U faculty: efficiency can’t be quantified - Jill Jensen, Minnesota Daily

Increased state budget cuts have prompted a national discussion on controversial faculty productivity measures, and faculty members at the University of Minnesota are eager to set the record straight. Some state legislatures have introduced a productivity standard based on salaries, tuition revenue and grants, to promote greater efficiency at schools like Texas A & M University. Faculty members at the University are concerned that misconceptions about their value to the state could prompt similar “anti-intellectual” measures here, said William Beeman, professor and chairman of the anthropology department. Though the state does not contribute the majority of the University’s budget, Beeman said it could still influence the University into adopting this type of standard.