When the state of Wisconsin is facing fiscal challenges, it’s more than fair to expect the University of Wisconsin-Madison and all the campuses in the UW System to play a role in closing the budget gap. Universities across the system are already doing their part by streamlining staffing, making cuts to operations and finding ways to generate additional revenue.
MINNEAPOLIS — IF you want to see just how long an academic institution can tolerate a string of slow, festering research scandals, let me invite you to the University of Minnesota, where I teach medical ethics.
Letter to the editor from mother of Henry Mackaman, a 21-year-old UW-Madison student who died two years ago of meningitis strain B. “At the time, there was no available vaccine in the United State for this particular strain. Recently, the Food and Drug Administration approved two vaccines to help protect against Type B meningitis. However, not many parents and students know about them. Colleges are treating the new Type B vaccines in different ways. Some, like UW-Madison, make the vaccines available to those who ask. I commend UW-Madison for doing this, and I encourage other colleges in Wisconsin and elsewhere to follow that lead.”
As this year’s crop of college graduates don their caps and gowns and listen to inspiring commencement addresses before embarking on uncertain futures, they’ll also hear a lot about the consequences of the large debts most of them amassed attaining a degree.
To find oneself, as a child, able to perform a specialized activity at an extraordinary level — say, tennis or jazz piano or mathematics — is unquestionably more of a blessing than a curse. People like other people who are good at things. When I was a child math prodigy, people treated me as if I mattered, and listened to me as if I had as much right to speak as a grown-up. Every child deserves this treatment, but most don’t get it.
UW–Madison faculty members Allyson J. Bennett, Marina E. Emborg, Jon E. Levine and Robert Shapiro, in a letter to the editor addressing criticism of animal research: “Animal research is an issue that requires thoughtful, serious consideration based on accurate information and an understanding of what is at stake for the public that benefits from scientific and medical progress.”
Tenure gives proven, productive faculty members (the only ones who are awarded tenure) the confidence to stick out our necks and take risks. There are rewards for success and penalties for failure in the academic world, but most faculty would dial back on pursuit of risky ideas if not for tenure.
Something was missing from the heated debate over the proposed new University of Wisconsin authority and $300 million budget cut for the UW system. The UW leaders have been on a public relations blitz. Layoffs have been threatened. Billions of dollars of economic impact have been claimed.
Column from detailing a report by progressive groups One Wisconsin Institute and Demos titled “Wisconsin’s Great Cost Shift: How Higher Education Cuts Undermine the State’s Future Middle Class.”
Opinion column critical of Gov. Walker’ and Assembly Speaker Vos’ disposition toward UW.
Noted: Marc V. Levine is professor of history, economic development, and urban studies at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
Noted: Noah Williams is a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
I write this from the perspective of a retired University of Wisconsin-Madison and UW Marathon County faculty member. I also served as chairman of the UW Colleges Psychology Department and acting dean at UWMC. In those positions, I saw various beneficial and seriously damaging effects of budget and policy changes.
Reader Diane Beversdorf in her recent letter to the editor seems to have overlooked an important point in her response to University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Chancellor Bernie Patterson’s April 23 column. She cites Patterson’s statement about university leaders recognizing the need to operate more like a business; she then lists several ways in which businesses need to focus on the bottom line — “all of which are required to remain profitable.”
Noted: Unfortunately, Noah Williams of the University of Wisconsin-Madison violated this principle last week in a Journal Sentinel op-ed on the state of the Wisconsin economy. Williams opinion is that the states economy has performed “quite well” under Gov. Scott Walker. He is perfectly entitled to make that argument, although as I have argued elsewhere, the evidence is overwhelming that he is wrong.
Letter to the editor: Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature need to consider the students as our fuel to build Wisconsin’s economy. The students need a strong, dependable vehicle with a great engine to take them to their destination.
Staff editorial: The Legislature could delay a $5 property tax cut to fund more UW aid. Most people wouldn’t notice the modest change. The Legislature could slow a sweetheart tax cut for manufacturers. It could accept more federal money for Medicaid. What our state leaders shouldn’t do is weaken UW System just as the economy is improving. Doing so will slow our state in the global race for knowledge, entrepreneurs, private investment and good-paying jobs.
