The Joint Finance Committee is scheduled to take up the University of Wisconsin System?s budget later this week. The state?s budget-writing committee is meeting Thursday and Friday, starting at 1:00 p.m. each day, in Room 412 East of the Capitol to examine the budgets of a range of agencies — including that of the UW System. It?s not yet clear which day the JFC will tackle UW System-related issues.
Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, wins the most unsurprising quote of the week this week for voicing his skepticism about UW-Madison splitting from the UW System. “I don?t think there?s a lot of support for the split and I think the Legislature should take their time before allowing these academicians any more responsibility in business dealings,” he said.
Quoted: UW-Madison economist Andrew Reschovsky, an expert on school finance.
Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to break off the Madison campus from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System is dead. UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin said Friday it?s now clear there?s not enough support for the UW-Madison split at this point, though she?s optimistic a similar plan could be studied. “I don?t think anything is foreclosed,” Martin said. “I think there?s a huge amount of interest that?s been demonstrated in change, I just don?t know what the ultimate outcomes of these various efforts at change will be.”
The proposal to split UW-Madison from the University of Wisconsin System may be dead, but UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin said she hopes another plan will rise in its place to give the university more freedom from oversight. Martin said she?s ?accepted the improbability? that Gov. Scott Walker?s controversial budget proposal will pass. ?I?m actually delighted by the potential in some of these compromise plans we?ve seen to get forms of decision-making and authority, as well as flexibility, for UW-Madison and the other campuses,? Martin said. ?It would be unprecedented obviously to have that kind of progress.?
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.
UW-Madison will not be splitting from the rest of the UW System, according to lawmakers. But a similar plan could be in the works.
MADISON – Wisconsin legislative leaders are considering a task force to study the idea of letting U-W Madison run itself, separate from the rest of the university system.
Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to break off the Madison campus from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System is dead.
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells is in no mood to celebrate the demise Friday of Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to break off the Madison campus from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System.
MADISON, Wis. — Under the state?s current proposed budget, the University of Wisconsin-Madison faces more than $125 million in funding cuts.
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.
MADISON, Wis. — A plan to spin off the state?s flagship school from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System appears to be dead.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison?s chancellor acknowledged Friday that it?s unlikely that a plan to split the flagship campus from a board that oversees the rest of the state?s public universities will get approval from lawmakers this summer.
Republicans are already referring to the New Badger Partnership as roadkill.
Gov. Scott Walker isn?t chasing star professors away from UW-Madison.Just the opposite. The Republican governor, along with UW-Madison chancellor Biddy Martin, is fighting to give UW-Madison more flexibility and autonomy so it can keep its star professors and attract new ones.
A Wisconsin circuit court judge has invalidated a controversial law designed to limit the power of public-sector unions in the state ? legislation that prompted massive protests in Madison, the state capital and brought international attention to Wisconsin earlier this year.
Quoted: ?Some state senators who were involved in passing the legislation have to be wondering whether or not taking action in June is the right thing or wrong thing politically, a month before facing voters,? says Barry Burden, who teaches political science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.
In yet another twist in Wisconsin?s bitter fight over the unions, a judge Thursday struck down the Republican-sponsored bill to strip most public workers of their collective bargaining rights, moving the battle to the state Supreme Court. Quoted: Charles Franklin, professor of political science.
A judge has struck down the collective bargaining bill, ruling that the state?s open meetings law was violated.
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.
In a decision issued this morning, Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi ruled that Republican lawmakers violated the Open Meetings Law when they scheduled a conference committee meeting to advance a stripped down version of the Governor?s collective bargaining bill with less than two hours notice.
Gov. Scott Walker?s controversial proposal to split UW-Madison from the UW System and grant the university public authority status through Chancellor Biddy Martin?s New Badger Partnership is dead, Republican officials said Thursday.
Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to award the University of Wisconsin-Madison public authority status is dead, Republican officials confirmed Thursday.
Union supporters were handed a huge ? although possibily temporary ? victory Thursday morning, when a Dane County judge struck down a controversial bill that stripped most collective bargaining rights from public employees.
MADISON, Wis. — A Dane County judge has struck down a law taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from most state workers. Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi ruled on Thursday that Republican legislators violated Wisconsin?s open meetings law during the run up passing the controversial measure. She said that renders the law void.
In her ruling, Sumi said that there was “no conflicting Senate, Assembly or joint rule in effect on March 9, 2011, that would have excused compliance with the public notice requirement” of 24 hours notice. She went on to say, “The evidence also demonstrated a failure to obey even the two-hour notice allowed for good cause if 24-hour notice is impossible or impractical.”
