Higher-ed panel picks leaders

Co-chairman wants UA, ASU systems’ realignment input

State Rep. Mark Lowery -- who drafted legislation to merge the University of Central Arkansas into the Arkansas State University System before deciding against introducing it earlier this year -- will be a co-chairman of the legislative task force studying realigning the state's higher education institutions, the task force decided Wednesday.

The Maumelle Republican, a former UCA instructor who recently sued the school, told task force members during their first meeting that he wants to hear from University of Arkansas and Arkansas State University system officials about how smaller schools would benefit by joining forces with them.

After the task force's meeting, Lowery said he decided not to introduce the bill merging UCA into the ASU System during this year's regular session "mainly because the conversation started about [creating] this task force, and it made sense to look at the big picture rather than just looking at just one university."

Lowery said he drafted legislation to merge UCA into the ASU System because "it seems like [at] UCA every four or months there was just something coming out and some type of controversy."

"But I think it a wiser course for us to look at the big picture," he said.

In May, a circuit judge dismissed Lowery's lawsuit against UCA that alleged campus police officers illegally detained him and that UCA violated his privacy by releasing documents from his personnel file to the media. The suit also alleged that UCA singled Lowery out for unfair treatment, prevented him from advancing, denied him a grievance hearing and violated his contract.

The lawsuit was dismissed after the attorney general's office argued that sovereign immunity prohibits that type of lawsuit against arms of the state such as UCA.

Lowery said he worked as an instructor at UCA from 2003-14.

He said he wants the task force to find out what benefits the UA and ASU systems "could offer to a UCA, to a Pulaski Tech or whatever being part of the system," and then "start looking at redundancies maybe in degree programs and certification programs, not really looking so much to eliminate anything [but] consolidate where possible."

The UA System has six four-year colleges and five two-year colleges, while the ASU System has one four-year university and four two-year colleges.

Arkansas has 11 public four-year universities and 22 two-year colleges, and more than 168,000 students attended them in the fall, according to the state Department of Higher Education. The two- and four-year colleges' general revenue budget is $733 million in the fiscal year that started July 1.

House Speaker Jeremy Gillam, R-Judsonia, said he talked with Lowery about his draft legislation to merge UCA into the ASU System late last year, and "it was a small part of the impetus" for Gillam's legislation to create the task force.

UCA President Tom Courtway said he "heard the rumor" late last year about the possibility of legislation merging UCA into the ASU System, but he never talked to Lowery about it.

ASU System President Chuck Welch said he heard last fall that Lowery was considering proposing legislation to merge UCA into the ASU System, but he never talked to Lowery about it, either.

He said he told Courtway during this year's regular session that he "had nothing do with it."

The ASU System, based in Little Rock, serves 20,300 students in Arkansas, according to ASU System spokesman Jeff Hankins. The general revenue budget for the system's five institutions is about $83.9 million in this fiscal year.

Conway-based UCA's enrollment totaled 11,698 in the fall, Courtway said. UCA's general revenue budget is $53 million in this fiscal year.

Sen. Jane English, R-North Little Rock, whom the task force elected as its other co-chairman Wednesday, said she's not sure what the task force is going to do.

"I think it is going to take some time to begin to figure out where it is we want to go or what we want to look at," she said. "For me, it is always what is it are we trying to achieve, and are we achieving it? Are people getting jobs? Do they have the education they need to get a job? That's always going to be the forefront with me. It can't be about programs anymore. It has got to be about results."

Metro on 07/16/2015

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