The controversy over how to fund the University of Wisconsin System goes on. The current proposal is for a cut of $300 million and a tuition freeze. It’s clear that the proposal as it stands will have a negative impact on the quality of education in our universities.
In the meantime, no one thinks the lawmakers can undo the $300 million cut the governor wants to give the University of Wisconsin schools. They have decided the added flexibility Walker proposed as a means of having the schools find ways to cut costs should be dumped. So the UW will get all the negatives of the Walker budget and none of the proposed positives.
Letter to the editor from Goldberg, a professor of Sociology at UW–Madison.
Noted: Noah Williams is a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
This could be the year that Congress finally passes patent reform. Last week, a bipartisan group of senators introduced the Patent Act, a bill designed to reduce the number of patent lawsuits filed to collect nuisance settlements. The bill’s companion in the House, the Innovation Act, passed that chamber in 2013 with White House support but stalled in the Senate; it was reintroduced in February by Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.). (Subscription required.)
Letter to the editor from Hansen, a professor emeritus in economics.
Column about UW’s budget position with input from Kathy Cramer, director of UW-Madison’s Morgridge Center for Public Service.
Chancellor Blank has a blog that talks about the need to weaken the University of Wisconsin-Madison to make room for state budget cuts.
An editorial about Walker’s shifting stances mentions a recent paper, “The Whiteness of Wisconsin’s Wages,” by Dylan Bennett, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin, and Hannah Walker, a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Washington, which argues that “Governor Walker and his allies activated the racial animus of white workers.” The piece also mentions Walker’s proposed $300 million budget cut to the UW system.
Noted: Spencer Black represented the 77th Assembly District for 26 years and was chair of the Natural Resources Committee. He currently serves as the vice president of the national Sierra Club and is an adjunct professor of urban and regional planning at UW-Madison.
Column about the UW–Madison appearance of “MeatEater” author and TV/podcast host Steven Rinella.
Editorial: A public plaza all the way from the UW-Madison campus to the Capitol Square could bring new vitality to the shopping district.
Column by longtime wildlife activist from Portage.
Letter to the editor from Jonathan Burkham, an assistant professor of human geography at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.
“You’ve told us about the 18 initiatives and the 40 or so metrics in the diversity and inclusion implementation plan. What should I tell my colleagues about how to focus our individual and group efforts? Which five initiatives should we concentrate on?” That is the essence of the question I heard posed by a department chairman at the first of the eight recently scheduled listening sessions on the new University of Wisconsin diversity framework. (W. Lee Hansen, emeritus professor of economics)
These folks are willing to shell out big bucks to show their support of the university through its athletic teams, in itself a commendable philanthropic gesture. Yet they actively support anti-tax politicians who have done their best to make things tough for the rest of the taxpayer-supported school.
Gov. Scott Walker’s attack on the Wisconsin Idea did not end with his botched attempt to re-write the University of Wisconsin’s mission statement. The substance of the attack is ongoing in his state budget.
Defending state employees has been an invitation to argue over the last several years as a fair number of our elected leaders have found it politically expedient to demonize state workers. And so the value of the services we need and value and pay for gets lost in self-serving government bashing.
Certainly one way to measure the importance of government workers is to visit your child’s classroom, or appreciate the graciousness of the park ranger who welcomed us to the dog park recently and thanked us for buying a permit to support the parks. But another way came to our attention last week, and that’s the $2.5 million over 7,000 state, university and UW Hospital employees in Dane County donated to charities last year.
A lively debate underway in Wisconsin and across the nation questions the value of public research universities to the state taxpayers who help support them. This debate indicates that many do not understand the role these universities play in driving innovation and keeping the state and U.S. competitive.
A lively debate underway in Wisconsin and across the nation questions the value of public research universities to the state taxpayers who help support them. This debate indicates that many do not understand the role these universities play in driving innovation and keeping the state and U.S. competitive.
Lee’s visit to Wisconsin — part of a Midwest tour that has included other patent hotspots — came at a time when Congress is again debating how to streamline the U.S. patent system … It also underscored why major research universities such as UW-Madison are vital to the innovation economy, not only nationally but in the states and communities they serve.
