….With new allegations surfacing that Buckeyes players have been selling memorabilia and getting sweetheart deals on cars since 2002, the message being sent is even more loud and clear: This isn?t a Jim Tressel problem or an Ohio State problem, it?s a college football problem. At its highest levels, the sport is out of control.
As I watch many valued colleagues leave the University of Wisconsin-Madison for other institutions, I react with dismay. Not at them, but at the lack of any substantive educational vision that now seems to pervade the governor?s officer and the Legislature.
We do a disservice to any serious understanding of the importance of education if we simply see it as a vocational path to more money and jobs. When the governor said that he didn?t need to finish college because he already had a job, he demonstrated how limited was his view of education as a self-making process.
It ain?t gonna happen. Much to the chagrin of The Sconz circa 2009, UW students will never be able to drink at Badgers games. The idea of selling beer at Camp Randall popped onto the radar screen recently when West Virginia athletic director Oliver Luck proposed such a plan for Mountaineers football games. In addition to tapping into a lucrative revenue stream, Luck told his Board of Governors that allowing and controlling beer sales would help cut down on the problem of fan intoxication.
It is ironic that West Virginia, which surveys show has one of the lowest rates of alcohol consumption in the country, is considering a more liberal drinking policy than Wisconsin, the heaviest drinking state in the country, and home to Memorial Union, perhaps the proudest university-sponsored drinking venue in American history.
Now that the political winds at the state Capitol are blowing against separating the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the UW System, a new idea has surfaced that is just as ill-advised.
As state legislators move through the arduous process of drafting a two-year budget, the lingering economic recession creates difficult political choices and significant financial challenges.
I recently joined with my colleagues Mike Lovell, the new Chancellor of UW-Milwaukee; UW-Whitewater Chancellor Richard Telfer, and the leaders of other UW System campuses in signing a letter renewing our request to state legislators for new leadership flexibility.
I joined the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a faculty member in 1973, two years after the merger of UW-Madison with the UW System. The merger was met with much apprehension.
“The University of Wisconsin: A History, 1945-1971” notes that the 1971 merger was “imposed by state political leaders over the deep misgivings of most UW regents, administrators and Madison faculty members, alumni and students.”
These misgivings were well-founded. In the 40 years following the merger, UW-Madison has been less than it can be. The reason is straightforward. [A column by Ronald Kalil, a professor of neuroscience in the Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in the School of Medicine and Public Health at UW-Madison.]
I?ve become much too good recently at writing accolades about retiring public workers. I?m glad to praise the praiseworthy, of course. It?s just that there are too many inspiring public servants departing state government right now. I?m losing words to express my sense of loss and outrage.
….State workers who have worked for decades under multiple administrations suddenly are leaving in droves.
In a recent guest column (Opinion, May 10), a University of Wisconsin System regent and member of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Advisory Council stated her case against the New Badger Partnership. As an alumnus of UW-Madison, I would like to offer a different perspective.
Numbers from the state Department of Administration and the University of Wisconsin-Madison show how important the dues of public-employee union members are to those unions – dues Walker?s changes would dramatically cut, if not eliminate.
In one year, UW-Madison unionized workers and workers in agencies of state government controlled by the governor, paid $13.9 million in union dues, And, of that total, $8.2 million – or 59% – went to the Wisconsin State Employees Union.
“What I saw early this year (in Madison) was not our Wisconsin. You clearly had ideological forces trying to divide rather than bring us together.”
Another example of dividing people is Walker?s effort to try to split the “flagship university” from the rest of the system, a reference to the plan Walker developed with UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin to separate the UW-Madison campus from the rest of the UW System. Walker is acting more as a king than a governor, according to a Barrett speech line.
….the chancellor is pushing a new argument, insisting that the only way to save UW-Madison from certain peril is to split from the UW System, creating an independent governing structure for the flagship campus. This is a major departure from the earlier argument, and many people think it is a bad idea ? both for UW-Madison and the other UW campuses.
