Florida's weak commitment to higher education

12:00am on Mar 7, 2012 2012-03-06T21:07:04Z from The Bradenton Herald

Florida's Legislature plays a masterful game of cost-shifting as this year's regular session again demonstrates. Tuition at the state's 11 public universities has risen six consecutive years, with a seventh looming. Coupled with a massive disinvestment in higher education in the budget agreement reached Monday, the Sunshine State continues to place more of a financial burden on students.

The state has reduced funding for higher education by 25 percent over the past four years with tuition increases offsetting a portion of that gapping hole. State universities now face a $300 million cutback that legislative leaders agreed to Monday.

The quality of education has suffered in the past few years, with fewer courses and larger classes, fewer professors and more graduate students teaching. Without a stronger investment in higher education, Florida will face a tough time building a more diverse and prosperous economy. Yet state leaders are placing greater expectations on universities to accomplish just that.

Indeed, the state university system embraced Gov. Rick Scott's push for a strong emphasis on STEM fields science, technology, engineering and math as a way to stimulate the economy. In November, the Florida Board of Governors announced an ambitious strategy to boost degrees in those fields by 70 percent by 2025 and place at least five universities among the nation's top 50. Scott's jobs agenda will be difficult to achieve should the state continue to cut university budgets.

The University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee will bear a $3 million budget cut, and New College will get $1.5 million less. USF-Tampa loses $37 million, Florida State University $65 million and the University of Florida $36 million.

While the Legislature holds the power to require tuition increases, lawmakers now allow the universities to hike tuition by a maximum of 15 percent a year. That amount is likely again this year.

In addition, new legislation would empower universities that hit certain benchmarks to raise tuition even higher, with only FSU and UF qualifying. The governor opposes tuition increases, though he has not indicated whether he will veto this measure should it pass. He should.

The argument that tuition in Florida remains a bargain, ranking 45th in the nation, only goes so far. When steep cutbacks in state support lower the quality of education, that point becomes counterproductive.

At a time when higher education funding is plunging yet again, the state can ill afford the formation of another university. Yet the Legislature approved the creation of Florida Polytechnic University in Lakeland, fast-tracking its independence from USF thanks to the political power play by departing Sen. JD Alexander.

The Board of Governors already instituted a plan for the gradual move to independence. University system Chancellor Frank Brogan stated the accreditation process could take up to four years based on information from accrediting authorities. The Associated Press reported Monday that when asked why students would attend an unaccredited university, he replied, "I don't know."

Scott should consider that point when the budget reaches his desk. Fortunately, he's expressed skepticism about this rush to create the state's 12th university, and we urge a veto. Let the process play out under the thoughtful, measured approach already drawn up.

In the future, Florida must re-examine its commitment to higher education if the state is to achieve the goals of the New Florida Initiative, adopted in 2010 by the university system in partnership with the governor and Legislature. This collaborative effort with business aims "to deliver the economy, talent and innovations that Florida must have to be globally competitive." That will not come cheaply.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2012/03/07/3921532/floridas-weak-commitment-to-higher.html#storylink=cpy

We won!

The FEA press release is posted on the UFF Website "News" page.

The direct link is
http://www.unitedfacultyofflorida.org/documents/2012_0306_Judge-Rules-in-Favor-of-FEA-Pension-Lawsuit.pdf

Thanks to all who joined PSCFA on All College Day. The lunch was delicious and the information available to members was very useful.

To that end.... a reminder that members of FEA have two ways to save with Jackson Hewitt's tax preparation. Jackson Hewitt will estimate your tax refund for free. They also offer 20% off tax preparation in store or 25% off online tax prep. You can pick up a coupon from Charlotte Sweeney in the Pensacola campus library or visit the FEA members benefits page.

Happy 90th Birthday, 19th Amendment!

The 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote, became law on August 26th, 1920.

Some books you might want to read on the subject include:

The process of securing the right to vote for women was an important phase in feminism. Suffrage was first proposed as a part of a general declaration of the rights of women signed at Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848. Chapters in this anthology discuss the roots of the movement, its tactics and disagreements, opposition to the suffragists, and the impact of the Nineteenth Amendment on American society. (Pensacola Campus JK1896 .H54 2006)

They forever changed America: Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frances Willard, Alice Paul. At their revolution's start in the 1840s, a woman's right to speak in public was questioned. By its conclusion in 1920, the victory in woman's suffrage had also encompassed the most fundamental rights of citizenship: the right to control wages, hold property, to contract, to sue, to testify in court. Their struggle was confrontational (women were the first to picket the White House for a political cause) and violent (women were arrested, jailed, and force-fed in prisons). And like every revolutionary before them, their struggle was personal. (Milton and Pensacola Campus JK1896 .B35 2005)

In Votes For Women, Jean H. Baker has assembled an impressive collection of new scholarship on the struggle of American women for the suffrage. Each of the eleven essays illuminates some aspect of the long battle that lasted from the 1850s to the passage of the suffrage amendment in 1920. (Milton Campus JK1896 .V67 2002)

Welcome to Pensacola State College! On this first day of the new term, please let me remind you of the many materials and services that the libraries offer to Pensacola State College students:

• 
  FREE computer use – the Pensacola campus library has over 40 computers available for student use. Students present their student ID cards to use a computer for a 2 hour period.


• 
  FREE study rooms – the Pensacola campus library has 8 study rooms available for student use. Students present their student ID cards to use a study room for a 2 hour period.


• 
  FREE books – not textbooks , unfortunately! The libraries have more than 50,000 titles available for checking out. Books that the libraries do not own can usually be borrowed from another library – free! Students present their student ID cards to check out books. Most books are checked out for 4 weeks, but there are some exceptions.


