Cole's book is an odd one for the President to claim as relevant to what is going on at the U. Cole is the president of Columbia University and as Harvard economics professor Claudia Goldin put it in her New York Times review http://nyti.ms/aGBubp of the book:

"But a 150-page inventory like the one Cole provides here tells us as much about why some universities are “great” as a list of names of accomplished people in a large family shows us why their family is “great” relative to others. Moreover, it does nothing to illuminate whether universities did it alone and what kind of incentives were used to enhance researcher productivity."

and

"Today, the greatest threats to American higher education probably do not concern any of the things Cole discusses. Rather, they relate to the openness of the system and the academic preparedness of its students, who, as Cole acknowledges at the outset, play almost no role in this volume."

If our president merely wants confirmation of what he has already decided to do, then a visit with Cole in the fall will serve him well. But if he is actually interested in a dialogue perhaps he should also invite
UC Santa Barbara English professor Christopher Newfield, who has written the book: "Unmaking the Public University." This is published by Harvard University Press.

Do you think the perspective of someone from a wealthy private research university or a public one more similar in means and mission is more relevant?

And if you've not read the Newfield book, please do. You've been talking long enough about the Cole book that it should be finished by now...

Correction-

Cole is NOT the president of Columbia, he is

"... provost of Columbia University for 14 years and a professor of sociology and dean of faculties before that"(from book review cited earlier)

Provost is just as bad or maybe even worse ...

Link to Harvard University Press for Newfield's "Unmaking the Public University": http://bit.ly/bDbQLN

Maybe the president should invite Professor Eva von Dassow to the Great Conversation? Her remarks about where the university is going have been described as "regal and elegant" by MinnPosts's Casey Selix and have been viewed so far by going on twenty thousand people. Link = http://bit.ly/aBEslf

Perhaps we should have a "Great Conversation" among those at the U of M, rather than bringing in someone from a wealthy private university who merely spouts what President Bruininks seems to want us to hear as part of the strategic propaganda initiative?