I write as a longtime administrator at the UW-Madison and former chief of staff to Chancellor Donna Shalala. For eight of those years, I spent a great deal of time lobbying in the state Capitol for the university. I strongly agree that the restrictions on construction, hiring and budgeting should be changed. A separate governing board for the UW-Madison, however, would be harmful to my university.
A somewhat ugly and unfortunate debate has occurred in the national press in recent weeks over the use of freedom of information laws. The controversy began when the Wisconsin Republican Party asked the University of Wisconsin for e-mails of William Cronon, a history professor at Madison, whose records, as a state employee, are subject to Wisconsin?s open records law.
Granting public authority status to the University of Wisconsin-Madison would help us provide a better, richer and more valuable experience for our 29,000 undergraduate students. With public authority, we would offer more of the kinds of educational experiences that students ? and employers ? want us to provide.
First, let?s pause to celebrate. Over the past two decades, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has come to deserve the descriptor ?world-class research institution,? one that attracts more than $1 billion per year in grants.
And let?s stipulate to this: Really smart people agree that to protect and extend UW?s top-tier stature, its chancellor and other campus leaders need to have operational flexibility to compete in the global arena. And, further, let?s agree that other UW System schools would benefit from freedoms scaled to their situations.
….Martin clearly believes in her cause, that only through her version of change can UW-Madison succeed as an international player, but it appears to be time to punt.
UW?s players should let bygones be bygones and hope that the university?s brain trust ? which aptly describes the intellect and energy on campus ? can reunite to effectively confront the grave threat posed by dwindling state financial support and Capitol meddling.
So let?s applaud Martin for placing the issue in the brightest of lights and then turn quickly to achieving greater flexibility not only for UW-Madison but for the entire system, keenly mindful that Madison is vastly different from other schools.
Quoted: Former UW-Madison chancellor John Wiley.
Scott Walker promised to create 250,000 jobs during his four years as governor providing he makes it that far and so he?s got his staff trumpeting every small sign that he may be on his way to that goal. Trouble is, in his zealousness to pat himself on the back at every uptick in the economy, he?s making himself look foolish ? even more so than he?s already done in just four months in office.
Mentioned: Professor emeritus of economics Don Nichols
I can?t resist an opportunity to draw Bucky, and I thought the ball and chain was a good metaphor for the relationship between the UW-Madison and the UW-System.
STEVENS POINT ? Imagine living in a country where parents don?t take their sick kids to the doctor because it costs too much. Turns out, we do ? even if parents have health insurance coverage. Call it America?s working-class lament.
A research team from the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health told us this in a recent report.
Together, Wisconsin?s public universities, two-year colleges, technical schools and private institutions produce a highly educated workforce. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is proud to be a part of this collaboration and shared legacy of excellence. [A commentary by Stephanie Lee Swartz, a member of the UW-Madison School of Nursing Board of Visitors and the Wisconsin Alumni Association Board of Directors.]
On Tuesday I finally had a chance to take in some of the new Union South in person and it is, as I?ve been reading for weeks now, quite lovely. The design is sleek and modern without feeling sterile. There are multiple food options encompassing a decent range of health and diet options. Students were seated everywhere, working on laptops or noses buried in books.
Freshwaters are Wisconsin?s crown jewel. Lakes and rivers of our forests and farmlands provide natural beauty, fisheries, water sports and other benefits. Bordered by two Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, and with thousands of inland lakes and streams, Wisconsin is truly a place where land, people and water meet.
….We?re already seeing some of our most dedicated and experienced teachers leaving their jobs, fearful that their employers either can?t or won?t hold up their end of the bargain on pensions. Further, their governor has decided that in addition to giving up benefits, they shouldn?t even have the right to bargain on their working conditions or fair treatment on the job.
Not only are they going to have to give up what amounts to about 8 percent of their take-home pay, they?ve been vilified by state leaders, small-minded politicians and a host of petty complainers as being shiftless, selfish and pampered.
