When the Legislature?s Joint Finance Committee finally gets around to taking up the University of Wisconsin System?s budget, faculty, staff and administrators at campuses across the state will be holding their collective breath. Leaders within both UW-Madison and the UW System have been spending seemingly every waking moment since mid-February pushing their proposals for how to break public higher education free from state oversight so campuses can operate more efficiently and effectively. The problem is that UW-Madison and UW System officials have been unable to get on the same page to pitch a unified message.