivers too little. Purdue or all? Measured how?
2 - Admin, resort “amenities”, expensive capital projects. Hmm. There might be something to admin, but without specifics, hard to tell or measure. I’m not sure what amenities he might be referring to. Internet? Spas? At some point, amenities WILL be the difference that attracts or drives away students. Same for capital projects. Would I rather send my child to a school which has worn out buildings (interior and exterior)? One which hasn’t built a new lab in a century? Or, one which recognizes the needs of the whole student? The quality of the cohort absolutely influences the student’s experience. And, many universities have cleverly managed to fund capital projects by external sources.
3 - grade inflation/academic rigor weakening. Again - by what measure? If you have a very talented cohort (and many schools do) then it does not seem unreasonable that perhaps average GPA might increase. Maybe we should pay for a study to determine if and how much grade inflation is occurring. It’s easier to measure in the STEM area - because the nature of the information to be taught is clear (and performance measures easier to determine). Don’t know on the non-STEM courses. However, measurements of employability and ability to get into and succeed in post-graduate settings is also a measure.
4 - research. Well, why update curriculum and why have universities if the thought of research and publications bothers people so much. Useful research will be found and used. Useless research will just be left behind. And, some research takes awhile to show its usefulness. And I agree with Polar that many times the name of a research project can bear little connection to the ultimate outcomes.</p>
<p>So, while Daniels might have a point, it really needs to have more beef - but when you add beef, you tend to lose the soundbite crowd.</p>
<p>I think there is a general habit of running in and declaring how bad everything is - when it would be better to pinpoint some significant areas where concrete improvement is demonstrably necessary - and have a game plan instead of a whine fest.</p>
<p>Maybe explains why he’s at Purdue. I would say the same if stuck there. As for admin costs, maybe he should take a pay cut?</p>
<p>I believe he did take a pay cut</p>