Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen is a master architect.
He envisions redrafting the health care system in the state and sets out a plan to make it happen.
He sees renewable energy on the horizon (and saw it before the election of President Obama), and he pushes state and university officials to seize the initiative. Pre-stimulus, Tennessee already is on the fast track to converting switchgrass to fuel.
He sees an economic downturn and vacancies at the top in the two higher education boards, and he senses the time may be right — even though he has less than two years left in office to do the unthinkable — to remake the governing structure for the state’s colleges and universities.
This task is similar to walking among the mines in a demilitarized zone.
Who would dare walk into a valley of death and strip away some of the autonomy of the University of Tennessee? And would the same soul be willing to tell the University of Memphis that only in its dreams is it an equal to a major research institution? Sorry, but a name change does not change anything else; that has to be earned (for those hankering for such a change).
For institutions of higher education and learning, these are the times of naiveté.
It may be time to throw a few sacred cows to the wind, such as the 1969 agreement between the University of Tennessee and the University of Chattanooga.
As some argue over the name of the local institution of higher education and whether UT officials many moons ago promised to create an unspecified number of graduate and doctoral programs here, the governor of Tennessee has blown past those charges and countercharges.
Names may not be important. Graduate programs or their number or where they are located may not rise to the top of the list.
What does is raising the number of Tennessee students who earn a college degree.
For a governor who has recruited over $3 billion in new industry in less than two years at a time of economic troubles across the globe, his mind is not focused on a few paragraphs in a time-worn document that some cling to at all costs. He is looking ahead and not counting on what might have been.
This is an opportunity for a campus such as Chattanooga to make a case for its academic programs: to reach out to Volkswagen and bring the German manufacturer along as a partner to support an aggressive, focused curriculum here that meets its employment needs for the years ahead.
Instead of wringing hands as to whether the University of Tennessee in Knoxville will choose to be land grant or research, Chattanooga should demonstrate that what Knoxville is not is a first-class engineering school.
Instead of becoming entrenched to preserve everything at all costs and end up with fewer at a higher cost, Chattanooga should stand up for the unique programs that are provided to willing students.
Raising the retention and graduation rates at Chattanooga, a task on track here, is exactly the right message to send to a governor who is looking to have more four-year degree-carriers as part of his legacy.
Flagship or a vessel by another name is not the issue.
Preparing students with life skills and learning is the objective.
It really does not matter whether one has a particular designation. All can rise to meet the higher education challenges and expectations.
To reach Tom Griscom, call 423-757-6472 or e-mail tgriscom@timesfreepress.com.
