UW-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank says she was upset after she heard that UW police officers entered a classroom to find a suspect in a rash of graffiti cases on campus.
UW chancellor “upset” over student’s arrest during class
WKOW TV
Category: Chancellor
UW-Madison taking action after recent discrimination incidents
WKOW TV
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank says she is taking action after several recent cases of discrimination on campus.
In an open letter to the UW-Madison community, Blank announced several expanded or accelerated initiatives to which she intends to devote time and resources.
UW–Madison Chancellor Talks Tuition, Diversity And Budget Cuts
Here & Now
As part of our View from the Top conversation series, Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson talks with Rebecca Blank, chancellor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, about the challenges she faces in leading the school.
Blank shares progress, need for improvement surrounding campus diversity
Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank detailed data about enrollment, retention and educational outcomes for students of color on campus in a Friday blog post, saying although there is still work to be done, the university has improved its efforts in these areas.
UW talks about ‘moving forward’ in conversations about race, ethnicity
Badger Herald
University of Wisconsin administration and students tackled tough questions regarding race and diversity Wednesday in an effort to create a plan that could fuel changes to campus culture.
More than 400 people came together in an open discussion on diversity issues, possible solutions to incidents of hate and bias, increasing retention rates and cultural competency.
“Moving Forward” event fosters campus conversation on race
Daily Cardinal
Approximately 400 students, faculty and staff members took part in the “Moving Forward: Conversations on Racial and Ethnic Diversity” event Wednesday at Gordon Dining and Event Center.
Participants joined the conversation at different themed tables, including “Building Cultural Competency, Awareness and Capacity;” “Hate and Bias Incidents and Conflicts with Free Speech;” and “Admission and Recruitment of Underrepresented Groups.”
UW-Madison spent $8 million to fend off raids on faculty
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
The University of Wisconsin-Madison spent $8 million the last six months of 2015 fending off attempts to raid some of its most productive and accomplished faculty after international attention over state budget cuts and possible changes to tenure protections created faculty unrest.
Rebecca Blank: Protecting UW-Madison faculty from poaching cost $8 million
Capital Times
University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank said she spent $8 million in six months protecting top faculty from poaching by other universities.
Rebecca Blank: UW-Madison spent at least $8M to retain professors after budget cuts, tenure changes
Wisconsin State Journal
UW-Madison has spent at least $8 million since last summer to retain top professors after state legislators cut higher education funding and changed faculty tenure policies, Chancellor Rebecca Blank told the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents on Thursday.
Campus, legislative officials promote education on voter ID changes
Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank outlined the university’s efforts to educate students on voter ID information in a Friday blog post.
Blank said in the post that after the 2011 voter ID law was implemented, she and other administrative officials worked with legislators to ensure that students across the UW System could obtain voter ID cards.
Bill would provide amnesty for sexual assault victims
Channel3000.com
Noted: The bill is supported by Attorney General Brad Schimel and University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, who said avoiding citations for victims and their supporters is already policy on campus.
“We have been telling them if you are drinking but helping a friend we will focus on the sexual assault issue and not the drinking issue,” Blank said. “But I think being able to say under the law of Wisconsin this is not just our practice but this is the law does have a certain depth of convincingness to it.”
TRIUMPH Students and Directors Discuss Importance of Improving Milwaukee Public Health System
Milwaukee Courier
On the afternoon of Friday, January 17, about 30 people filled the Walnut Way Conservation Corp. (2240 N 17th St) to discuss UW-Madison School of Medicine’s TRIUMPH programand showcase its accomplishments.
Could the American economy tank in 2016?
Politico
Thoughts from Chancellor Blank: ‘Best upside risk: Greater consumer spending. Biggest downside risk: Even slower growth in the rest of the world.’
UW officials voice support for Federal Perkins Loan extension
Daily Cardinal
UW System President Ray Cross and UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank shared their support in a joint statement for the two-year extension of the Federal Perkins Loan Program, passed in the U.S. Congress Wednesday.
UW panel OKs free speech resolution
Channel3000.com
A University of Wisconsin System regents committee has approved a resolution affirming the system’s commitment to free speech.
The regents’ education committee voted unanimously to adopt the resolution Thursday afternoon during a meeting on the UW-Madison campus. Approval would send the resolution on to the full board of regents for consideration on Friday.
Regents committee to vote on freedom of speech resolution
Associated Press (via WKOW)
A University of Wisconsin System regents committee is set to consider a resolution affirming the system’s commitment to free speech.
The regents’ education committee is expected to vote on the resolution Thursday afternoon during a meeting on the UW-Madison campus. Approval would send the resolution on to the full board of regents for consideration on Friday.
