There’s a lively conversation on Mark Maynard’s blog, “Will public universities begin going private?” Mark is referencing a NYTimes article, but most of the discussion here is about the highly hypothetical case of the University of Michigan “going private.”
Personally, I don’t U of M could afford to give up on state funding entirely, and I also have a hard time wrapping my head around just how logistically this happens. I mean, does Mary Sue Coleman make a phone call to Jennifer Granholm and say “Hey, we’re done with the state. Can we just erase all the various laws that govern stuff that goes on at the University of Michigan, and can you just send me the keys? Okay, great!”
But okay, as a thought experiment: I think that if U of M were to go private, it’d probably be good for the likes of EMU and the other regional Michigan universities– not to mention MSU and Wayne State– because there would be at least slightly more money to go around, and it might also clarify our mission as an institution versus U of M’s mission.
Man, that would be one epic ballot initiative…
“I think that if U of M were to go private, it’d probably be good for the likes of EMU and the other regional Michigan universities– not to mention MSU and Wayne State– because there would be at least slightly more money to go around, and it might also clarify our mission as an institution versus U of M’s mission.”
Unless some state legislators got creative and decided to cut the higher ed budget by subtracting the amount U-M would have gotten from the pot if they were still in the mix.
Makes more sense to me for EMU to go private rather than U of M considering how much smaller EMU is in comparison to U of M.
Of course…. Going Private in my eyes means…….
Publicly Tradeable Stock on the Stock Market!!! Yippe!!! Buy 1000 Shares of EMU!!! Because EMU’s Future is on the up and up with all of these great Unions and McMansions being built for Luxury Purposes having nothing to do with Education Frisk… I mean First.