In Sunday’s op-ed column, “MVSU as good as its pipeline,” Tim Kalich makes some valid points relative to the impact of Gov. Haley Barbour’s proposal to use graduation rates as a basis for state appropriations to Mississippi’s colleges and universities. In a previous news story, state Sen. David Jordan also raises legitimate concerns regarding the inequity of funding based solely on graduation rates ("Funding proposal would cost Valley," Nov. 18). While I appreciate their reasoning, I am not convinced that theirs is the only reasoning appropriate in this situation.
First of all, a funding formula based solely on graduation rates would hurt every one of our state’s colleges and universities because none of them graduate 100 percent of their students. Not even Harvard has a 100 percent graduation rate.
Secondly, regardless of what Governor Barbour’s intent might be, his proposal could actually benefit the colleges and universities with the lowest graduation rates because it factors in a variable within the control of those colleges and universities.
Finally, I believe that the fairness in a funding formula that includes graduation rates is that it places the focus on students who sincerely desire an education and on the taxpayers who sincerely desire accountability for their investment.
To focus only on the 29 percent of MVSU’s students who graduate within a given time frame is to “miss the forest because of the trees.”
When I heard the proposal, my mind went immediately to the 71 percent of students who are not graduating and to the enormous opportunity MVSU has to do what it boasts of doing best: taking students where they are and getting them to where they need to be.
The fact that Valley is underfunded is not breaking news. Remember, this is one of three universities that the state has admitted to historically underfunding. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Valley has needs greater than most (if not all) of her sister institutions. Yet, despite inequitable funding, merger proposals, setbacks and setups for failure, MVSU has held true to its mission and remained committed to serving the underserved and to preparing the underprepared as well as the scholars. The merger discussion bent Valley, but it didn’t break her; the budget cuts impacted Valley, but they didn’t shake her resolve to not only survive but thrive and to provide a quality education for her students.
The 71 percent of students who don’t graduate are people that Valley can identify — can touch, see, impact, influence. These are not students who have to be recruited, convinced and persuaded to enroll. These are students who chose MVSU.
Rather that cursing the darkness, this is the time for MVSU to “light a candle.” This is the time for innovative ideas and creative strategies. This is an open door to academic expertise — from the classrooms to the executive offices. This is a chance for the faculty to demonstrate the scholarship expected of them by employing the current knowledge and utilizing the best practices in their disciplines. This is a chance for administrators to demonstrate the leadership expected of them by providing the resources and support required to ensure delivery of a quality education.
Colleges and universities would do well to emulate other academic systems that are creative and innovative in their approach to retention. For instance, at the Mississippi School of the Arts, each student, upon arrival, is matched with a host family — community volunteers and supporters who commit themselves to becoming surrogate “parents away from home” for their students, most of whom have never spent more than a vacation away from home. Further, prior to the students’ arrival, they are sent surveys of their interests to most appropriately match them with roommates or suite mates with the same or similar interests (from choice of music to whether they are “night hawks” or “early risers”). There’s no cost — only an interest in keeping the students who, by choice, auditioned for a place among the student body.
As a more radical approach, perhaps the answer to graduating students lies with the students themselves. Has anyone, anywhere, thought to ask students to identify those obstacles that keep them from staying in school and completing their degree requirements?
To give credit where credit is due, Dr. Donna Oliver came in accepting the challenges of recruitment and retention as major priorities for her administration. She was strategically planning for increases in the graduation rate — affirmatively addressing the 71 percent not graduating — before it even crossed Governor Barbour’s mind.
Maybe if Senator Jordan and Rep. Willie Perkins had focused on a human chain to keep the 71 percent in rather than a human chain to keep Dr. Oliver out, they would understand (and be able to articulate to the governor and their colleagues in the state Legislature) that, because MVSU has farther to go relative to improving graduation rates, the formula ought to be related to the percentage of increase in the graduation rate over a period of time. Instead of chasing phantom tourism issues and taxation on four-wheelers, perhaps our legislators could find the time to build relationships on both sides of the aisle that will benefit those they profess to “love.”
Tim, while many of our students may come from one of the most impoverished regions in the nation with some of the lowest average ACT scores, they come to Valley with the highest expectations and the greatest motivation to succeed in spite of the odds against them. The students are not failing us. If anything, we are failing them. But we can fix it. We can educate them, and we will educate them. It’s what we do.
• Troy D. Brown Sr. is a contractor with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a former dean of students at Mississippi Valley State University.
