Wisconsin has an exceptional system of technical schools that do just what he proposes. One of the advantages of an education provided by a university such as UW-Madison is the critical thinking skills students hopefully develop — skills that Johnson apparently lacks. If he had such skills, he’d easily recognize how UW is an economic boon to the state because of its work.
I don’t usually feel bad for highly placed, well-paid officials, but I felt bad for System President Ray Cross when a UW-Milwaukee English professor was able to extract the resignation promise during his Wednesday Q & A.
Column by Givnish, the Henry Allan Gleason professor of botany and environmental studies.
It can be statistically proven that the wealth of nations lies not with the oil and minerals in their lands, their strategic locations or the prominence of their armed forces, but rather in the level of education that their citizens have achieved. I will testify that I have found the pathway to happiness and success through education.
I am dismayed by Judith Shulevitz’s belittling response to student trauma. I teach an undergraduate class on “Sexualities and Race.” We discuss challenging issues like campus rape, human trafficking, pornography and sex work. “Scary ideas” certainly. Tragically, for some students these ideas are also scary realities. My students engage these issues with intellectual rigor and great courage. Yes, I give trigger warnings, and try to make my class a safe space.
Former Regent and Ambassador Loftus letter to the editor: Speaker Robin Vos and other legislators are right to question handing over control of the University of Wisconsin System to a quasi-public authority as called for in the proposed state budget. The danger is all too real that such a move would undermine the Wisconsin Idea by reducing public input into the university and the number of Wisconsin students who could attend. And that would fly in the face of the university’s underpinnings as developed by UW’s fifth president, John Bascom, the true founder of the Wisconsin Idea.
Letter to the editor from faculty member Daniel Greenspan: I strongly believe that the possible granting of public authority status to the University of Wisconsin System is an important opportunity.
By Jenny Seifert and Stephen Carpenter: Australia’s Great Barrier Reef and the Yahara lakes may be half a world apart, but they are connected by an opportunity we can’t afford to miss.
As a University of Wisconsin-Madison freshman, I would like to take the opportunity to voice my opinion about the proposed $300 million budget cut to the UW System for the 2015-17 biennial budgets. The affordability of UW-Madison relative to other highly regarded institutions is what makes this school attractive to so many students. I personally foresee an issue with these cuts, specifically for freshman and future attendees of UW System schools. I was drawn to UW-Madison because of the innovation and dedication to students at a fair price. I fear that those accepted into other highly regarded universities across the country will begin to choose elsewhere if tuition is raised, ultimately lowering the quality of students in attendance.
Column by Robert Wolfe, a UW-Madison sophomore and WISPIRG campaign coordinator.
They’d gladly boot every fraternity off campus tomorrow if they thought they could get away with it. But for now they are content to pick them off one by one.
UW-Madison’s complete turnaround on monkey maternal deprivation experiments highlights the lack of ethical oversight on this issue.
I and the writers of a couple of rather unkind letters to the editor had the same reaction to a recent bit of news out of UW-Madison concerning music preferences among man’s and woman’s second-best friend:
I recently learned that when the semester ends in May, nearly half of my immediate co-workers, maybe more, will be out of a job. Of course, adjuncts like me are often “out of a job,” since our contracts go only from semester to semester. But because I’m an adjunct in the University of Wisconsin system — the one that’s made headlines thanks to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed $300-million budget cuts over the next two years — this time it feels different.
The N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament started Thursday, but for most Americans the real action began days before, as they pored over brackets, competing to make the most accurate predictions — for money, or just office glory. These days, when statistical algorithms can figure out what breakfast cereal you want based on your browser history, stats-minded hoops fans have thrown lots of complex analysis at the problem of picking winners.
The Retirees Association of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, a 200-plus-member organization of retired faculty and staff, has grave concerns about the devastating cuts in Gov. Walker’s proposed budget for the UW System. Collectively, we have experienced much smaller cuts in the past and are aware of the negative impacts cuts have on student educational experiences and opportunities.
The more you learn about football and brain injuries, the smarter Chris Borland looks.
It’s not only the well-publicized skills gap that prevents employers across the country from finding, hiring and keeping the workers they say they want. There’s also a wage gap, benefits gap and job-security gap.
When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for new elections in December 2014, he argued that he needed a stronger Likud Party that would enable him to govern more effectively – without the roadblocks thrown his way by the coalition partners on whom he depended. It appears that he has succeeded in this endeavor. While the results of the yesterday’s elections are not yet final, it appears that the Likud has significantly increased the number of seats it will have in the next Knesset from 18 seats to around 30, enabling it to be a relatively more dominant centerpiece of whatever coalition eventually emerges.
Here in “idyllic” Madison, Wisconsin, we are regularly told we have one of the most “livable” cities in the U.S. … but livable for whom? It was apparently not livable for Tony Terrell Robinson. Post written by Gloria Ladson-Billings, professor and Kellner Family Chair in Urban Education.
Borland’s announcement that he was leaving the game after one very successful season playing professional football could have a profound impact if we look at is an example of a young man making an educated, principled decision about his life and his future.