• 
  FREE DVDs – many popular and recent titles, such as Precious, 2012, and Alice in Wonderland. Students present their student ID cards to check out DVDs for a 7 day checkout.


• 
  FREE Research Help – a Reference Librarian is available on each campus every day, all day. The librarian can help you find information for your class assignments, research papers, or just because you want to know more about something.


• 
  FREE magazine, journal, and newspaper articles – these are available by using one of the many databases available to students. Begin by going to the library’s homepage at http://lrc.pjc.edu. (Please remember that this web address will be changing as everything changes to Pensacola State URLs.)

The student ID required to use these materials and services is also FREE! IDs can be obtained in Bldg. 5 on the Pensacola campus, Bldg. 4200 on the Milton campus, and Bldg. 3300 on the Warrington campus.

Hope you have a great semester of learning!

Did you know that today is Flag Day? Flag Day commemorates the official adoption of the flag by the Second Continental Congress in 1777. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation that officially established June 14 as Flag Day; in August 1949, National Flag Day was established by an Act of Congress.

In 1814, at Fort McHenry in Maryland, a flag flying there inspired Francis Scott Key to write a poem “Defence of Fort McHenry” which was later set to music and renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.” By Congressional resolution, "The Star Spangled Banner" became the national athem in 1931.

• The United States flag is often referred to as the "Stars and Stripes" or "Old Glory," and is a symbol of freedom.

• The American flag was (possibly) made by Betsy Ross in 1776, and adopted as the official U.S. flag in 1777.

• The original flag featured 13 stars to represent the 13 original colonies.

• The current U.S. flag, which was adopted in 1960 when Hawaii became a state, features 50 stars to represent the 50 states, and 13 stripes to represent the 13 original colonies.

• The red in the flag is a symbol of valor and hardiness; white is for innocence and purity; and blue is for vigilance, perseverance and justice.

• The original Pledge of Allegiance was much shorter than the modern version: "I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands - one nation indivisible - with liberty and justice for all."

Oil Spill in the Gulf

Several sources provide background and updates on the BP Deepwater Horizon drilling disaster. These include:

wuwf.org – Pensacola’s local National Public Radio station
Pensacola News Journal – local Pensacola newspaper
nola.com – the New Orleans, LA newspaper
NOAA - National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce
Environmental Protection Agency – the EPA’s Deepwater Horizon Incident Joint Information Center

The library subscribes to several databases that contain the text of articles from academic journals, magazines and newspapers. One of these databases, Academic Search Complete, provides daily indexing of articles from print publications under the subject “BP oil spill, Gulf of Mexico, 2010.” To access these and other library databases, click here.

PJC faculty, staff and students can access all databases from offsite by logging in with the 14 digit barcode number from the PJC picture ID as the borrower ID, and the last 4 of the Social Security number as the PIN.

RAYMOND CARVER WAS BORN ON THIS DATE

American short story writer and poet Raymond Carver was born on this date in 1938. Carver is considered a major late 20th century American writer. He is also credited with being a major influence in the revitalization of the short story in the 1980s.

Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, on May 25, 1938, to laborer Clevie Raymond Carver and homemaker Ella Beatrice Carver. At an early age, Carver moved with his family to the working-class town of Yakima, Washington. Throughout his life, he drew on his experiences in the Pacific Northwest as settings for his stories.

Carver graduated from high school in 1956 and took a job working at a sawmill. In 1957, he married Maryann Burk, who was pregnant with their first child. By the time he was twenty, Carver was the father of two children. He and his wife worked menial jobs in order to pay their bills. Like many of the couples in Carver's short stories, he and his wife lived a hand-to-mouth existence, always in fear of some catastrophe that would upset their fragile solvency.

Carver, who wanted to write, studied under novelist John Gardner at Chico State in California. Still working low-paying jobs to support the family, he managed to take enough classes to graduate from Humboldt State University in 1963. After briefly attending the Iowa Writers' Workshop, he moved to Sacramento, California, where he became a hospital custodian for three years. During this time, he began writing seriously and publishing his stories.

Carver suffered personal turmoil in 1967, both losing his father and filing for bankruptcy. However, in the same year, his story "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?" was chosen for The Best American Short Stories, 1967. Carver met with increasing success publishing his stories during the next few years. As a result, he was offered a number of teaching positions at universities. At the same time, alcohol increasingly began to affect his life. In 1976, unemployed and bankrupt, he began to drink very heavily. Carver and his wife separated and he underwent repeated hospitalizations for alcoholism.

In 1977, Carver met poet Tess Gallagher, and by 1979, the two were living together and teaching creative writing at Syracuse University. Carver's well-received collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love appeared in 1981. With his writing flourishing and his personal life with Gallagher happy, Carver brought his drinking under control. He and his wife Maryann finally divorced in 1983.

In September of 1983, Carver published the collection Cathedral. The book marked a shift in Carver's fiction away from the bare minimalist prose of his earlier work toward a fuller, more detailed style. Critics hailed the book as a transition in Carver's work, singling out several stories, including the title story, "Cathedral," for praise.

Carver began battling cancer in 1987. Nevertheless, he continued to write, publishing his last major collection, Where I'm Calling From, in 1988. He married Gallagher in June, 1988, and died at their home in Port Angeles, Washington, on August 2, 1988.


The inscription on his grave reads:

LATE FRAGMENT

And did you get what

you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself

beloved on the earth.


Source Citation
"Raymond Carver." LitFinder Contemporary Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2007. Literature Resources from Gale. Web. 25 May 2010.
Document URL
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CLTF0000011308BI&v=2.1&u=lincclin_pjc&it=r&p=LitRG&sw=w