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.
William Cronon still is struggling to make sense of the past few weeks.
?I feel like I went down a rabbit hole and I?m in Wonderland, or just a really strange world,? says the University of Wisconsin-Madison professor. In the span of 10 days last month, Cronon started a blog, penned an op-ed for the New York Times and let the world know his emails were the target of an open records request from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, a move roundly criticized as an attempt to intimidate a professor for offering his perspective on political issues.
Quoted: Barry Burden, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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].
Members of the University of Wisconsin and System campus community traded barbs about the possible pitfalls of the New Badger Partnership and the UW System?s Wisconsin Idea Partnership in a public forum Wednesday.
Chancellor Biddy Martin sent an e-mail Wednesday urging faculty, staff and students to openly show their support for the UW-Madison New Badger Partnership.
Chancellor Biddy Martin presented a compromise between the New Badger Partnership and the Board of Regents? Wisconsin Idea Partnership that would provide the UW System more flexibilities while maintaining public authority status for UW-Madison.
Both chambers of the Legislature, which met with all the members present for the first time in almost two months Tuesday, passed the fiscal components of Gov. Scott Walker?s budget repair bill.
After University of Wisconsin System representatives expressed support for a new plan to keep the Madison campus within the System, the UW-Madison chancellor proposed an addition to the budget bill that would provide administrative flexibilities to all campuses while maintaining the public authority status for the campus.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is proposing a plan to give all University of Wisconsin System campuses more freedom from state regulations, but a System official said the proposal is problematic because it still calls for UW-Madison to split from the rest of the System. “At its core, it is not a compromise,” said System spokesman David Giroux. “It still results in the fracture of our unified public university system.” In a letter to members of the state Legislature?s budget committee, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin suggests changes to statutory language in Gov. Scott Walker?s budget to give other System campuses more control over funding, setting tuition, creating personnel systems, building and purchasing. But she writes that “UW-Madison seeks to maintain its treatment in the current budget bill to become a public authority.” In Walker?s budget, UW-Madison would separate from the System, getting its own 21-member board of trustees.
Leaders at several University of Wisconsin Campuses are reacting to a proposal that would separate the Madison campus from the rest of the UW-System.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin is proposing changes to Gov. Scott Walker?s budget to give other University of Wisconsin System campuses more flexibility, while also maintaining language that would make UW-Madison a public authority.
She sent the letter to members of the state Legislature?s budget committee a day after Sen. Luther Olsen, R-Ripon, charged UW System administration and Martin to come to a compromise. They have been fighting over the future of UW-Madison within the UW System.
The administration of Gov. Scott Walker hired the 27-year-old son of a veteran lobbyist then promoted him to an $81,500-per-year job overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees, despite his having no college degree and little management experience, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday. The newspaper reports that according to Brian Deschane?s resume, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for two years, worked for two Republican lawmakers and held part-time jobs with Wisconsin Builders Association and the Wisconsin Business Council before being hired by the state earlier this year.
Laws protecting the public?s right to know about what its government is doing are one of those rare, beautiful things about which there are few, if any, gray areas. You?re either for it or against it. Those who suggest that certain public records should be exempt from public inspection because their creators are too immersed in big ideas, too blue collar or too powerless are missing this point. Transparency in government means getting used to the fact that there will always be people who will use open records laws to harass, intimidate or simply waste your valuable time.
The administration of Gov. Scott Walker hired the 27-year-old son of a veteran lobbyist then promoted him to an $81,500-per-year job overseeing environmental and regulatory matters and dozens of employees, despite his having no college degree and little management experience, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported Monday.
I suppose it was only a matter of time before the partisan throw-down at the Capitol reached Madison?s eminent institution of higher learning. A heretofore below-the-radar UW-Madison history professor named William Cronon writes a blog post saying that ? surprise! ? political parties sometimes take their cues from ideological organizations and seek to crush their opponents.
Thousands of union supporters gathered at the Capitol Monday to continue Martin Luther King Jr.?s 1968 fight against racism and poverty in Madison in 2011.
A University of Wisconsin professor is at the “head of his profession” with expertise “recognized both in academic circles and by the social and governmental leaders of the day.” But the times in which he teaches are tumultuous; the economy is severely depressed and organized labor is an electric issue. Against that backdrop, his allegedly pro-union comments bring a public counterattack and thrust him into an unwanted spotlight.
The University of Wisconsin Teaching Assistants? Association held a brief gathering atop Bascom Hill Monday featuring two campus unions and Rev. Jesse Jackson before marching down State Street to the Capitol building where a rally commemorated Martin Luther King Jr.?s death and his fight for workers? rights.
