The decisions that Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech make regarding realignment should be made openly with public input.

Texas’ three largest public universities may now play a third of all future sporting events two time zones away, and in every sport from wrestling to cross country. Texans whose tax dollars support these institutions will no longer be able to attend those events unless they own a Learjet. If you currently make road trips to see the Red Raiders play Colorado (and I know people who do), you’ve got 20 more hours from Boulder to see them play the Ducks.

Parents can forget about seeing their daughters play softball in Seattle. Get your caffeine out for the extra two hours for West Coast TV.

College sports add to our society and our way of life. The practical ability to personally participate is a real benefit. People enjoy it. It adds to our standard of living. Those 40 hours at work each week are a little easier.

The current Big 12 debate should not be what’s best for just Baylor, or just UT. The center of discussion should be what’s best for Texas as a whole, and the debate should be conducted in public, not backrooms.

We have public institutions to improve all our lives: public parks, libraries, swimming pools, museums. Public universities and their sports programs are the same thing.

The UT, A&M and Tech charters speak of enhancing the life of every Texan, not a football program. The “Core Purpose” in the UT “Compact with Texans” says, “To transform lives for the benefit of society.”

For Notre Dame, maybe it’s different. But UT, A&M and Tech are public. Their football teams are not owned by an athletic director or board of regents. They were founded and are owned by the people of Texas.

They are valuable assets of our state. Mack Brown has done great as a coach, but it took the support of generations of Texans to get him and his team on the field. University board members serve to protect the public trust of the citizens of Texas. Not just wealthy alums. Not TV networks.

The Southwest Conference breakup sacrificed something of real value to Texans. Regional rivalries built for a century were gone, rivalries that gave definition and cohesion to our state. Tradition and institutional identity were lost. Now we are considering further division and erosion of the same.

If it’s about money, then put it into perspective — UT-Austin has an operational budget of $2.1 billion for 2010; Texas A&M’s is $1.2 billion — largely public funds. Yet they’re considering fundamentally changing a Texas way of life for $20 million?

Tuition is so high these schools are becoming unaffordable to average Texans. It may soon be unaffordable to simply attend an away game. If the boards who are supposed to protect the interests of today’s and tomorrow’s generations of Texans want to consider moving to California, we at least deserve public debate and discussion. Any decision should first be justified to the people of Texas, and in more than a blog rumor or an after-the-fact rationalization.

Backroom deals with TV executives trading our state pastime for rating points is wrong. When I vote on changing Texas by law and statute, I do it after public hearings, after public debate and with a public vote. Every regent was appointed by Gov. Rick Perry and confirmed by the Texas Senate, and they owe Texans the same transparency in this decision.

If Nebraska and Colorado want to leave, fine. But since when do outsiders dictate Texas’ destiny? Rick Perry wanted to secede because Barack Obama gave out stimulus money, but he’s going to stay silent as Berkeley bails us out? Our governor should demand regents conduct all deliberations in public about this important issue.

If it is truly best for our public universities to leave and be the Gulf of Mexico division of the Pacific Conference, so be it. But first let’s get the rationale and all options out there on the table publicly. Let the people of Texas have a voice and understand the choices. The destiny of institutions we and our forefathers built deserves no less.

State Rep. Jim Dunnam represents a Central Texas district that includes Waco.

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