The resolution comes after UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank wrote a blog post last month saying that no one is entitled to express their beliefs in ways that diminish or devalue others. Blank wrote the post in the wake of protests at the University of Missouri over racial issues.
After UW-Madison chancellor’s email stirred controversy, Regents prepare resolution on free speech
Wisconsin State Journal
The Regents will take up a proposed resolution reaffirming the board’s commitment to academic freedom and free speech when its education committee meets Thursday in Madison. The move comes weeks after UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank sent students and faculty a controversial message about speech, which critics said was contrary to First Amendment principles, and as colleges across the country weigh how to handle sensitive debates on campus.
UW-Madison chancellor discusses challenging year
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin-Madison Rebecca Blank was recently in Washington, D.C., and stopped by the offices of Inside Higher Ed to discuss the challenges of the past year.
She talked about the impact of state disinvestment in higher education, the new tenure policy that’s being developed for UW System campuses, a temporary lifting of the cap on enrollment of out-of-state students, and the racial protests that have swept many campuses, including UW-Madison.
Here’s a link to the 25-minute podcast of the chancellor’s interview with the national higher education publication.
UW-Madison chancellor discusses her eventful, challenging year
Inside Higher Ed
UW-Madison chancellor discusses the university’s difficult year, the future of public financing of higher education and racial protests on campuses.
Students and community members urge chancellor to reconsider investments
Daily Cardinal
A swarm of UW-Madison students and community members, led by the student organization Climate Action 350 and its city affiliate 350 Madison, protested in front of Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s office Thursday to demand the divestment from fossil fuels.
Divestment would include the university and the UW Foundation taking all the money that is invested in fossil fuels, which scientists have attributed as a cause of global warming, and putting that money into ethical and sustainable entities, according to the organization. Once it is removed, Climate Action 350 will have no control over where it is placed, but will have suggestions of what would be better.
UW-Madison chancellor to UWM: ‘I didn’t mean it’
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank sent an apology to her counterpart at UW-Milwaukee on Tuesday for a misstep she made during a Wisconsin Public Radio interview that sparked an unsettling rumor in Milwaukee.
Rebecca Blank: UW-Madison ready to work with African-American students
Capital Times
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is well positioned to work with African-American students on campus climate and other race-related concerns, chancellor Rebecca Blank said Monday. “We do have students who experience real isolation on this campus. The question is what we can do to reduce those experiences,” Blank told members of the University Committee, the executive committee of the Faculty Senate.
A Conversation with the Chancellor
Wisconsin Public Radio
What is it like to oversee Wisconsin’s largest and highest ranking university, with over 43,000 students, billions of dollars in research funding, and the “Wisconsin Idea” of serving the state? In this hour, Chancellor Rebecca Blank discusses the pleasures and challenges of her role as UW Chancellor.
Chancellor Blank elected to Internet2 Board
Daily Cardinal
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank was elected to the Internet2 Board of Trustees this week, a panel made up of various university presidents, chief information officers, researchers and industry partners.
Another Commission Will Take On the Future of Higher Education
Chronicle of Higher Education
The “future of higher education” landscape — already ringing with cacophonous predictions from all manner of task forces, books, conferences, and self-styled disruptors — is about to get another. This week the American Academy of Arts and Sciences will announce its own Commission on the Future of Undergraduate Education.
New Panel to Examine Future of Undergraduate Education
Inside Higher Ed
A new commission promises to assess the future of undergraduate education based on research and data, rather than the anecdotes and hyperbole that undergird many analyses of higher education these days.
Transcript: The Badger Herald sits down with Chancellor Rebecca Blank, Lori Berquam
Badger Herald
The Badger Herald sat down with Chancellor Rebecca Blank and Dean of Students Lori Berquam on Oct. 28 to discuss a range of topics including sexual assault, tenure policy, concealed carry on campus and diversity.
Below is a transcript of the conversation, which has been edited for style and clarity.
Chancellor Rebecca Blank: Concealed carry proposal ‘defies common sense’
Badger Herald
University of Wisconsin Chancellor Rebecca Blank says she would not send her daughter to a college that allows concealed weapons in university buildings, and hopes to mobilize parents statewide to voice the same concerns to lawmakers.
“I’m the mother of a sophomore at Northwestern University,” Blank told The Badger Herald editors last week. “I wouldn’t send her to a school where she could end up in a dorm with someone with a gun in the room. I just wouldn’t do that.”
UW-Madison faculty approve new layoff protections
Wisconsin State Journal
Faculty representatives at UW-Madison approved a new campus policy on Monday laying out a narrow set of circumstances under which tenured professors may be fired.
