Best's Higher Ed Holdings Withdraws from U of Toledo

Congratulations to all those at the University of Toledo who believed in quality public higher education enough to act quickly against the pedagogical fundamentalists, testocrats, and education profiteers from Best Associates. From the letter below you can tell that, just like the Borg, Higher Ed Holdings will not be deterred by this defeat. They will be back.

So to those at UT and at other public universities where backroom deals are being cut with cash-starved administrators, the only remedy is to act on your convictions at the first hint of corporate takeover. Stand up! Know what you are about and what the public university stands for in this country. If you like what unrestrained greed has done for our economy and for the rest of the world, imagine what the faux market representatives might do for the American university and the ideal of the "unrestricted desire to know" (Lonergan). The stakes couldn't be higher:

From: Tom Evans
Sent: Monday, March 02, 2009 10:24 AM
To: Haggett, Rosemary
Cc: Scarborough, Scott ; UTPresident; Vernon Johnson
Subject: HEH Partnership

Dear Rosemary

As you know one of the critical success factors for our proposed partnership is having leadership and faculty aligned with the mission and goals of the partnership. Although some of this exists, the partnership must have better alignment within University of Toledo so that its mission can be achieved.

As a result, it is best to defer our partnership until we have the alignment necessary within the University to focus outwardly on the needs of Ohio’s unserved teachers and school districts and on removing the barriers of access to the great, high quality academic programs you have to offer those potential students.

We’ve enjoyed our time with you and the faculty of the College of Education, and appreciate the opportunity to partner with the University of Toledo.

Best regards. Tom

Tom Evans
Executive Vice President
Higher Ed Holdings
214-438-4117 (office)