Like most Madisonians and veterans of Mifflins past, I read with dismay the news that two partygoers were stabbed ? leading to ?multiple life-threatening injuries? requiring emergency surgery in one case ? at this year?s celebration. Equally disturbing is that three police officers were injured ? including a female officer who was punched in the face when she tried to stop a reveler ? and that four times as many partygoers ended up in detox as compared to last year.Not surprisingly, Mayor Paul Soglin and other city leaders want to see Mifflin come to an end.
Apparently, I attend Koch University.At least, that?s what a flier from last week?s protest of the New Badger Partnership atop Bascom told me. The flier also had a picture of Chancellor Biddy Martin photoshopped onto the body of Queen Elizabeth.
I decided to use the wedding as a sort of topical prop to help me draw a cartoon on a topic that I do care about, UW-Madison?s attempt to split off from the rest of the UW-System.
Since I graduated from the UW-Madison last May, my sense of attachment to the university has actually increased. Still, I couldn?t help but feel like a poseur as I filled out a Wisconsin Alumni Association membership form online.
This Monday, in a not-at-all out of character message, Biddy Martin tweeted ?@alison1690,? ?I like the opportunity to learn about and communicate with students in a medium you find appealing.? The next day, our chancellor held an impromptu discussion with student protesters occupying Bascom Hall. Coincidence? Political savvy? Biddy being Biddy?
If the current proposed legislation designating UW-Madison as a public authority is adopted, I would anticipate the following changes over the next decade and beyond:
Since I graduated from the UW-Madison last May, my sense of attachment to the university has actually increased. Still, I couldnt help but feel like a poseur as I filled out a Wisconsin Alumni Association membership form online.
This Monday, in a not-at-all out of character message, Biddy Martin tweeted ?@alison1690,? ?I like the opportunity to learn about and communicate with students in a medium you find appealing.? The next day, our chancellor held an impromptu discussion with student protesters occupying Bascom Hall. Coincidence? Political savvy? Biddy being Biddy?
The month of April has been designated Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a month focused on raising public awareness about sexual violence and educating communities and individuals on how to prevent sexual assaults. Sexual assault is a pervasive problem in our society. It is estimated that one in six American women has been the victim of sexual assault or attempted assault. However, sexual assault can affect people of any gender, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation or ability.
I was disappointed last week to read in this newspaper?s “Labor?s last stand?” series that some UW-Madison students have been breaking up with their honeys over disagreements about what?s been happening at the Capitol.
We?d never met. But when I walked into my class at American University a few weeks ago, I knew instantly who she was. She came up quickly, like someone who didn?t have much time. She was a grad student working at American University for the Service Employees International Union to organize adjunct professors like me. She hoped I would sign up. What surprised me was my reaction. I wished she hadn?t come.
(Bob Lehrman, a novelist, former White House aide and author of ?The Political Speechwriter?s Companion,? was American University?s adjunct of the year in 2010. This column first appeared in the Washington Post.)
In one of history?s lucky accidents, the juxtaposition of two extraordinary events has stripped the architecture of American global power bare for all to see. Last November, WikiLeaks splashed snippets from U.S. embassy cables, loaded with scurrilous comments about national leaders from Argentina to Zimbabwe, on the front pages of newspapers worldwide. Then just a few weeks later, the Middle East erupted in pro-democracy protests against the region?s autocratic leaders, many of whom were close U.S. allies whose foibles had been so conveniently detailed in those same diplomatic cables.
Last week was bad for the New Badger Partnership?s prospects in the state Legislature. Reps. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Robin Vos, R-Burlington, each said they had doubts that the University of Wisconsin-Madison will garner the votes to split from the UW System, casting a pall over Chancellor Biddy Martin?s hard-won successes thus far.
Right now the UW-Madison is operating on an uneven field that, if not corrected, will slowly erode our great university?s ability to compete – for students, faculty and research dollars, just to name a few – not only nationally, but around the world as well. We all know how economically challenging these past few years have been for our country. Those challenges exist on college campuses as well, including UW-Madison. I always taught my players to meet challenges head-on and that?s what is necessary now. Chancellor Biddy Martin has a plan that would give UW-Madison some of the decision-making flexibility necessary for our university to continue to compete on a national and international level.