UW-Madison chancellor seeks to reassure faculty on tenure policy
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
It won’t happen as quickly as hoped, but University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said Monday she expects the UW System and its campuses will end up with a new tenure policy that offers the same protections as what the governing body of the flagship campus unanimously endorsed Monday.
Rebecca Blank: Ray Cross’ 180 on tenure undercuts credibility of Board of Regents
Capital Times
UW System President Ray Cross’ about-face on a campus-specific tenure policy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison makes the Board of Regents look bad, abets faculty seeking extreme provisions and potentially delays adoption of a policy, threatening faculty recruitment, said Chancellor Rebecca Blank. Cross also undermined her ability to broker agreement on tenure issues among UW-Madison faculty, Blank said in an Oct. 22 email to Regent John Behling.
UW chancellor Rebecca Blank wants salary cap for college coaches, admits it’s a minority view
Capital Times
In major college football, the average compensation package for coaches has gone up 110 percent in the last 10 years, USA Today reported this week … But at Wisconsin, the head football coach position pays less now than it did in 2012, a rarity in the Power Five conferences, the driving forces of big-time college sports.
Committee approves lifting out-of-state cap for UW-Madison students
Channel3000.com
Noted: UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank told the committee Thursday the waiver would push the institution to recruit harder within and outside of Wisconsin. She added her institution is “uniquely situated” to make sure Wisconsin’s best and brightest don’t leave for colleges in other states, and to bring students from other states into Wisconsin and get them to stay for work.
“I’m looking at all sorts of ways to partner with industry in the state, with professional organizations in the state, to put industry and Wisconsin businesses in front of my students in a way when they get to their senior year, they’ve heard of these companies, they know something about them, they are more likely to go work for them,” Blank said.
Survey: More than 1 in 4 UW women sexually assaulted
Channel3000.com
More than one in every four undergraduate women (27.6 percent) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison report being a victim of sexual assault, according to a new survey released Monday morning by the Association of American Universities (AAU). That’s a higher rate than the 23.1 percent of female undergraduates who reported being victims in the survey conducted by 27 universities nationwide.
The data comes from a questionnaire that was sent by email to UW students in April and May. Roughly 22 percent of the undergraduate population answered the questions in the survey. It also found that of those students who were sexually assaulted, only 26.1 percent reported the incident to authorities.
The official poverty measure is garbage. The census has found a better way.
Vox.com
Noted: The official poverty measure was developed by the Social Security Administration’s Mollie Orshansky in 1963 and defined as three times the “subsistence food budget” for a family of a given size. As former acting Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank (then a Brookings Institution fellow, now chancellor of the University of Wisconsin Madison) explained in 2008 congressional testimony:
On the road: UW System leaders travel around Wisconsin, connect UW to communities
Badger Herald
University of Wisconsin System leaders are continuing to travel throughout Wisconsin to build stronger connections between businesses, citizens and higher education.
UW road show looks to shore up relations in Wisconsin
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Two top leaders within the University of Wisconsin System are hitting the road this fall to make new connections and strengthen existing relationships between Wisconsin businesses, residents and the public higher education system.
Largest-Ever UW Fundraising Campaign Nets $250M
Wisconsin Public Radio
A University of Wisconsin-Madison fundraising challenge has exceeded expectations, with an endowment fund generating almost $250 million for professorships and chairs.
Morgridge matching gift to UW exceeds expectations
Wisconsin Radio Network
A $200 million gift to the University of Wisconsin-Madison will help to attract and keep top-quality faculty, and has grown larger and faster than expected. UW alumni John and Tashia Morgridge put up $100 million dollars last year and urged UW supporters to match it. They figured that would take up to three years, but it only took seven months to raise an additional 125-million.
Alumni support of gift to UW boosts value to $250 million
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A record-shattering gift to help recruit and retain world-class faculty has grown to be worth a quarter-billion dollars thanks to urgent and strong support from alumni, the University of Wisconsin-Madison is poised to announce Tuesday.
Huge Morgridge gift grows beyond UW expectations
Wisconsin State Journal
The largest-ever gift to UW-Madison has turned out bigger than expected.
UW-Madison fundraising drive generates about $250 million
AP
A University of Wisconsin-Madison fundraising drive that began last fall with a $100 million pledge has generated a quarter of a billion dollars, university officials announced Tuesday.
Faculty members think massive donation will help retain top professors at U of Wisconsin Madison
Inside Higher Education
Facing what is sure to be a difficult retention season, given this year’s battles over the future of higher education funding and tenure in Wisconsin, the University of Wisconsin at Madison is today announcing the results of a massive donation-matching campaign aimed at recognizing top faculty members with endowed chairs.
UW campus officials prepare for new year after tumultuous summer
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
After a summer of turmoil over budget cuts and tenure protections, chancellors in the University of Wisconsin System now must convince faculty and staff that all is not doom and gloom as a new academic year begins this week.
