The "Open Letter to the Texas A&M University Community" criticized the proposals of Jeff Sandefer, an Austin businessman and architect of the "Seven Breakthrough Solutions," which have been championed by Perry as a means of making higher education more cost-effective. Sandefer, who has contributed nearly $450,000 to Perry's campaigns, sent his own mass email this week defending his ideas as a pathway to "a superior education at a far lower cost."

'Political intervention'

On Tuesday, 22 A&M graduates honored as "Distinguished Alumni" by the Association of Former Students warned that "an extraordinary level of political intervention in our university" could damage A&M's reputation, particularly "proposals to fundamentally change how research universities in Texas fulfill their educational responsibilities."

The signatories, most of them wealthy Texas businessmen who have contributed generously to their alma mater and have served in leadership positions at the university, ranged in graduation class from 1949 to 1967. Perry graduated from A&M in 1972.

"It is our opinion that several of these proposals will do significant damage," the alumni wrote. "We encourage you to ask the Board of Regents to end their well-known support for the seven proposals. We call on you to ask the board of Regents to resist inappropriate political intervention …"

Among the alumni signing the letter were three former TAMU regents, Robert H. Allen, Raul Fernandez and Don Aviles; two former members of the TAMU Foundation board, Jon Hagler and John E. Bethancourt; famed National Football League referee Red Cashion; a former director of the Johnson Space Center, Gerald Griffin; and Olympic gold medalist Randy Matson.

In response to one of the "seven solutions" promoted by Perry and Sandefer, Texas A&M published an online ranking of professors on their "productivity" based on the number of students they taught.

The ranking earned the university a rebuke from the prestigious Association of American Universities, an organization of the nation's top research institutions.

Email from Sandefer

The alumni's letter noted that the "seven solutions" have been met with deep resistance at the University of Texas at Austin, since the proposals call for splitting teaching and research duties and grading professors primarily on student evaluations. It argued that "the Texas A&M leadership should be as vigorous as UT in seeking to preserve its status as a Tier One university," a national designation reserved for top research institutions.

One of the signers of the letter, Joe B. Foster, of Houston, said he hoped the letter would "call attention to the fact that A&M and UT, as co-flagship institutions, don't need this kind of treatment."

This week, Sandefer, a former UT business lecturer who now runs his own private business college in Austin, sent a mass email urging Texans to become acquainted with the cost challenges facing higher education.

"In these tough economic times, appeals to research cannot be used to hide waste and inefficiency," he wrote. "Nor can we allow insiders to frighten donors and alumni as a way of avoiding touch questions about faculty productivity and costs," Sandefer added, noting that college tuition in Texas has doubled in the last 10 years.

patti.hart@chron.com