Rep. Gene Pelowski's editorial counterpoint of Oct. 27, "State higher education has become a money pit," is indicative of myopic views on the adequacy of state funding of Minnesota public higher education during the past 40 years. While Pelowski, DFL-Winona, accurately depicts the $230 million appropriated to fund a tuition freeze, this omits the long-term neglect, largely by Republican governors and legislators, of the economic infrastructure of the state universities, community colleges, and technical colleges in the past four decades.
Per-student funding of all public higher education, including the University of Minnesota, is now 50 percent of what it was in 1978. The recent infusion of cash to freeze tuition is like a homeowner deciding to repair a leak in the upstairs bathroom plumbing after next to no investment in any of the home's infrastructure.
During the years of Tim Pawlenty's administration, led by the governor and his party in the Legislature, Minnesota topped the nation in disinvesting in higher education for the 2000-2010 decade. Rep. Pelowski's misguided and vitriolic comments serve to enable more of this shameful legacy for Minnesotans.
As president emeritus of Century College (2000 to 2011) and former president of the Minnesota Community College Faculty Association (MCCFA; 1990 to 1998), as well as a humanities faculty member at Minneapolis Community College (1974 to 1990), I can say that faculty, staff and administrators in Minnesota State have often felt scapegoated and under attack by the states' political leaders. Here is just a brief review:
• In 1979, MCCFA went out on a statewide strike over low wages. This was driven by a legislative funding mechanism in which for every dollar that went to the community colleges, the state universities received two dollars and the U three. As a temporary faculty member, I was elected as the strike coordinator at Minneapolis Community College.
In conversations with legislators, they would not believe that my PhD and seven years of teaching led to an annual salary of $13,500. I needed to produce my salary "stub" for one senator to persuade him and others of our position.
• In 1982, Gov. Al Quie took $200 million from the Teachers Retirement Association pension fund to balance the state budget. A lawsuit initiated by the Minnesota Education Association restored our money.
• From 1986 to 1998, I represented community college faculty at the Legislature. A study by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems revealed that Minnesota's per-student funding in the community colleges ranked 41st among 50 states. Similar studies showed that community-college tuition had risen to the fourth highest in the nation. These figure were shared with legislators.