A defiant UW-Madison Chancellor Becky Blank, who won’t address her faculty in person until Oct. 5, has vowed to do everything possible to fend off competitors who attempt to lure away her best and brightest researchers. Wisconsin’s higher education woes were widely broadcast to a national audience as Gov. Scott Walker launched his presidential bid while he and state lawmakers were cutting education spending.
Blank: Lots of water, lots of corn, 1,140 miles
Agri-View
I’ve been to many places in Wisconsin in my two years as chancellor, but always with a singular purpose: to meet someone, to speak to a group, to visit a company. Vacation is a time for travel with less of a purpose.
Spheres of influence: 2015 most influential people in Greater Madison
In Business Madison
Rebecca Blank: When Gov. Scott Walker proposed $300 million in cuts to the University of Wisconsin System, his most outspoken critic was UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank. It’s not just that she was outspoken, it was the impact of her advocacy — particularly the competitive disadvantages created by associated faculty changes — that helped turn public opinion against the governor’s plan.
UW-Madison Chancellor On The Future of Tenure
Wisconsin Public Radio
Chancellor Rebecca Blank weighs in on the future of tenure at UW-Madison on WPR’s Central Time.
Liberia: In the Shadow of Ebola
allAfrica.com
Monrovia — Emmanuel Urey and his family’s struggle is the subject of a gripping documentary production by Independent Lens which trails Urey, a Liberian going to school in Wisconsin but who was in Monrovia with some of his children when the Ebola virus broke out. The film is both an intimate portrait of a family in the center of a terrifying crisis, but also a fascinating look at how a country in the aftermath of a long civil war handled a major health scare.
Blank: Why State Lawmakers Must Support Tenure at Public Universities
Chronicle of Higher Education
In the past few weeks, I’ve been in the midst of a debate over tenure for college professors in Wisconsin.
UW faculty continue to voice concerns at tenure meeting
Badger Herald
University of Wisconsin faculty continued to speak out against potential tenure changes in the state budget and Chancellor Rebecca Blank spoke on her plan to retain tenure protections at a listening session in Union South Monday.
Blank says alums care about university
Upfront with Mike Gousha
Chancellor Rebecca Blank says she’s heard from many graduates of UW-Madison that they want to help the school.
Chancellor: Concerned with level of faculty anger
Upfront with Mike Gousha
UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank says faculty are unhappy with proposed changes to their job protections, and she is worried she’ll lose top people as a result.
Raiding of UW-Madison faculty tops list of tenure-change worries for Rebecca Blank
Madison.com
Recap of Chancellor Blank’s appearance on the Sunday program “UpFront with Mike Gousha.”
Rebecca Blank: UW should have same or better tenure as peers
Wisconsin State Journal
“Recent action by the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee has the potential to threaten that longstanding commitment to fearless inquiry. I am worried about the risk this creates for UW-Madison, by alienating and demoralizing the faculty who have built this into one of the world’s finest education and research institutions. Abrupt changes to tenure and shared governance — another historic underpinning of UW-Madison — could drive away the people we most need to attract and retain. That these changes are being recommended without public discussion or consultation from those who will be most affected adds to our collective concern.”
UPDATE: UW-Madison faculty speaks out on tenure concerns
NBC15
Many UW-Madison faculty members are worried their jobs could be at risk after the Joint Finance Committee recently voted to remove tenure from state law. Tenure offers protection for academic freedom and was designed to make sure people can express ideas without fear of retaliation.
UW faculty, chancellor express concerns about tenure proposal
Channel3000.com
A proposal in the state budget to cut the tenure system from state law is drawing criticism from those who work at the University of Wisconsin. Chancellor Becky Blank said the tenure plans are not a disaster, but faculty members demanded answers late Tuesday at a faculty senate meeting.
UW-Madison chancellor to meet with faculty about tenure
WKOW TV
UW-Madison chancellor Rebecca Blank plans to meet with the university’s faculty senate Tuesday to address concerns about the changes to tenure.
UW chancellor: Tenure changes not the disaster that some people want to portray
Wisconsin State Journal
University of Wisconsin leaders moved forcefully on Monday to stem the fallout from lawmakers’ plans to strip tenure protections from state law as UW-Madison faculty planned an emergency meeting on the matter for Tuesday.
UW-Madison chancellor vows fast action on tenure protection
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said Monday she will work with faculty to quickly draw up tenure protections for the state’s flagship campus “that would be the equivalent of any of our peers.”
Move to strengthen hand of regents in chancellor searches advances
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A Board of Regents committee advanced a policy change Thursday that gives the regents a greater role in the process of searching for campus leaders.