As with all actions, one has to weigh the risks vs the benefits. The academic benefits to Rice and BCM of a merger have been discussed for ages. It is an open secret that BCM has been courting Rice for years, and Rice always has shyed of such a merger. BCM's recent financial implosion shows that previous administrations at Rice were right to avoid merging Rice and BCM. The current administration, however, seems quite enthusiastic about the merger. There has been a lot of recent internal communication about the merger, but its seems that the President and Provost of Rice have already made up their mind in favor of the merger, as they always minimize the risks and hype the benefits.
The clearet point in favor of the merger is that Rice would improve its standing in the ranking game and may move up in ranking. I'd be curious to hear what Rice faculty members think of this argument. Will the increase in size move Rice up in ranking? Is this important? Universities often denigrate rankings, while paying close attention to them. Should a merger with BCM be planned based on projected rise in ranking?
Rice Faculty Member
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The Rice administration has just issued a Call to Conversation on the merger, which is funny (or depressing, depending on your point of view), since it is quite clear that they have made up their mind on this issue, in favor of the merger, if they can just resolve some BIG financial questions.
ReplyDeleteSee interesting analysis at http://blog.kir.com/archives/2008/10/a_good_idea_but.asp.
ReplyDeleteHow come everyone outside Rice thinks that this is a great idea, but Rice faculty members are so unenthusiastic?
ReplyDeleteSee http://rk.md/2008/bcm-rice-merger/.
Faculty members always resist change. Always.
ReplyDeleteThat isn't completely true, but it's true enough.
ReplyDeleteSometimes the faculty is wrong to resist change, but sometimes they're right.
Presidents and provosts come and go, board members come and go, but faculty members stay, sometimes for decades. Thus, they are the ones who have a very long-term personal perspective on the institution. If the merger goes forward, then Leebron can expect a salary raise and would probably accept another university presidencey (he is fairly young), but he won't be at Rice if the merger goes sour a few years later. He has a personal stake in the merger going forward. Faculty members, on the other hand, do think about the long-term impact of the merger.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I don't think that Leebron is doing this for personal gain. I think that he is genuinely trying to do the best thing for Rice. However, the administration is not considering the long-term impact of this decision on the rest of the University. If the Rice endowment restarts going up at 20% yearly (and if the Baylor side controls costs), then "old Rice" will be OK. If the endowment stagnates for a few years, or if Baylor restarts over-spending, then the rest of the University will become atrophic. There are ways to help Baylor remain a top-20 medical school without endangering Rice's other schools. Vigorous schools of engineering, natural sciences, and management are vital to Houston's continued economic success. Leading schools of humanities, social sciences, architecture, and music are key to the continued development of the city social, urban, and intellectual fabric. Houston cannot afford to lose these.
ReplyDeleteRankings are important only because they help attract the best students and faculty. Merging with Baylor will not help Rice raise further in the undergraduate rankings. Some of the (meaningless) global rankings will go up (e.g., Shanghai ranking, Times Higher Education ranking), but the departmental (or program) rankings will be unaffected. Faculty and PhD students use departmental rankings (if any ranking at all) to decide which institution to join.
ReplyDeleteDepartmental rankings will drop if a merger results in reallocation of resources away from the current departments and programs--which will make it harder to attract and retain top faculty and PhD students.
Most people I know at Rice simply do not know enough details to have an informed opinion. The Administration keeps most details about the merger under tight wraps, citing confidentiality agreements. They said publicy that Rice is negotiating with Baylor and Texas Children Hospital, but it is inconceivable that they are not negotiating also with Methodist and St. Lukes Hospitals.
ReplyDeleteThere was a faculty forum about the merger at Rice this afternoon. I was not able to attend, but I heard that other than a general discussion, there was not much new.
ReplyDeleteHow do BCM faculty merger feel about a merger with Rice?
ReplyDeleteI am a BCM faculty member. We'd love to merge with Rice. This idea goes back to DaBakey, who believed that BCM and Rice were made for each other. Rice and BCM complement each other beautifully.
ReplyDeleteMy understanding is that Rice's faculty is somewhat put off by the very limited sharing of information about the gorier details of the merger plan, namely everything related to financial and governance plans and their execution. The core concern is that the end result will be the loss of the ability/flexibility of enhancing/investing in Rice itself, its research and academic programs, because of financial stress.
ReplyDeleteI believe that more information sharing from the administration would go a looong way towards alleviating the worries of a lot of Rice people.
However, while the process has been ongoing for several months now, there has not been an accompanying increase in quality and quantity of "data" shared. This makes people feel like a decision has been made and now it is just a matter of justifying it post-facto, and that there is not a real interest in a critical open conversation about it.
Also, some people voice concerns about how Rice and BCM are going to not find themselves in the same straits that made BCM and Methodist relationship fall apart, on issues about "control" (in particular of "cash flow" and of the clinical part of BCM's activities, which in turn boils down to cash flow again).
This concern links back to getting more information about governance and execution...
One way or the other, a decision will be made in a matter of a couple of months, I'd guess.
I am also a BCM faculty member. I also love the idea of merging with Rice. I believe that this is our only chance of resurrecting the partnership with Methodist, which is critical to our future.
ReplyDeleteI am yet another BCM faculty member. Frankly, I don't understand the hoolpa about the merger with Rice. It does not solve any of BCM's current problems. I think we should merge with Methodist Hospital.
ReplyDeleteI heard that the merger was discussed yesterday (March 11) at the Rice Faculty senate meetings, which was attended by some Rice trustees. Can someone who attended tell us what happened there?
ReplyDeleteI was not there, but I heard a report. Apparently, sparks flew in that meeting. A very senior faculty member put forward fairly scathing criticism of the Administration, essentially saying that merger is being pursued even though the case for it has yet to be made. From what I hear, Crownover was rather defensive. I wish I had been there.
ReplyDeleteWow! I wish I had been there. They did not announce that the merger was going to be discussed.
ReplyDeleteAs a BCM faculty member, the current (seemingly temporary) administration seems to be woefully inadequate. Hamilton is unable to stop the scientific hemorrhage at BCM, as some of the top faculty leave for better options. And as BCM spends a half million on consultants this month to figure out that they are spending too much money, it continues to be unclear whether anyone currently at the helm has the capacity to steer this ship. It might be better for the PWC consultants to take a hard look at the board and administration! For ideas of where to trim, see pages 19 & 20 of:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2007/741/613/2007-741613878-046c5c5c-9.pdf (This feels a little like AIG leadership!)
Rice University is consistently ranked one of America's best teaching universities because of its:
ReplyDeleteSize- 3,102 undergraduates and 2,237 graduate students
Selectivity-12 applicants for each place in the freshman class
Resources-an undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1
Endowment of $910,380 per FTE student
Collaborative culture Instead to a Competitive culture-which crosses disciplines, integrates teaching and research, and intermingles undergraduate and graduate schools……..And ……it will risk all to get a Medical School.
NO TO THE RICE/BAYLOR MERGE
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