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PROFESSOR QUESTIONS UT SYSTEM'S COMMITMENT TO BROWNSVILLE COMMUNITY
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By <strong>Baltazar Acevedo </strong><br />Professor of Leadership and Research <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>University of Texas Pan American<br /><br /><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9bXo6rMcAkVSdvqmK5PUiyRlVSxW7z_srBiDMkUafa7LZ10dz5YD6sJ_FgfFo_2Znd_SPi1pNw385xzcRf229nhzS7UiPdWlVABjYfSZ96zrsO1T1_bHFQbFMjkAZR39115h1Ac3cjdQ/s1600/acevedo_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" nfa="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9bXo6rMcAkVSdvqmK5PUiyRlVSxW7z_srBiDMkUafa7LZ10dz5YD6sJ_FgfFo_2Znd_SPi1pNw385xzcRf229nhzS7UiPdWlVABjYfSZ96zrsO1T1_bHFQbFMjkAZR39115h1Ac3cjdQ/s200/acevedo_b.jpg" width="131" /></a>At some point, there has to be a line of demarcation drawn to distinguish both responsibility and culpability for what transpired during the twenty year partnership that was and is still in effect, between the University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It is rather telling that the UT System in Austin has never made any definitive statement about these issues that happened during it oversight or lack thereof during its responsibility for the UT side of the enterprise. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Did the UT System ever bother to ask the community about its needs or what the new UT branch at Brownsville should be about? </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">No. It simply moved forward as the Titanic with all pomp and ceremony. Their actions make a strong case for the regionalization of higher education governance instead of having individuals who do not know us provide us... with bad policy and practices of tolerance for bad organizational practices.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This community needs to demand a full audit that covers the past twenty years so that it can be determined who was on first base when this lack of oversight occurred. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">It is rather telling that no one ever gets axed if they were the responsibility party of record. It all goes back to the hiring of individuals that were not trained to manage their delegated roles. When there are individuals with degrees in history, English and social sciences in charge because they are good in their disciplines; shortfalls occur. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">This type of situation occurs because colleges and universities in south Texas have a tendency to hire the closes warm body in the room or someone who has a close relationship to someone on the board or at the top levels of administration. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We need to ask the Chancellor of the UT System to quit holding individuals harmless and get rid of them if their past behavior will lead to more such inappropriate actions under the planned organization for the the "new UT at Brownsville." </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">Changing or rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic did not prevent its demise and neither will it prevent future incompetent acts in higher education in this region. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">We deserve better and should demand better as taxpayers and as Texans. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">UT Brownsville should have relocated its new operations to the areas of this region where the demographic flow is going: north. As it is, there is a planned construction of a new administration facility on the corner of University Drive and highway 77 which is about one mile north of the Veterans Memorial Bridge to Matamoros. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">One might ask the UT System to consider the model that Texas A&M International actualized in its construction of a campus about five north of its former location on the grounds of the Laredo Community College. That is one bit of planning that the Texas A&;M University System got right.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">At what point will the board of regents at the UT System wake up and take an active policy role?</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">These regents come down to south Texas once a year and are wined and dined and then given a dog and pony show about selected highlights but no hard questions are asked such as: How are we really doing? The former membership of Texas Southmost College should step forth and claim some responsibility for this shortfalls: most of which happened on their watch.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">As Thomas Jefferson once said, "you get the leaders that you deserve." Well that is exactly what we have hear because la gente is silent, misinformed or simply, does not care.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6016803033174468094-5592115314198034884?l=rrunrrun.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>
LINK: http://rrunrrun.blogspot.com/2012/01/professor-questions-ut-systems.html
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