Dr. Terry W. Hartle, senior vice president of the division of government and public affairs at the American Council on Education, says the commission’s report was an “unusually candid and important assessment of where the states have been in respect to higher education in the past 15-20 years.”
Although previous commission reports, such as the Spellings Commission on the Future of Higher Education, have touched on states’ roles, they have generally been directed towards universities, Hartle says.
“When 80 percent of students go to public institutions, and public finances decide social progress and economic competitiveness … the commission is to be applauded for taking a cold, hard look and issuing a strong call to state higher education systems,” he says.
— By Shilpa Banerji
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
