Government putting private universities at a disadvantage

After Walter WIlliams' column this week on my book, Eugene Hiller, a former member of the Alumni Board for the University of Buffalo wrote his:

I am surprised you know about the University of Buffalo. I was on the Alumni Board when it happened; Rockefeller was Governor.
They ccame to us and said as you wrote: "We will put a low cost State U. next to you and wipe you out". At the time, UB was an excellant private university. Though underendowed, it served the area well providing most of the Doctors, Lawyers, Accountants and Pharmacists for the area.
The community plus is that Suny Buffalo is now the largest employer in Western Nrw York.

It was interesting that today I came across a piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education about special regulations being impoased on for-profit universities:

California Assembly Approves Bill to Revive Oversight of For-Profit Colleges

Berkeley, Calif. — The California Assembly approved a bill on Tuesday that would renew oversight of the state’s 1,700 for-profit colleges, the latest attempt to settle a long-running battle over how strictly the colleges should be regulated.

The 132-page measure, SB 823, was approved in a 43-to-32 vote and now heads to the Senate, the Contra Costa Timesreported. The authority of the state agency that previously oversaw for-profit colleges expired on July 1, and lawmakers have been unable to agree on a way to restore it. Without such oversight, students at proprietary colleges are unable to file complaints or to recover expenses if their institutions go out of business.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, has not taken a position on the bill.

The argument over for-profit colleges here, which is being watched closely in other states, has stretched on for several years. Consumer groups have argued that students need better protection and colleges need to report more-accurate data about their performance. Companies that own for-profit colleges have argued that bureaucratic red tape has prevented them from offering new programs.