Chancellor Biddy Martin had finished her by-now-familiar sales pitch that the University of Wisconsin-Madison can only succeed by splitting from the UW System. On this day, her audience was Downtown Rotary, the city?s high court of business movers and shakers.
….How, if things proceed as they seem likely to, does she emerge unscarred? At Rotary, it became obvious she is acutely aware of what critics are saying. Her persona has morphed from careful to carefully combative.
I often write about progressive interests in and around Madison responding to right-wing attacks. What we have here feels like an enormous family feud, albeit nuanced, arcane and hugely important. It feels oddly timed, on the heels of everything and, well, kind of sad.
In poker, there are gasps when players go “all in,” pushing all their chips forward to bet on the next card. By the end of that hand, they either bust and leave the table broke or sit there much richer. This season, at least three Wisconsin leaders are “all in”: Republican U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, Republican Gov. Scott Walker and UW-Madison Chancellor Carolyn “Biddy” Martin.
Last week was bad for the New Badger Partnership?s prospects in the state Legislature. Reps. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, and Robin Vos, R-Burlington, each said they had doubts that the University of Wisconsin-Madison will garner the votes to split from the UW System, casting a pall over Chancellor Biddy Martin?s hard-won successes thus far.
According to a memo released by UW Vice Chancellor for Administration Darrell Bazzell, UW-Madison believes that the new public authority model proposed for the university by Gov. Scott Walker should not come at the expense of collective bargaining rights for UW faculty and staff.
Yet as we celebrate the 41st anniversary of Earth Day – founded by Wisconsin?s own Gaylord Nelson – the jobs-vs.-environment argument has surfaced again. It is a more dubious claim than ever.
Case in point: recycling, mandated by the state in 1990 after a long, contentious political battle. Just 20 years later, Wisconsin municipalities recycle more than 700,000 tons of material each year – waste that otherwise would go to landfills. The environmental benefits of keeping plastic, metals and other materials out of the ground are many and obvious, including protecting the quality of our groundwater and conserving valuable resources. [A column by Gregg Mitman, interim director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison].
Gov. Scott Walker knew he was going to the mat with unions when he announced his budget-repair bill, but he probably didn?t know he was picking a fight with ministers, rabbis and priests when he released his two-year budget. [A column by UW-Madison history professor Nan Enstad].
Gov. Scott Walker appeared before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and claimed that his assault on public employees and public school teachers, public services and public education was a ?progressive? policy.
The Fukushima Dai-ichi disaster is stimulating debate about nuclear power in Wisconsin, the U.S. and the world. To elevate the quality of that discussion, we offer a short primer on radiation and its impact on health, and our informed opinion on the implications for energy policy.
(Bruce Barrett is an associate professor in the School of Medicine and Public Health and Vohmann is a clinical assistant professor in family medicine.)
Jordan Ellenberg, an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, proposed an interesting way to resolve the state Supreme Court election.
Flip a coin.
No, seriously.
A national debate is under way over the use of open records laws to seek documents from professors at public institutions of higher education. A Washington Post editorial last week criticized our organization, the Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy, suggesting that we meant to chill academic freedom through a state Freedom of Information Act request that we filed with three public universities. The evidence shows that the Post has erred, but the general rush to judgment about the use of open records laws with public universities illustrates why defending the laws remains as challenging and important as ever.
Today Laurent Gbagbo was captured, and at long last the Ivorian political crisis looks ready to subside. “The nightmare is over,” declared Guillaume Soro, Côte d?Ivoire?s incoming Prime Minister. But if the past is any prelude, we are likely to see a new war of words in the coming days and weeks.
The future of UW-Madison?s authority model grows hazier as Chancellor Biddy Martin finds her brainchild gridlocked between UW System officials and the Wisconsin state Legislature. As evidenced by her e-mail sent to UW-Madison students last Thursday, Martin?s attempts to implement the New Badger Partnership?a plan to increase UW-Madison?s flexibility through the establishment of a public authority model that would break the university from the UW System?are growing increasingly desperate. Although Martin earned the support of Gov. Scott Walker in his proposed biennial budget, the idea of Wisconsin?s most prestigious and economically viable research institution stripping away from the UW System has sister universities and the Board of Regents disconcerted.
