By Antonio D. French
Filed Sunday, May 27, 2007 at 10:35 PM
Call it taking care of their own. Or perhaps, an investment in their own futures. Whatever you call it, state legislators buried a nest egg in the controversial MoHELA bill signed into law last week. Labels: State_House, State_Senate
Stuck in the center of the 52-page Senate Bill 389, which, among other things, took $350 million from the state's college loan fund and put it towards new construction projects on campuses around the state, there is also a provision that makes it much easier for legislators to get a job after they are term-limited out of office.
SB 389 also states that "no public college or university... shall reject an applicant for a faculty position based solely on the applicant having not earned a graduate degree, provided that the applicant has earned an undergraduate baccalaureate degree and has served for at least eight years in the general assembly."
So a bachelor's degree and four terms in the State House now makes you as qualified to teach in a Missouri college as a Ph.D. or a master's degree in the particular field.
Term-limits is now the tune to which self-preservation and special interests dance to in the State Capitol.
19 Comments:
Well, they take a longer view of things than I thought --- well at least applied to themselves. This will probably result in calls to eliminate the term limits but I ask where will the type of peple that do this sort of thing do the least damage --- remaining in the assembly for twenty years or possibly teaching in some class that students might not take?
5/28/2007 8:36 AM
The ironic thing about this is that colleges and universities have already greatly lowered their standards using the paradigm of running colleges and universities like businesses. They already hire people that don’t have “terminal degrees” [e.g. MFA in art department, Ph.D. in math department, etc.]. There are very few full time tenure track jobs out there. They try to use as many part time faculty on a contract to contract basis as they can to not have to pay for retirement, health plans, etc. They don’t give them offices, so they are not around much. This gives the minority of “bad apples” an easier opportunity to prey on students without visible signs.
Take a look at these resources:
Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk by Tom Wolfe, Richard H. Hersh, and John Merrow (Paperback -
Declining by Degrees (VHS Tape
Thanks Antonio, for publicizing this. This makes Jeff Smith’s defection to the other side even sleazier.
5/28/2007 8:58 AM
Actually, Senator Smith has his Ph.D. in Political Science. So, this does not directly impact him at all. But, another good try at shooting down Jeff Smith!
5/28/2007 10:14 AM
The majority of these legislators are less concerned about public service than they are about enriching themselves,friends,families and the lobbyist that buy their votes!I love when they are indicted for criminal activity!
5/28/2007 10:29 AM
so, from the May 2007 archives----- "State Rep. Clint Zweifel (D-Florissant) is currently leading an effort to oppose the bill by gathering the 87,000 signatures needed to put the plan on the 2008 ballot in order for the public to decide."
IT IS LIKE PULLING TEETH TO GET A FOLLOW UP REPORT!
It was not reported in the PD--but it was reported here.
Just a simple clue---"this effort is not going to get off the ground" or "he is dead serious about this".
same principle---the ksdk report about the Floyd Irons fbi investigation----which kmox and the pd and most other media refused to comment on---the latest issue of rft is saying it involved the real estate deals.
If a news organization does not break a story, they ignore it until they cannot possibly ignore it.
Is st. louis media worse about this crap than other cities?
5/28/2007 12:02 PM
Iron Triangles!
5/28/2007 1:07 PM
Is that like Iron Chefs?
5/28/2007 2:39 PM
Yes, Jeff Smith has his Ph.D. That doesn't make the bill less sleazy.
Look at Jim Talent. He got a high paying gig at Wash U. Does he have a Ph.D.? Universities don't care. They want money, influence and high rankings in US News, etc.
5/28/2007 3:21 PM
I wonder how much longer will it be before Floyd Irons is indicted for mortgage and mail fraud? Is his buddy Demetrious (Obnoxious) Johnson involved in any wrong doing also?
5/28/2007 5:13 PM
Feathering their own nest first--I don't care which party they come from!
Shameful.
And you wonder why I distrust Government?
5/28/2007 7:33 PM
Does anyone have any idea which legislator(s) added this to the Mohela bill?
5/28/2007 8:40 PM
Yes, Senator Tim Green (D-Florissant) added this to the bill. He's been advocating it for over a decade. It passed on a voice vote, with only one senator speaking in opposition.
5/28/2007 10:50 PM
Jim Talent has a law degree, its not a Ph. D. But I think he is more than qualified to teach.
5/29/2007 12:19 AM
Jeff Smith not only has his Ph.D., but his fingerprints all over this one. This bill from the same legislature that bemoaned the sorry state of affairs in public education,(at least in the poorer districts). Hypocrisy--thy name is Smith.
5/29/2007 7:42 AM
Speaking as a student at Washington University myself, there is a significant difference between inviting a controversial figure with a PhD (or JD in the case of Talent) to teach and being forced to accept someone with an undergraduate degree and four years experience posturing in the capital.
No matter what the views or policies of the former, that the received such a degree implies that as part of the process they were judged qualified to instruct on a subject. I somewhat doubt that 8 years of working as a legislator would provide the same training as, say, a PhD in Biology.
This bill seems to have legislators that studied political science in mind with its "experience = education" methodology, yet does nothing that I have seen to specify that. Sloppy, at best.
5/29/2007 9:54 AM
Anonymous 7:42 a.m., you are amusing. Your posts are illogical - Jeff Smith was the only senator to speak against this on the floor. But I'm sure you'll figure out some way to twist that.
5/29/2007 10:18 AM
Good for Smith to oppose this bill! It's shocking he was the only one and that the MSM hasn't picked up on this at all.
5/29/2007 3:51 PM
Hey guys, let me set the record straight for you and explain the amendment that Senator Green attached to the bill:
In recent years there have been a couple of instances where term-limited legislators secured employment with a publicly funded university. Senator Green thinks that's a bad idea. He has tried to outlaw the pratice over the past few years but could not get the support to stop this.
This legislation now makes a former legislator have to have been in the general assembly at least 8 years. So, it's better to have some restrictions in place than none.
Learn the process and the motive before you make judgment calls.
6/04/2007 1:59 PM
Anonymous, I must correct you. This statute in no way limits publicly funded colleges and universities from hiring former legislators.
What it does do is limit their ability to TURN AWAY term-limited legislators for teaching positions because they don't have a graduate degree.
Perhaps it was Mr. Green's intent to do as you say, but that was not the result.
6/04/2007 2:10 PM
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