Higher Education Has a Role in Politics

Historically, higher education has avoided getting too involved in politics. Some argue that politics is "too dirty" and academia is "bigger than that." But, there is also a fear that if higher education, especially public colleges and universities, gets too involved in politics there will be negative consequences - mostly in the form of withdrawal of public funding for those institutions.

John D. Wiley, outgoing Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, disagrees and he's making sure he's heard loud and clear before he leaves his post.

In an article published in Madison Magazine, Wiley calls on the public to challenge the "hyper-partisan political environment at the state capitol" and decry the influence of political campaign contributions to elected officials, which have led to policies that weaken support for education and threaten the future of our communities.

While his article has gotten mixed reactions, if higher education really is to be a leader in advancing and strengthening the economy and our nation's democracy, colleges and universities need to examine how to take on a stronger role in the political process. Higher education can't continue to avoid politics; rather, it must challenge historical beliefs about the role of colleges in politics by utilizing their stakeholders—students, faculty, staff, and alumni—to engage in the political process through grassroots advocacy efforts.

2003 Madison Magazine story by Chancellor Wiley - http://www.madisonmagazine.com/article.php?section_id=918&xstate=view_story&story_id=155312

Presentation - Using Web 2.0 to Build Stronger Government Relations and Advocacy Programs

Using Web 2.0 to Build Stronger Government Relations and Advocacy Programs

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Lessons Learned from Obama’s Online Strategy

Obama has done a great job with using the web to advance his campaign, and his campaigned has successfully embraced a number of best practices. For example, earlier this week there was an instructive article in the New York Times that talked about how one of the founders of Facebook is helping the Obama campaign.   

The article outlines four strategies that have helped them be successful. These strategies are useful lessons for not only campaigns, but also for nonprofits that are trying to mimic the success of Obama online efforts.

• Keep it local
  Tip O'Neil said that all politics is local. That same idea works for internet strategies. Many national groups fail to put their online campaigns in a context that people can understand. If you can show a local angle it will help make it real for individuals.
• Chop the list up into manageable chunks and organize them
  The idea of segmenting outreach and then targeting communication to those different audiences is a tactic that marketing agencies have embraced, much to their clients' success. Unfortunately, many groups think that this is only a necessary action for national nonprofit organizations. That is not the case. Even small local nonprofits should think about how they can do this.
• Give supporters the tools to organize themselves – "In some primary and caucus states, volunteers used the Internet to start organizing themselves months before the campaign staff arrived."
  • "Obama's campaign began carefully opening up its files of voters to online supporters, making it easier to find out which Democratic-leaning neighbors to call and which registered-independent doors to knock on."
  • One goal is to drive online energy into in-person support.
• "You can have the best technology in the world," Mr. Hughes said, "but if you don't have a community who wants to use it and who are excited about it, then it has no purpose."

  This makes the point that starting slow and then building in more complex activities is the most appropriate strategy. Too often group say we need our supporters/members to do X, without realizing that their supporters are not ready to do X and that they need to get to that activity through baby steps and educating the community.

 

These are some great practical strategies that nonprofits and campaigns can employ to develop a more effective online strategy.

Online Users are Politically Active

On Monday, Nielsen-Online released a study that found that 89 percent of web users over 18 are registered to vote. "The fact that so many Web users are registered to vote suggests that online campaign efforts will drive results at the polls," said Jon Gibs, vice president, media analytics, Nielsen Online. "Campaigns are no longer dabbling online – we expect a candidate's Web presence to be an integral part of both campaigns," he added.

This study should hopefully wake up all those campaigns out there that don't believe that the web is an important medium to engage voters. The challenge for many campaigns is to figure out how to best engage supporters and voters in this arena.

With the economy heading south…

A growing chorus of economists are predicting that the U.S. is headed toward a recession. That chorus reached a crescendo during the recent market selloff. What will a recession mean for higher education institutions around the country?

A December 2007 report by the National Governors Association predicted that state budget revenue would decline in 2008. Unfortunately, that report may no longer reflect the current realities of the national economy. With state budgets tightening, higher education will most likely face additional pressure to trim legislative requests.

It appears that we are already seeing this happen in California, where Governor Schwarzenegger's cut both higher education systems by ten percent in his proposed budget. These cuts are happening at an inopportune time for California and other states around this country.

The Mercury News editorial board said it best - "California needs the steady flow of an educated workforce to thrive. Cutting money for two- and four-year colleges next year would be a step backward that would affect more than just the entering freshman class. Legislators must do whatever it takes - making hard choices, eliminating tax loopholes or increasing some taxes - to reverse it."

But the only way to really change course is for institutions to more effectively engage their alumni, staff, students and community supporters to help deliver that key message to state legislators around the country. These groups all have a huge incentive to get involved because they are the ones that will feel the greatest impact of the cuts: Students through increased tuition, staff through layoffs, community members through decreased community services and alumni through a more aggressive request for donations. Only when this larger coalition speaks with a united voice at the legislature will higher education institutions be able to effectively make its case for adequate state funding.