A legislative committee cleared the way Wednesday for a full Senate vote on a Republican bill that would allow concealed weapons in Wisconsin, brushing aside concerns the measure would lead to more gun violence. The measure?s fate is murky. It doesn?t require any training or permits, a nod to gun advocates who believe they have the absolute constitutional right to bear arms without restrictions, but Assembly Republicans are pushing a separate bill that calls for instruction and licenses. The two Democrats on the committee, Sens. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, and Fred Risser, D-Madison, raised all manner of what-if scenarios, from whether University of Wisconsin-Madison students could carry concealed weapons into class to whether people could carry concealed around the Madison zoo.
The Legislature?s budget-writing committee on Tuesday signed off on a proposal by Gov. Scott Walker to phase out a program designed to help students — especially those from low-income families — find a path to a college degree. Democrats on the Joint Finance Committee attempted to delete a provision in the governor?s budget which will sunset the Wisconsin Covenant program. But that motion was shot down 12-4 along party lines.
“I don?t know why we continue to say we can?t afford education,” Rep. Tamara Grigsby, D, Milwaukee, told her joint finance colleagues.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? Gov. Scott Walker signed into law Wednesday a requirement that voters in Wisconsin show photo identification at the polls, marking the end of a nearly decade-long push by Republicans to enact it.
A change to Gov. Scott Walker?s Minnesota-Wisconsin reciprocity agreement is being called a “reasonable and fair compromise” by State Sen. Bob Jauch (D-Poplar).
The controversial voter ID bill is now law.Â
Funding for a tuition reciprocity agreement between Wisconsin and Minnesota will be phased out, under a plan approved Tuesday by the Legislature?s Joint Finance Committee.
Legislation that would allow anyone who can legally own a firearm to carry it concealed is headed to the Senate floor, after a committee approved the bill Wednesday on a party line vote. Democrats raised numerous concerns about the lack of training requirements or permits in the bill legalizing what?s called constitutional carry.
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.]
Wisconsin college students will soon have to pay more to attend the University of Minnesota under a change to the popular tuition reciprocity agreement approved Tuesday by the Wisconsin Legislature?s budget committee. The 43-year-old reciprocity program allows Wisconsin and Minnesota college-bound students to pay instate tuition even if they attend public universities in the other state. Currently, Wisconsin makes up the difference between the resident tuition rate for a Wisconsin student to attend a comparable institution in Minnesota. Under the change approved unanimously Tuesday by the Legislature?s Joint Finance Committee, that difference would have to be paid by the student.
With the stroke of a pen today, Gov. Scott Walker will officially solve a problem that we don?t have. If you listen to Walker and some fellow governors, they?re protecting the integrity of elections and preventing voter fraud.
….Tens of thousands of students in the University of Wisconsin System won?t be able to use their student IDs because they don?t meet the new state voter requirement. Do you think that?s a coincidence?
Here?s the message it sends: We want young people to take part in democracy. We want them to stay in Wisconsin and work after graduation. But we don?t really want them to vote while they?re a student.
Wisconsin students would be required to pay more to attend Minnesota?s public universities, under a plan unanimously adopted by the budget committee. Changes to the tuition reciprocity program would be phased in, starting with the freshman class in the fall of 2012 — a compromise to protect current students from a sudden tuition increase.
Wisconsin college students will soon have to pay more to attend the University of Minnesota under a change to the popular tuition reciprocity agreement approved Tuesday by the Wisconsin Legislature?s budget committee.
The state Joint Finance Committee voted Tuesday to end the Wisconsin Covenant program.
MADISON (WKOW) — Wisconsin college students would have to pay more to attend the University of Minnesota under a proposal up for approval before the Wisconsin Legislature?s budget committee.
MADISON, Wis. — The Legislature?s budget committee has voted to go along with Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to end the Wisconsin Covenant program. The program started by Walker?s predecessor Gov. Jim Doyle promises financial aid for college to middle school students who promise to stay out of trouble and get good grades.
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.
Proudly emerging in caps and gowns, students who graduate from college over the next few weeks will feel as light as a feather. Well, except for the anchor of student debt they?ll drag behind them for the next several years or longer.
A report the Pew Research Center released last week showed those who borrow money for college face an average of $23,000 in loans. The weight is especially piling on in Wisconsin, according to credit management service CreditKarma.com. Its report showed student loan debt among Wisconsin consumers rose 17 percent over the past year, the biggest increase in the nation. It?s time to expel that trend.
The Presbyterian student center at UW-Madison is scrambling to convince state legislators its 51-unit apartment building deserves to remain off the tax rolls. The Legislature?s Joint Finance Committee on May 12 voted 14-2 to strip Pres House Apartments of its tax-exempt status as part of the 2011-13 biennial budget. The ministry was granted the exemption by the Legislature in a controversial move two years ago. Pres House now is rallying students, parents and alumni to contact state officials before the full Legislature votes on the budget in the coming weeks.
Wisconsin college students would have to pay more to attend the University of Minnesota under a proposal up for approval before the Wisconsin Legislature?s budget committee. The Joint Finance Committee planned to vote Tuesday on the change backed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. His plan would save the state about $17 million over the next two years.
