University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin was, during her relatively short tenure as the head of the state?s flagship institution of higher learning, a relatively controversial figure.
That does not mean that Martin, who has announced that she will leave this summer to take over as chancellor of Amherst College, was a bad player. She was, in many senses, an engaged and effective administrator. And we wish Martin well in her next endeavor. But we hope that the next chancellor will be very different from the departing one.
Martin did not ?get? Wisconsin, and that prevented her from playing the role she might have in shaping the UW?s future. Her attempts to radically restructure the Madison campus?s relationship with the rest of the UW system and with the state never really took off.