The budget plan I introduced last month makes the hard choices and in doing so makes a commitment to the future. We are finally carrying our fair share, so we don?t leave a larger problem for our children and grandchildren. [A column by Gov. Scott Walker].
The Republican Party of Wisconsin wants to see what William Cronon has been emailing about. Through an open records request, the state GOP is asking to see correspondence from Cronon, a professor of history, geography and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin, that includes the terms ?Republican,? ?Scott Walker? and ?collective bargaining,? among many other keywords and names.
(Naomi Schaefer Riley, a former editor at the Wall Street Journal, is the author of the forthcoming ?The Faculty Lounges … and Other Reasons Why You Won?t Get the College Education You Paid For.? This column appeared first in The Washington Post.)
Monday?s article on the new Union South describes it all too accurately as an opulent playground. This $95 million extravaganza was approved by a slim percentage of the student body in an election so rigged by the administration it would have made Stalin blush. UW-Madison?s potentates have decreed that Memorial Union, which already qualifies as a palace by any reasonable standard, will also be “improved” to the tune of millions.
There may well be no stupid questions. But answers? Undoubtedly. Witness the standard partisan responses Wednesday to the question burning on the lips last week of just about every journalist, pundit and activist from Kenosha to Bayfield:
Quoted: UW-Madison political science professor Barry Burden
Gov. Scott Walker?s biennial budget proposal seeks to remove the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the rest of the UW System, establishing a separate governing board and allowing it greater flexibility in areas such as budgeting and tuition. The proposal, backed by Madison chancellor Biddy Martin, is part of Walker?s plan to cut that school?s funding by $125 million ? in addition to $125 million in cuts that would be absorbed throughout the rest of the system. [Columns by UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin, UW-Green Bay Chancellor Thomas Hardin and a historical perspective on the UW System].
I am fortunate to work at a university that is positively impacting the global economy and changing people?s lives. In early March, I returned from the Dominican Republic where I spent five days visiting factories, meeting with apparel workers and non-governmental organizations on behalf of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I went to observe first-hand a new business model in the apparel industry that is proving to be life changing.
The recent effort by Wisconsin Republicans to intimidate University of Wisconsin-Madison history professor William Cronon is the latest in a shameful series of bullying tactics by those currently in state leadership. Since taking office in January, Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican allies have engaged in an agenda of retaliation and retribution against their critics. [A column by Bryan Kennedy, president of AFT-Wisconsin].
When The Capital Times reported recently that Wisconsin public employee retirements jumped 31 percent through Feb. 25 compared to the same period last year, the data did not begin to hint at the breakneck pace of a new phenomenon in the state?s public workplace.
Wisconsin?s Republican Party filed an FOIA request for the email of William Cronon, a widely respected professor of history, geography and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The filing came on March 17, two days after Cronon posted on his blog, which is not affiliated with the university, a “study guide” to conservative think tanks headlined “Who?s Really Behind Recent Republican Legislation in Wisconsin and Elsewhere? (Hint: It Didn?t Start Here).”
Wisconsin faces a historic opportunity to evolve its support for higher education and renew the Wisconsin Idea. After more than a decade of significant cuts in state support and shifting costs to student tuition, it is apparent that the old business model for the University of Wisconsin System and its institutions is broken.
Lost in the debate is that at its core, the UW System needs to be a system that includes Madison and functions as one since it represents all of the citizens of this state. Evidently, Martin doesn?t get it or just doesn?t care. In any event, her actions demonstrate one stark reality as the mess she has created is cleaned up: It?s time for her to go. [A column by former Regent David Hirsch].
I always have been troubled that instead of public policy being generated at our public universities, too much policy is created and controlled by powerful think tanks, organizations in which well-paid experts give advice and ideas on specific economic and political issues. They are funded mainly by large businesses and major foundations and they provide customized agendas and playbooks for elected officials and others who influence public policy.
