I attended the Board of Governor’s meeting on Friday and was able to hear Molly Broad’s final President’s report to the BOG. During the closed session of the meeting I was able to read a couple chapters out of “The Road to Serfdom.”
Hayek talks about how socialists have good intentions. They intend to make the world better by centralizing the planning of society. But in the end they create a world far worse than the one they intend to escape.
Then I went back into the BOG meeting and heard Broad tell the audience that in her eight year tenure, the University system has doubled the size of its infrastructure, grown its number of students, started a Washington DC office, and passed “the largest education bond in history.” She talked about enhancing “access” and diversity.
All these goals and policies sound good. But the truth is that the University has become a monstrous leviathan. The bond represents debt that the state doesn’t need. The Washington DC office represents the politicalization of higher education. And the increased number of students begs the question: how much is my degree worth?
Increasing opportunity and educating the populace are good goals, but centralizing governance and taxing the populace do nothing but stifle competition and lead to mediocrity.