A special prosecutor has declined to bring charges against nine UW-Madison researchers and officials responsible for experiments in which sheep died of decompression sickness. David Geier, a Madison attorney, wrote in a report filed Friday that university employees did not violate a state law that bans killing animals through decompression. Geier wrote that the university should not ?receive a free pass,? however, because officials should have a better system to keep track of state and federal laws. He found that university employees he interviewed were either unaware of the state law or did not think it applied to them.
The University of Wisconsin Eau Claire says there?s a 77 percent jump in retirements at the campus this year, and opinions vary as to why.
Another faith-based organization at UW-Madison also could lose its tax-exempt status for its housing component. Youth With A Mission Madison, part of a global Christian volunteer organization, owns a former sorority house at 602 Langdon St. that provides housing for about 20 people, most of them UW-Madison students, said Warren Keapproth, director of YWAM Madison. The state law that gives Pres House its tax-exempt status also grants it to YWAM Madison.
A three-month debate over the way the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the rest of the UW System are run has shown that all state universities are going to need more freedom from state rules to remain competitive and to offset deep proposed budget cuts, state lawmakers say.
Another faith-based organization at UW-Madison also could lose its tax-exempt status for its housing component.
Jeremi Suri has fielded outside job offers before. But in the past, the history professor always turned down more lucrative overtures to remain at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. That changed this week when the highly regarded expert of international history and American foreign policy decided to take his talents to the University of Texas at Austin.
….”Quite frankly, I feel guilty about leaving,” says Suri. “I’ve been treated very well here. But I also think this shows the need for granting (UW-Madison) more flexibilities. And if our institution isn’t given the resources or allowed more flexibility from state oversight, we’re going to be stuck in place. I’m very worried about future retention here and having the resources to do the kinds of innovative work that’s necessary to remain a great university.”
The state Senate on Thursday gave final approval to a controversial bill requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls. The measure now heads to Gov. Scott Walker, who said he plans to sign it next Wednesday. Under the bill, a voter would have to present a driver?s license, a state ID, a passport, a military ID, naturalization papers or a tribal ID. College students could vote with a school ID as long as it has their signature and an expiration date within two years of the card?s issuance. University of Wisconsin IDs currently do not meet that criteria and would have to be updated to comply before students could use them to vote.
The state Senate gave final legislative approval to a bill that would require Wisconsin voters to show photo identification during a ragged session Thursday, clearing the way for Gov. Scott Walker to sign the measure into law next week.
WHITEWATER ? State Rep. Steve Nass on Tuesday said Republican lawmakers favor keeping UW-Madison linked to the state system, and will instead work toward giving some financial flexibilities to all UW campuses.
Forget about voting in the July 12 recall elections if you move to Wisconsin after June 14. Under a proof-of-residency provision in the voter ID bill passed this week by the state Legislature, voters will now need to live in the state 28 days before an election — instead of 10 — in order to cast a ballot.
….Once fully implemented, the voter ID law will require voters to present a valid driver’s license, passport, tribal ID or naturalization papers to obtain a ballot. Student IDs are allowed but will need to include a current address, birth date, signature and expiration date. No college IDs used in the state, including those on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, now meet those standards.
Catching up on a couple higher education-related items …
** One of three finalists has withdrawn from consideration to be the next dean of the University of Wisconsin Law School, the Wisconsin Law Journal reports. Gene Nichol, professor and director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina School of Law, told the university of his decision earlier this week, the website reports. It?s not clear why he pulled his name. The two finalists still in the running are Nicholas Allard and Margaret Raymond.
** The Senate voted 25-7 to ensure each region of the state has a representative on the University of Wisconsin System’s Board of Regents, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports. The measure next goes to the Assembly.
** States allowing illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition — instead of charging more costly out-of-state fees — have witnessed a 31-percent increase in that population’s college-going rate and a 14-percent drop in high-school dropouts among undocumented Latino students, according to a report out of Roger Williams University’s Latino Policy Institute.
The Joint Finance Committee was scheduled to take up the budget of the Wisconsin Technical College System during a meeting Thursday. But Joint Finance co-chair Robin Vos, R-Rochester, announced at the start of the noon conference that the WTCS and Department of Instruction budgets would not be addressed as previously scheduled.
First, full disclosure. I am a UW?Madison grad, as are my three kids, my bride, her mom and my dad. And several of my siblings, nieces and nephews are System grads or current students.
Academic staff at UW-Superior voted to unionize today, the first group of academic staff to do so in the University of Wisconsin System.
The New Badger Partnership has sparked serious discussion about the future of UW-Madison and many questions remain unanswered as summer approaches.
Gov. Scott Walker has yet to implement any of his major economic initiatives. Thankfully. Yet the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau announced May 11 that, because of improved tax collection projections, Wisconsin has an extra $636 million for budgeting purposes. That?s a 1.6 percent increase in tax revenue over the next two years.