With a week of bullets filling the air from West Towne Mall to Rutledge Street, a gun battle on the near-east side and Madison police officer Matthew Kenny shooting and killing Tony Terrell Robinson on Willy Street, Madison’s racial problem is clearly going from bad to worse. Rather than be part of the parade of white guys in the media weighing in on this story, I offer this space to a smart woman of color—a colleague with whom I served on both the Urban League of Greater Madison and Madison Prep charter school boards. UW–Madison professor Gloria Ladson-Billings, the floor is yours. Editor’s note: This is an excerpt of a blog posted on Saturday, March 7.
UW-Madison’s decision to halt plans to remove newborn monkeys from their mothers as part of a controversial experiment is a step in the right direction. However, the 40 monkeys involved will still face tremendous suffering and distress for their short lives before being killed for questionable human benefit.
Search the word “humanities” online and up pops the phrase “humanities under attack.” The majority of undergraduates today are majoring in business, science and technology disciplines. Technology—and its promise of being able to fix all problems—is, it seems, king.What does all this mean for higher education? Why have the humanities undergone a crisis of legitimacy? And why does this matter?We asked four former university presidents—of Clemson University, University of Florida, University of Wisconsin and Virginia Tech—to give us their perspectives on these questions.
As the lead author on a recent study on music for cats, I’d like to address concerns expressed by some readers in the State Journal.
When does a 13 percent cut in the University of Wisconsin System’s budget become a “modest” 2.5 percent? When this cabal of truth-challenged Republicans running Wisconsin government says it is.
At a meeting between the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and state legislators in the fall of 2013, Assembly Speaker Robin Vos questioned the role of UW faculty in decision-making. Vos declared that changes to the universitys system of shared governance — the set of practices under which faculty, staff and students participate in significant decisions concerning the operation of their institutions — were a matter of “when, not if.”
Might I suggest that thousands of dollars could be saved by not funding research by UW-Madison emeritus professor of psychology Charles Snowden.
We’re happy to see UW-Madison included in the list of now 101 schools around the U.S. that are part of the investigation into possible violations of federal law over the handling of sexual assault complaints on campus, not because we think UW is guilty, and not because we like the idea of the UW even being associated with guilty schools, but because we believe UW can be part of the solution. In fact, UW should be part of the solution.
Column about the community center by Megan Stefkovich, a freshman majoring in biology.
Letter to the editor from Rep. Dana Wachs, D-Eau Claire, the ranking democratic member on the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities.
There has been considerable debate over the past month on the role of a public university and the meaning of The Wisconsin Idea. Recent commentary has ranged from historian John Gurdas eloquent definition of The Wisconsin Idea, to blogger Rick Esenbergs question: “What is it”?
I paid $17,000 in state income tax in 2014. I sometimes wish I lived somewhere without income tax, but I enjoy Wisconsin and feel our government usually invests my tax dollars to create good jobs and improve the quality of life.
There has been considerable debate over the past month on the role of a public university and the meaning of The Wisconsin Idea. Recent commentary has ranged from historian John Gurda’s eloquent definition of The Wisconsin Idea to blogger Rick Esenberg’s question: “What is it”?
As a UW student I am concerned for the future of the UW System with the recent release of a $300 million cut in the next two years. With a $2.2 billion deficit across the state, it is going to be difficult to find room to make these cuts, and the UW System does not have any “fat” to trim.
Much criticism of Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal for the University of Wisconsin System has focused on the $300 million in cuts envisioned for the coming two years.
Hansen, of Madison, is an emeritus professor of economics at UW-Madison.
Noted: Sean Dinces is the Allan H. Selig assistant professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Noted: Innovation campus has an advantage over any other facility in the state because of the major corporate employers located in this region. Southeast Wisconsin actually holds more patents than Dane County, the home of UW-Madisons $1 billion research engine. How is that possible? Because corporate giants in this region generate patents as their own research and development realize what the market demands.
The current crisis facing the University of Wisconsin system is part and parcel to the agenda of the administration of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to open the state to the tyranny of the “free market.” Much of the rhetoric of “flexibility” and “autonomous” that has been discussed in relation to the budget cuts gives off the impression that the schools in the UW system are cleaving themselves from an ineffective system that would not provide them with the resources to operate at optimum level. However, the rhetoric mis-recognizes the true effects of the budget cuts: hiking tuition rates, massive layoffs, and the potential brain drain from some of the system’s most prestigious institutions.
The current crisis facing the University of Wisconsin system is part and parcel to the agenda of the administration of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to open the state to the tyranny of the “free market.” Much of the rhetoric of “flexibility” and “autonomous” that has been discussed in relation to the budget cuts gives off the impression that the schools in the UW system are cleaving themselves from an ineffective system that would not provide them with the resources to operate at optimum level. However, the rhetoric mis-recognizes the true effects of the budget cuts: hiking tuition rates, massive layoffs, and the potential brain drain from some of the system’s most prestigious institutions.
Noted: As reported by the Wisconsin State Journal, during the 2013-14 school year, just three of 131 students who received a degree in elementary education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison were black. The year before, just one black student received an elementary education degree. Consequently, according to 2014 data, less than 5% of Wisconsins teachers are non-white.