 

 

State budgets getting tighter in 2008

A survey released by the National Governors Association found that states are facing much tighter budgets in the coming year than they did during 2007. This could make it more difficult for higher education institutions around the country to request increased state investment in their budgets. It is more likely that, rather than negotiating increases, institutions will have to fight back budget cuts at many state capitols to simply maintain the status quo. This problem will be compounded by the rising costs of Medicaid and health-care costs facing state legislatures in 2008.

Already, the State of Wisconsin cut its higher education line item to address a $116.5 million dollar deficit facing the state in FY2008. The legislators ended up cutting the University of Wisconsin by $12.5 million alone.

The survey also said that in 2007 states spent 10.4 percent of their budget on higher education on average. But it looks like 2008 will see a decline in state support for higher education.

Is Higher Education a Partisan Issue?

There are many in the higher education community who have long felt that the funding of higher education is not a political issue. Traditionally, both liberals and conservatives recognized the importance of a strong investment in the public funding of higher education. However, that common ground has been evaporating in recent years as more and more institutions have seen their priorities on the chopping blocks because of increased pressure on state budgets. The legislative assault on higher education, which is largely the product of the conservative movement, has created a charged political environment around the issue of higher education funding.

Both the Spellings Commission and a recent report from the Center for College Affordability and Productivity highlight this changed environment. The Center for College Affordability and Productivity report claims that "the more states spend on higher education, the lower the growth in personal income per capita in future time periods." The author of the study, Dr. Richard Vedder, is a visiting scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, the same conservative group that is credited with developing President Bush's foreign policy agenda. This group also has long challenged the prevailing scientific view on global climate change.

This recent report has ruffled a few feathers in the higher education community, as evidenced by a discussion on the Chronicle of Higher Education's web site. But, rather than simply generating charged rhetoric, this needs to spur institutions to become more aggressive in defending themselves and developing a grassroots base that will support stronger investments in higher education. For example, the environmental movement was eventually able to turn the tide on AEI's tactics by creating a strong base that loudly supported their efforts. The time of bipartisan agreement on the funding of higher education has passed, and institutions must start leveraging their supporters to make sure their priorities are being funded.

Election Wrap-up

Last week, voters in Maine and Texas passed referenda that authorized additional bonding for state higher education institutions.  The referendum in Maine passed with 51 percent, and voters approved a $43.5 million bonding package for construction projects at higher education facilities across the state.  Similarly, in Texas 66 percent of voters passed a $500 million bonding reauthorization for student loan programs.

However, not all voters embraced an increase in state barrowing.  For example, New Jersey voters rejected Governor Corzine's proposal to allocate state bond money for stem cell research which would have directed some money to the state public universities.  This measure was similar to the one that passed in California in 2004. Overall, Election Day was a fairly good day for higher education institutions at the ballot box.  In addition to the passage of these referenda questions, a pro-higher education governor was elected in Kentucky.

Pretty Good for Government Work

The US House of Representatives Committee on Labor and Education has developed a mini-site explaining the benefits of the recently passed College Cost Reduction and Access Act. The web site is a great example of how organizations and institutions should get their message out in the online age. The web site features a creative video that is a parody on the Match.com commercials, an online dating site. The video is a great example of how to use humor to educate the viewer on your particular issue; in this instance, on what the College Cost Reduction Act does for college students.

The web site also allows visitors to see how much money they will personally save as a result of the law, as well as how much money students in their state may save. The web site also gives visitors tools to share the web site with others via social networking sites or tagging sites. This web site has all the important features of a good mini-site:

1. Personalization
2. Humor
3. Make it easy to share

Opening Doors

In recent years, many higher education institutions started to use technology to open the doors of higher education to the public. Last week, the University of California at Berkeley launched a YouTube channel that will make 86 courses available online this academic year. But what makes their effort especially notable is that they are also using the site to promote the University and its mission.

Higher education institutions are finding it increasingly difficult to get positive information to the public about the great services and research that occurs on campus every day. The mainstream media tends to only cover the controversies and scandals at higher education institutions. Those negative stories have a huge impact on how the public views higher education institutions and ultimately those views are expressed to elected officials, who control the institution's purse strings.

That is why it is so critical that higher education institutions find alternative ways to distribute positive stories about their institutions. But just putting press releases online or releasing canned promotional videos will not be enough to effectively distribute messages. The information must be packaged with something that provides a real value to the web site's visitor. The UC Berkeley YouTube channel does this well because it provides a service that will attract visitors to the site and keep them coming back for more.

Any higher education institution can identify some sort of service it provides that will attract an audience. The key is to capture the audience and then incorporate positive news about your institution into that service. This will be one of the main strategies that higher education institutions use to communicate positive messages to the public in the 21^st century.