Thoughtful Statesman

Now a new CPE?

Brad Cowgill's decision to resign, rather than face a prolonged fight over his appointment as full-time president of the Council on Postsecondary Education, was the right resolution for the wrong process.

The General Assembly clearly intended the state's system of public colleges and universities to be overseen by a CPE administrator with national stature and deep higher education background. Mr. Cowgill did not qualify on either point.

He was, however, a thoughtful interim leader for the CPE whose views on funding our public campuses were worth serious consideration. His negative reaction to more
tuition hikes -- especially a big increase by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) -- was fully justified. It's understandable that CPE chairman John Turner accepted his resignation "with mixed emotions."

Entirely predictable was the reaction from Senate President David Williams, who charged Gov. Steve Beshear with "interfering" in the selection of a CPE president. That complaint may be brushed aside as false. Mr. Beshear didn't interfere. He simply insisted that the CPE selection process operate according to law.

Our view has been, and remains, that the most important task is not choosing a new CPE president but deciding what the council should be -- coordinator? advocate? both? -- and what it can be, given the ultimately, and inevitably, political nature of the big decisions it must make concerning Kentucky's public higher education system. Whatever role is assigned to the council, the General Assembly and the governor can't be written out of the process. They won't let themselves be bypassed...

Cowgill also drew praise from H-L for his statesmanship.

Honorable move
Cowgill resigns; now Beshear must step up

Gov. Steve Beshear won the battle but Brad Cowgill walked away looking like a statesman.

Rather than trigger an unproductive fight with the governor, Cowgill surrendered a job that he wanted, even though he had powerful allies, including Senate President David Williams, who would have helped him try to hold on.

By doing the honorable thing, Cowgill sets the stage for a national search for someone to lead Kentucky's efforts to catch up with the rest of the country in educating its people.

Beshear has expressed an interest in doing all he can to assist the search for a new Council on Postsecondary Education president.

What would be most helpful from him is a genuine commitment to provide Kentucky's public universities and colleges and the state's public schools with the resources they need. A commitment backed by effective action...

Cowgill Steps Down

This from Art Jester at H-L:

Brad Cowgill announced Tuesday that he is resigning as president of the state Council on Postsecondary Education.

“I do this for one reason: In the foreseeable future, it would be necessary to devote excessive time and effort to unproductive activities, denying me the satisfaction of fruitful work,” Cowgill said in a statement.

Officially, Cowgill’s eight-month interim term as the council’s president ends Wednesday. The council hired him as its president on April 14, over the objections of Gov. Steve Beshear, who said the council should obey state law by conducting a national search to fill the post.

Council Chariman John Turner praised Cowgill for his work.

“Brad Cowgill took the reigns of the CPE as interim president last fall during a challenging time in the life of the Council.” Turner said. “Brad’s singular energy and intellect, attention to detail, and unique communication skills. He handled each assignment with distinction and aplomb.”

Earlier Tuesday, Turner acknowledged that it is “very possible” the council will revisit in a closed session on Thursday the group’s recent decision to appoint Cowgill as their presidentTurner and council member John R. Hall of Lexington, the former chairman of Ashland Inc., had little else to say after meeting with Gov. Steve Beshear in the Capitol for 38 minutes early Tuesday afternoon...

H-L: Higher-ed needs national search

This from the Herald-Leader:

Panel should seek new leader while Cowgill studies rising tuition

When it costs more to go to community college in Kentucky than in the rest of the country, someone needs to ask questions.

Brad Cowgill is right to shine a bright light on proposed tuition increases. But Cowgill can't be an effective advocate for affordable higher education, or anything else, under the current circumstances...

...Beshear is demanding a national search and correctly says that for the search to be fair, Cowgill cannot be a candidate.

Without the uncertainty of a governor's race looming, the CPE should be able to attract a stronger pool of candidates than last year when it called of the search.

And now that Beshear has drawn a line in the sand, the council, still made up mostly of Fletcher appointees, and its chairman, John Turner, cannot produce a graceful resolution without opening a new search.

Sure, they could duke it out in the courts and media. But to what end? An expensive, protracted fight and ugly rift between the president and the governor he's supposed to advise, with the council's staff and work frozen in the crossfire...

CPE's Turner Questions Beshear's Motives

This from H-L:

John Turner, chairman of the state Council on Postsecondary Education, sent a letter to council members last week, questioning Gov. Beshear's motives for trying to block their hiring of Brad Cowgill.

Turner speculated in the April 21 letter to council members that the governor might have political motives for questioning Cowgill's hiring.

"I'm wondering if it's possible that the real focus of the governor's attention is us, not Brad," he wrote, noting that a move by Beshear to dissolve the council "would hasten the point (by a couple of years) when the council has mainly people appointed by Governor Beshear."

Turner said it would be "premature" to say how the council will react to Beshear.