Noted: “We believe the deal flow in Wisconsin is more than sufficient,” said David Guinther, a founding member of WISC Partners, an early stage fund launched by UW-Madison graduates who made their mark in Californias Silicon Valley. “Ive seen amazing changes in our ecosystem in Wisconsin since I came back five years ago.”
Quoted: Despite the UW System budget cuts now before the Legislature, he remains optimistic. As he said in December, after being named chancellor: “The best test of leadership is tough times.”
Thank you Wisconsin State Journal for Wednesday’s article “Campus pumps economy.” It is clear the University of Wisconsin System generates money for the state, lots of money, and at better returns than most stocks.
A recent column in The Badger Herald raised the question whether it would be better policy for police to investigate sexual assaults, rather than the university. This question is frequently raised, and we thank the writer for creating an opportunity to respond publicly to this idea. This is an important and complex discussion that is taking place not only at the University of Wisconsin, but also at the national level. Noted: Associate Dean of Students Kevin Helmkamp and Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Student Title IX and Clery Compliance Tonya Schmidt collaborated on this piece.
The idea to radically remake the UW as a so-called public authority — with dramatically less state involvement and support for the system — is unpopular for a number of reasons, some good, some bad.
I think we can agree that Frank Kaminsky just completed the most impactful career in University of Wisconsin men’s basketball history.
For fans, this is an emotional decision. For Dekker, it’s a business decision, plain and simple. That’s why it’s hard to find fault with Dekker’s announcement that he will pass on his final year at UW to enter the draft.
Noted: UW-Madison law professor Donald Downs comments.
Prestigious candidates for the director of the Carbone Cancer Center as well as a position for the top-level researcher in the UW-Madison nursing program both sited the proposed budget cuts as a reason not to accept the offers. They will gladly go where a state is willing to invest in their expertise.
All it took was some flowery language, unnerving descriptions and a horrible story — backed by weak journalism — for a national outcry to follow Rolling Stone’s “A Rape on Campus” article, slammed by a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism report as a “journalistic failure.”
Our JanSport brand has the privilege of providing some of the licensed collegiate apparel for the University of Wisconsin. We’re proud that we screen and embroider it at our facility in Appleton, Wisconsin, which employs nearly 800 hardworking men and women.
These discussion sessions seem to us good faith efforts to make the UW more transparent and accessible in the true spirit of The Wisconsin Idea. We very much appreciate the UW’s leadership here. We need it.
The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team stood out on the national stage this season for reasons the Dukes and Kentuckys of the college sports world can’t touch.Thank you, Coach Bo Ryan and Co., for the example and lift your team gave to our city and state.
On April 3 2015, a group of prominent biologists and ethicists writing in Science called for a moratorium on germline gene engineering; modifications to the human genome that will be passed on to future generations. The moratorium would apply to a technology called CRISPR/Cas9, which enables the removal of undesirable genes, insertion of desirable ones, and the broad recoding of nearly any DNA sequence.
Quoted: “One side is fundamentally rewriting the rules,” says political scientist Ken Mayer of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Letter to the editor from Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison. Noted: “Walker’s proposed $300 million cut to the UW System would be the largest in state history, would certainly stall the economic growth the system produces, and would inevitably cause leading scholars to leave or not come to our state.”
A week ago in this space, I told you why I thought Kentucky would beat the UW on Saturday night. As I pointed out, good, mature, well-coached teams usually find ways to win. I suggested if the Badgers could hit three-point shots like they did a week earlier, “they can send the NBA feeder program otherwise known as Kentucky to its first defeat of the season. I wouldn’t bet on it. Neither would I bet against it, however.”
Column State Sen. Kathleen Vinehout, D-Alma.
Column contrasting UW, KU athletically and academically. Snippet: As a reporter in Kentucky, I often heard from higher education leaders and politicians that they wished UK had paid less attention to basketball over the last several decades and more attention to academics. At the time, UK was just exploring creating a university research park like the one UW-Madison launched three decades ago.”
Three years ago, Sam Dekker took an inbound pass in the closing seconds of the Wisconsin high school basketball championship game.
With the need to balance budgets and an aversion to increasing taxes, several states, including our own, are looking to cut back on spending for public universities. The time is right for a thoughtful discussion about the costs associated with higher education. It’s too bad we have near hysteria, instead.
