Sam Houston State Univeristy

Wednesday, April 29, 2009
SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY'S CAUTIOUS DELIBERATIONS -- BRAVO! Sam Houston State University has been involved in negotiations with Higher Ed Holdings since last fall. How refreshing that a state university would actually take adequate time to consider the full ramifications of a partnership with venture capitalist Randy Best and HEH. The following item can be found in the minutes of Sam Houston State University's April 2nd, 2009, Faculty Senate meeting: "Although administration has made no final decision, thoughts are that current draft agreements with Higher Education Holdings afford insufficient university control of academic issues."SHSU administrators and faculty should consider what is happening at Arkansas State University, where administration, in cahoots with HEH, are violating shared governance, altering curriculum to fit HEH's model, and wreaking havoc with the university in general. Most agregious is HEH's unabashed emphasis on high enrollment above quality and their dubious advertising stratgies. See the article below about HEH's Diploma Mill Promotion. Rest assured, SHSU, once you've signed on the dotted line with HEH, you'll discover that they assert a great deal of control over curriculum. You will soon discover that faculty developing HEH courses are given strict limitations on assessments, assignments, and even how long a video clip should be. You will discover that faculty members are really not supposed to interact with students or alter courses once they're online (so much for formative assessments to help direct instruction -- or teachable moments). Administrators are warned by HEH that faculty will obstruct their efforts to move forward with a contract and HEH will even tell administrators how to work around issues of shared governance. HEH will oversell the high numbers of students their program will bring to the university -- because of the reduced tuition and convenience. HEH WILL NOT TELL YOU THAT YOU WILL GAIN A REPUTATION AS A DIPLOMA MILL. THEY WILL NOT TELL YOU THAT ACCREDITATION AGENCIES ARE SCRUTINIZING THEIR FIVE WEEK ONLINE COURSES. THEY WILL NOT TELL YOU THAT STATE DEPARTMENTS OF EDUCATION ARE CONCERNED, AND EXAMINING, THE EXPLOITATION OF HEH AND THEIR PARTNERING UNVIERSITIES OF STATE APPROPRIATION FUNDS TO FATTEN THE COFFERS OF RANDY BEST AND HEH. No wonder HEH always pushes for a quick decision by universities. They warn universities that if they don't sign the contract quickly, they will find themselves in competition with HEH soon. HAH! That may be true, but it's also true that partnering with HEH can be ruinous to a university on many levels. The HEH/public university model has only been in existence for less than 2 years. If the difficulties being experienced by ASU are any indication, this whole HEH experiment could be a disaster on a number of fronts.