What is the timetable for completion?
Answer: Officials at the Chazen Museum of Art (formerly Elvehjem Museum of Art) and UW-Madison plan to raise $15 million more for the project by fall 2006. The Peterson Office Building is scheduled for demolition in 2007. The entire museum will be done by 2009.
What does Chancellor John Wiley say to anyone who scoffs at a $20 million donation to the art museum when tuition rises and budgets are tightened?
Answer: “That’s a very easy question,” Wiley said. “We’re cutting things that are funded on the base budget of the university. That means the money that comes from the state and from tuition. There is no way anyone should expect private donors to substitute for state money and tuition at a public university. It’s the obligation of the state and the students to provide our base budget. We can ask donors to fund the expansion of the art museum.”