The Illinois gurus of faculty productivity

The Chicago Tribune reports that faculty working at Illinois state colleges and universities had better be productive this year:

The Illinois Board of Higher Education has launched a controversial examination of faculty productivity, a move that has riled professors at public universities throughout the state. Having challenged university administrators to pare costs and increase their own productivity, board Chairman James Kaplan wants to take the same look at college faculty. Accordingly, Kaplan has impaneled a committee that will begin early next year to review everything, from what kind of research projects faculty undertake to how much time they spend in the classroom. Kaplan said that with the state’s finances still in trouble, a close look at faculty productivity–even in traditionally sacrosanct areas like research–is warranted. Kaplan said he does not intend to “stymie” research at public colleges and universities, but “there’s got to be a tangible, measurable benefit for the people of the state of Illinois for a professor doing research.”

A few thoughts on this: 1) I’m not sure if the fault lies with the Tribune‘s reporting or Kaplan’s statements, but what’s being debated here is not productivity — which is the units of output generated divided by the units of inputs involved in the production process. What the Illinois Board of Higher Education appears to be concerned with is output (A slightly more charitable read is the board is simply holding inputs — in the form of faculty salaries — constant, and trying to figure out how to squeeze more output — in the form of classes taught, etc.). 2) I wonder if Kaplan really understands the economics of higher education, and the role that research grants play in funding university budgets. From a state perspective, the benefits of research activity are not just the fruits of the research — the benefits also come from the employment of research staff. Click here for a recent local story dealing with the relationship between research, teaching, and benefits to Illinois. 3) Reading some of Kaplan’s quotes in the article, it’s not clear if he knows anything about higher education — or public relations:

Despite studies that show college faculty routinely work more than 50 hours a week, the paucity of classroom time and the sometimes esoteric nature of their research has officials like Kaplan expressing impatience with the culture that pervades parts of academia. “I’m a practical guy, I am not an egghead,” Kaplan said. “I can’t sit and do these ephemeral things.”…. Kaplan stressed he’s not out to quash research programs or load professors up with unreasonable course loads. “Nothing is farther from my mind [than] to focus on classroom time,” Kaplan said. “We recognize the importance of public service and also of research.” And in a comment sure to set off a firestorm, Kaplan said faculty should attend professional conferences on their own time. “I don’t view going to a conference as a public service,” he said.

As much as I like to poke fun at academic conferences, this last statement is idiotic. All professions have some form of continuing education so that they stay on top of their field. Conferences serve this function for most academic disciplines. 4) It’s not easy working at a state university of college. The name itself is partially misleading, because it implies that the state shoulders most of the burden to pay for these institutions. In fact, according to this report, the percentage contribution of state taxes to the University of Illinois system’s operating budget has declined from 46.6% in 1980 to an estimated 23.5% in 2004. Despite this fact, the state’s control over the university system — with its added layers of regulation and bureacucacy — has not changed one iota. UPDATE: AtlanticBlog and Cold Spring Shops have more on this.