CSU rejects criticism of its legislative scorecard

We have referred in earlier posts to the rather surprising disclosure that CSU produced an online “scorecard” rating members of the legislature on their votes on matters of concern to higher ed.  While it is not surprising that CSU would keep track of legislative votes, rating them and publishing the ratings is, well, unusual.  It has produced legislative complaints.  But CSU seems to be toughing it out on this issue. From the Sacramento Bee‘s Capitol Alert blog:

Two state senators – one Democrat and one Republican – demanded Thursday that the California State University system’s trustees tell them who authorized spending for a “legislative report card” that rated lawmakers on how well they supported the system’s political goals.  Sens. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, and Joel Anderson, R-Alpine, both received low marks in the CSU compilation of votes and other actions affecting the system’s political agenda this year.  The report card was apparently a parting gesture by Chancellor Charles Reed, who has announced his retirement. No legislator earned an “A” grade in the report…  Michael Uhlenkamp, a CSU spokesman, said of the Yee-Anderson request: “The issuing of the CSU’s legislative scorecard was approved by campus presidents, the executive staff at the chancellor’s office and the chancellor. “As with any decision coming from the chancellor’s office, final approval of the scorecard came from Chancellor Reed. I would point out that while Senators Anderson and Yee apparently didn’t receive the scorecard favorably, we have received positive feedback from student and alumni groups and legislators as well.”

Yours truly would not call this approach – either the scorecard or toughing it out now – on the part of CSU the wise course of action.  Note that any independent group affiliated with CSU, i.e., some alumni organization, could have produced such a scorecard and avoided the charge of using taxpayer money for politics.

Apparently, Chancellor Reed is going to do it his way:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E2hYDIFDIU?feature=player_detailpage]