It is time we check our preconceptions about Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget cuts at the door and actively try to understand both sides.
Noted: According to a 2011 University of Wisconsin-Madison study, 75% of white residents were born in Wisconsin, yet only 59% of black residents and 43% of Latino residents were born in the state.
In his recent budget proposal, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker sparked a national debate on whether institutions of higher learning should primarily focus on classroom teaching to promote workplace readiness or public service and conducting research with a global impact. As part of his proposal, Walker changed the language of the 100-year-old mission of the University of Wisconsin System UW, known as the “Wisconsin Idea,” removing the portion that calls for extending “knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campuses.”
Ray Cross, president of the University of Wisconsin System, says that the “Wisconsin Idea” is embedded in the DNA of the university, and the Journal Sentinel has suggested that it “drives” the states economy. That may well be, but I have a preliminary question.
Scott Walker was never going to win fans among the faculty at the University of Wisconsin. Four years ago, Wisconsin professors were in the state capitol protesting the governor’s plans to limit public employee collective bargaining powers. But, boy, did he make enemies this month when he proposed $300 million more in budget cuts to the state’s university and altering the words of the school’s mission. Walker has clearly made some tactical missteps in recent weeks—and the fact that he himself doesn’t have a college degree doesn’t add to his credibility. But Walker’s problems are those almost everyone in the Republican field could soon have.
Along with more than 70 other faculty from across the University of Wisconsin-System, I believe that UW System President Ray Cross should publicly oppose Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to transform the University of Wisconsin System to a public authority.
This Saturday, the UW-Madison Division of International Studies and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction are holding the third annual Wisconsin Global Youth Summit. More than 170 students from 35 high schools around the state will participate in activities that involve interacting with people from other cultures to stimulate their reflection on global citizenship and inspire them to explore the world. There’s an additional session for teacher with more than 60 participating.
The Wisconsin Idea is the guiding principle of the University of Wisconsin. This approach to higher education emphasizes service to the state: working shoulder-to-shoulder with people in their communities to solve problems and make life better. The philosophy was first articulated in 1904 by University of Wisconsin President Charles Van Hise, who said he would “never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family in the state.”
I grew up in a family with three generations of proud UW graduates. My great-great-aunt received two degrees at UW and went on to teach here in Wisconsin for 44 years. Both of my grandpas, upon returning from World War II, decided to go back to school and were proud graduates of UW. My parents graduated from UW in the 1960s and my dad has been a local, small business owner for over 30 years.
Dear Editor: A 2.5 percent cut to the UW System is grossly inaccurate. UW-Eau Claire is facing the prospect of cutting $19.7 million from its general fund budget, currently $95.6 million, over the course of the next two years. Thats a 20.6 percent reduction: $7.6 million each year in response to the governor’s proposed budget cut, and $4.5 million in response to a pre-existing structural budget deficit. That’s the equivalent of a minimum of 126 out of 440 full-time faculty positions and 24,892 classroom seats, or 152 full-time staff/administration positions, or a 20.5 percent increase in tuition which won’t happen because of the tuition freeze. By my own estimate, the total cut is the equivalent of completely eliminating the College of Business one of our four colleges, as well as all positions within and all costs associated with that college.
Recently, I wrote a piece at Right Wisconsin on the flap over the “Wisconsin Idea” at Right Wisconsin. Short version: the Wisconsin Idea is a common place generality that, at least in 2015, distinguishes the University of Wisconsin from nobody. No one has suggested that UW become a trade school or abandon research.
Four years ago, the UW System was at a major crossroads. A proposal to split Madison from the system of 26 campuses and statewide Extension caused great concern for those who worked and studied in the system.
The $300 million for UW that Gov. Scott Walker proposed in his state budget would be crippling to UW and our state. And really, this isn’t about partisanship, politics, your side or mine; it is about pride. The gutting of our UW campuses has nothing to do with either party; it has everything to do with protecting a pillar of Wisconsin.
Doug Erickson’s article in the Feb. 15 State Journal about kindergartners and the “kindness curriculum” developed by UW-Madison was great.
As the representative of 14 colleges and universities across western and central Wisconsin, I know that higher education is a top priority. Every dollar we invest today in higher education will pay dividends down the road, helping ensure that Wisconsin can compete in the global marketplace.
In the few weeks since it became public, Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to cut $300 million from the University of Wisconsin System budget has produced three schools of thought within the state’s business community.
The gun lobby is flirting with self-parody as it exploits the issue of sexual assaults on college campuses by proposing a solution of — what else? — having students carry guns. Experts who study the complicated issue of predatory behavior and advise colleges point out that rapes often begin in social situations. “It would be nearly impossible to run for a gun,” said John Foubert, the national president of One in Four, a rape-prevention organization.
Gov. Scott Walker plans to cut $300M from the budget of the University of Wisconsin and, if he has his way, will alter its mission from a “search for truth” to “meeting the state’s workforce needs.” These steps are so fantastically at odds with what the business community, economy and state need from its public university system that no synonym for ‘stupid’ is too strong.
