In Part 2 of its series on the University of Minnesota, the Star Tribune writes “Being a world-class research institute requires top-notch faculty and facilities.”

In its effort to be among the top-three research universities, the U has focused on hiring superstar researchers who require “compensation, plus facilities, plus support staff, plus instruments,” the STrib quotes professor Judith Martin, chair of the University Senate Finance and Planning Committee.

“This isn’t a local market,” Martin said. “Particularly in the sciences, it’s an international market.”

An inference from the STrib story that will certainly be made by the tax increase crowd, is that the state needs to generate more tax dollars so it can spend more on higher education to keep the University of Minnesota competitive. The state needs to provide more tuition aid so that students aren’t faced with tuition increases. And of course, those tax increases must be paid for by “the rich” – you know, like those highly sought after college professors that the University is paying well over six figures to attract and keep.

There’s an ironic circularity in all this: The state, we are told, needs to raise taxes on the state’s highest earners so the state has the money to invest in higher education and student tuition aid to compensate for increased costs of attracting star-power professors – who require salaries that put them among the state’s highest earners.

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