The AFT has raised concerns over the makeup of a commission charged with carrying out a new U.S. Department of Education initiative, "A National Dialogue: The Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education." The commission's goal, says Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, is to "develop a comprehensive national strategy for postsecondary education."

In a speech at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Sept. 19, Spellings announced the initiative and affirmed that "we still have the finest system of higher education in the world." But, she noted, the world is catching up and we're losing our edge. Parents, taxpayers and policymakers need more information about their investment as enrollments increase, costs rise and the global economy demands more skills and higher productivity from the workforce.

Also, she pointed out, the federal government and taxpayers get insufficient information about their investment in higher education compared to what is collected from the K-12 world, yet the feds pay for one-third of higher education's cost as compared with less than 10 percent of K-12.

The commission is to be chaired by Charles Miller, described as a "private investor" who is the former chair of the board of regents at the University of Texas System. In addition, the 19-member commission includes seven business leaders, four former college presidents, a former governor, two executives from the for-profit education world, education association executives and two higher education scholars.

But, as AFT Higher Education director Larry Gold noted in a letter to Spellings, "while the commission includes one or two distinguished faculty members, we are concerned that it does not include leaders of organizations such as ours that represent thousands upon thousands of college faculty members around the country."

AFT leaders have for decades been deeply engaged in the educational, professional and public policy issues facing our members, Gold said. "We believe this perspective—the perspective of the people who work on the frontlines with students day in and day out—should be included in the commission's deliberations." [Barbara McKenna]

A National Dialogue: The Secretary of Education's
Commission on the Future of Higher Education

Commission Roster

Carol Bartz
Chairman of the Board, President and CEO
Autodesk Inc.

Nicholas Donofrio
Executive Vice President for Innovation and Technology
IBM

James Duderstadt
President Emeritus
University Professor of Science and Engineering
Director, The Millennium Project
University of Michigan

Gerri Elliott
Corporate Vice President
Worldwide Public Sector
Microsoft Corporation

Kati Haycock
Director
The Education Trust

James B. Hunt Jr.
Chairman, Hunt Institute for Educational Policy and Leadership
Former Governor of North Carolina

Jonathan Grayer
CEO and Chairman
Kaplan Inc.

Arturo Madrid
Murchison Distinguished Professor of Humanities
Department of Modern Languages and Literatures
Trinity University

Robert Mendenhall
President
Western Governor's University

Charles Miller
Private Investor
Former Chairman of the Board of Regents, University of Texas System

Charlene R. Nunley
President
Montgomery College

Arthur J. Rothkopf
Senior Vice President and Counselor to the President
U.S. Chamber of Commerce
President Emeritus, Lafayette College

Richard Stephens
Senior Vice President, Human Resources and Administration
The Boeing Company

Louis Sullivan
President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine
Former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Sara Martinez Tucker
President and CEO
Hispanic Scholarship Fund

Richard Vedder
Adjunct Scholar, American Enterprise Institute
Distinguished Ohio State University Professor of Economics

Charles M. Vest
President Emeritus
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

David Ward
President
American Council on Education

Robert Zemsky
Chairman and CEO
The Learning Alliance for Higher Education
University of Pennsylvania

September 22, 2005