Recent editorials from Tennessee newspapers:
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May 20
The Leaf-Chronicle on Austin Peay State University’s new identity:
For many years, Austin Peay State University has been tagged as the liberal arts school for the Tennessee Board of Regents system. For a great many people that meant the school’s focus, funding and emphasis were to be on its creative arts programs: music, art, writing, theater.
To be blunt: That’s great stuff, but it doesn’t pay the bills.
Under previous administrations, the university learned that lesson and pushed itself toward becoming more oriented toward workforce training. APSU capitalized heavily on its prime location next to Fort Campbell to marry up employer needs with “nontraditional students” (mainly former military and military spouses) looking for a new career.
Some say that workforce training mission went too far, making the university look more like a community college.
The Tim Hall administration came in with a bold new idea: Create a campus culture. President Hall did the unthinkable for many academics and reinstated scholarship football. He also encouraged projects and programs that fostered a sense of campus life, pushing against the “commuter campus” feel.
It worked so well that the early objections to Hall’s focus on sports fell quickly away as people began to see the value of students and the community caring again about being a “Gov.”
Now we have a new university president, new opportunities with a critical purchase of additional land, and a new challenge as the state FOCUS Act shuffles the oversight and coordination of Tennessee Board of Regents schools.
As The Leaf-Chronicle reported earlier this month, the push now is to build up, fund and market programs that are not part of the stereotypical liberal arts profile, specifically programs related to science, technology, engineering and math.
This makes perfect sense. If APSU is to grow and thrive, there’s simply no way it will do that relying primarily on its liberal arts programs. These are great programs, but they never have and likely never will turn APSU into a state university powerhouse on their own. What they need are powerhouse programs to support them, and excellent STEM offerings can do that by appealing to two target groups.
For the foreseeable future, Fort Campbell will be churning out young retirees and ex-military and their spouses looking for a university education to take them to a second career. They don’t want to do this online, or drive to Nashville every day, or relocate for classes to Knoxville or Memphis or some other state.
They want a university education right here, right now, in a field that can lead them to long-term career success.
Similarly, these STEM-related programs are a draw for international graduate students, an under-tapped market for APSU that could help bring total enrollment up to the 15,000-student target.
APSU has many programs that can do that, such as in nursing, engineering tech and data analysis to name a few. We need more, and we need to promote and support these offerings.
And yes, we can do that without sacrificing our excellent liberal arts programs.
This is not an “either/or” proposition. This is a “both/and” proposition.
APSU can continue to provide excellent liberal arts programs, and perhaps they can be even better, if the university can grow to the next level by meeting the growing STEM-related demand.
It’s time for Austin Peay to grow into a new campus-focused, general education identity, one that supports its current areas of excellence and keeps up with the real needs of the community.
Online: https://www.theleafchronicle.com/
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May 23
The Johnson City Press on whether Gov. Haslam should endorse Donald Trump:
The Associated Press reports Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam isn’t quite ready to endorse presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
Haslam, who had endorsed Florida Sen. Marco Rubio before Tennessee’s primary in March, said last week he has problems with some of Trump’s past rhetoric.
“This is a very winnable race for our party that we need to win,” Haslam told reporters in Nashville. “I’ve said before that I have a few questions I want to talk about with Donald Trump.”
Haslam said he plans to join other GOP governors in meeting with Trump to discuss issues that are of particular importance to states, including health care and education.
“Most states would tell you right now that states aren’t getting their say at the table the way that we should under the Obama administration,” he said.
Other top Republicans in Tennessee have already embraced Trump as their party’s presidential nominee. That includes the state’s senior member to the U.S. Senate.
“I’m going to support the nominee when we have one and focus on re-electing a Republican Senate,” Sen. Lamar Alexander said.
Tennessee’s junior senator, Bob Corker, who is the chairman of the U.S.Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says he has counseled Trump on international affairs. Corker said he believes Trump will move beyond the “personality-based” campaign seen in the bitter GOP primary.
“People were looking for a leader, a type of leader, but now you’re going to see that roll out,” he said.
Tell us what you think. Should Haslam join other state Republicans leaders and officially back Trump’s candidacy?
Online: https://www.johnsoncitypress.com/
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May 24
The Tennessean on a proposed special session for the state legislature:
The opportunists of the Tennessee General Assembly are salivating over how “potty politics” and their No. 1 boogeyman, Barack Obama, can secure their jobs in the November election.
The end of the 2016 legislative session could not have come soon enough with plenty of hateful legislation aimed at curbing the rights of citizens, but a growing number of lawmakers want to come back for a special session to make more mischief anyway
To what extent exactly is unclear at this time.
If it happens, it is likely going to revolve around the guidance that the Obama Administration issued to school districts on accommodating transgender, intersex and other gender-nonconforming students’ bathroom needs in a way that does not violate their civil rights.
An email chain obtained by The Tennessean shows that House Republican Caucus Chairman Glen Casada started the conversation with fellow GOP legislators about defying the Obama administration and potentially calling for a special session. This led to a vigorous debate about whether to get “drawn in” to the bathroom law debate.
As of May 24, the House is close to acquiring the 66 signatures it needs to call for a special session. The Senate may follow suit. This, despite opposition from Gov. Bill Haslam, Senate Speaker Ron Ramsey and House Speaker Beth Harwell.
A bill that would have required public schools and universities to prohibit students from using bathrooms that did not conform to the sex listed on their birth certificates received serious consideration this year, but it did not make the cut.
Weeks later, non-therapist and bill sponsor Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, wrote in a Facebook post: “Transgenderism is a mental disorder called gender identity disorder - no one should be forced to entertain another’s mental disorder and it is not healthy for the individual with the disorder.”
Mental illness is a serious issue, and with all the talk of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) affecting the mental, behavioral and emotional health of public school children, Lynn’s remark was not only ignorant but tone-deaf.
Lynn has been clear, however, that she plans to bring back her bathroom bill.
Two-thirds of both the Senate and House of Representatives must agree to come back to Nashville for the special session.
If they do, they might call for Attorney General Herbert Slatery to sue the president over the bathroom issue, like they did on the refugee program.
Is it possible they might call for the U.S. House of Representatives to impeach Obama as Oklahoma legislators recently did?
Even though they are not supposed to take on business from the previous regular session, might they pass other legislation that has not been properly vetted, discussed or debated in public?
That’s the problem. This is a hasty move that showcases the worst of pitchfork democracy.
Passing legislation should be slow so it can be properly understood, so that the public interest can be properly ascertained and so people’s rights are protected.
Meanwhile, a Vanderbilt University poll released on Thursday shows continuing levels of strong support for Insure Tennessee, Haslam’s plan to provide health coverage to working poor people. The majority of lawmakers have had no interest in making that happen after nearly 18 months.
In the case of the special session, it’s pure red-meat politics, which may win state Republicans points in November.
Even so, it’s still wrong and, hopefully, lawmakers beating the drum for a special session will come to their senses.
Legislators would do all of us a favor by staying home.
Online: https://www.tennessean.com/
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