SAN DIEGO — In the cutthroat game of university recruiting, one state's fiscal crisis is another's opportunity.
While the revered University of California is getting pounded by deep state budget cuts, the University of Texas System is trumpeting its robust fiscal fitness in print advertisements, a calculated bid to lure some of the nation's top scientists and professors to Texas while the getting is good.
The UT System ran a full-page ad in the Chronicle of Higher Education this month with the headline, “Texas can take you higher,” boasting that billions of dollars were available to hire star professors, support research and build new facilities and that there was a 7 percent increase in state funding last year.In her office at the University of California at San Diego Chancellor Marye Anne Fox, a former administrator at UT-Austin, took note of the burnt orange ad with a wry smile.
“The impression we get in California is that there are unlimited funds in Texas,” Fox said.
But how long will Texas be able to boast deep pockets?
Come 2011, Texas is facing a budget shortfall, and Gov. Rick Perry has asked all state agencies to chop 5 percent of state funds out of their budget before then. Leaders at public community colleges and universities glumly submitted proposed cuts, warning that wage and hiring freezes could wipe out Texas' competitive edge.
California's ‘mistake'
Some academics are turning to the business lobby to spare them from cuts, saying their influence with GOP lawmakers could coax more dollars for higher education.
“Don't make the same mistake California did. Don't do it,” William Henrich, president of the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio, said at a recent meeting of college presidents, lawmakers and business leaders. “The business community is such a powerful voice in Texas. They have to make the argument to lawmakers.”