After University of Wisconsin officials complied with an open records request from the Republican Party of Wisconsin, members of the campus community weighed in on the perceived threat to academic freedom.
The Wisconsin Republican Party has requested copies of certain emails sent by Professor William Cronon, of the University of Wisconsin.
An open records request by a conservative think tank in Michigan seeks all emails related to the collective bargaining standoff in Wisconsin from labor studies professors at three public universities.
Bill Cronon is definitely one of the last historians at UW-Madison (where I went to grad school) that I would think of as a radical or even as very political. Even his masterwork, Nature?s Metropolis, which I happen to be assigning this semester in my 19th century America class, is marred by an inattention to politics (though still a very fine book, a real model of the craft in many other respects).
UW Chancellor Biddy Martin has offered budget language changes aimed at giving other UW campuses more flexibility while maintaining Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposal that the flagship campus gain autonomy from the rest of the UW System.
 UW-Madison released some of Professor William Cronon?s e-mail records to the Republican Party of Wisconsin Friday following the open records request the group filed March 17.
After listening to testimony from several witnesses Friday, Dane County Judge Maryann Sumi decided to keep the temporary restraining order on the budget repair law.
A Dane County judge said the temporary restraining order prohibiting publication of the bill limiting collective bargaining rights for public employees would stay in place, despite the continued absence of the Republican defendants.
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — A student at Marquette University has been hospitalized with a possible case of bacterial meningitis. The school said on Sunday that the student lives off-campus. The student?s roommates have already received preventative treatment, and the university is contacting others who may have had direct contact with the student.
…Walker is mugging Wisconsin?s educational tradition. He has proposed cuts of nearly $1 billion in state aid to local school districts while capping their levels of taxation. Apparently he is supporting the idea of spinning the university off from the state system, largely because he now will include all university employees as part of his ?250,000 new jobs.? The state and municipalities have yet to see the impact of his program on recruiting and retaining good teachers. The outcome is all too apparent.
Life goes on. The grass is sprouting on the trampled grounds at the state Capitol, the Legislature is in recess and the governor wants nothing less than a do-over of the 20th century. Meanwhile, killing the bargaining rights of teachers, providing a one-sided grievance and disciplinary process and reducing their incomes apparently are vital parts of the governor?s plan to open the state for ?business.?
(Stanley Kutler, a UW-Madison professor emeritus. This column first appeared on Truthdig.com.)
Quoted: Dennis Dresang, professor emeritus of public affairs and political science for the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison.
I?m guessing most people who heard about the study last week showing UW-Madison generates some $12.4 billion in state economic activity and supports 128,146 jobs annually didn?t exactly smack their foreheads in surprise. Likewise, they probably wouldn?t have done any head-smacking if the numbers were $5 billion or $20 billion, or if the (surprisingly specific) jobs numbers had been a few thousand higher or lower. Massive numbers about huge institutions and the complicated means by which they are arrived at tend to produce a numbing effect on the human brain.
State Journal city editor Phil Brinkman?s explanation for that newspaper not covering the controversy over the Freedom of Information Act request for Prof. William Cronon?s emails is unpersuasive.
I doubt that Prof. William Cronon thought long and hard about working for the “government” when he signed on with the University of Wisconsin. He shouldn?t have had to….The Republican Party might want to consider that this sort of tactic is not a one-way street and make sure that all Republican office holders are using their government email addresses properly. Otherwise we can count on a lot more fishing expeditions from operatives in both parties.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin on Friday released some of the emails requested of a history professor by the state Republican Party but said she is withholding others that “fall within the orbit of academic freedom.” Stephan Thompson, deputy executive director of the state Republican Party, had sought the emails under the state?s open records law after professor Bill Cronon wrote an essay on his blog critical of the role the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council has played in pushing anti-union legislation in Wisconsin and elsewhere.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Universities don?t seem to breed much civil courage these days. But the University of Wisconsin is a glorious exception to the rule. When the Republican Party of Wisconsin demanded e-mails sent by and to William Cronon, it was the university?which serves as the official ?record holder? for this purpose?rather than the individual professor that had to answer the request. It has now done so, with two lucid documents that show scrupulous concern for the rights of all involved.
Proposals to give the University of Wisconsin-Madison independence from the rest of the UW-System and greater management flexibility are not going to lead to excessive tuition or cost students at UW-Baraboo access to the Madison campus, a UW-Madison spokesman said Thursday.
More than 10,000 Wisconsin students studying in Minnesota ? the majority of whom attend the University of Minnesota ? could be paying more for college next year. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker wants to end the state?s 43-year-old tuition reciprocity agreement.
As Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, I fully support the Wisconsin Idea Partnership and its goals to keep the University of Wisconsin System as a unified, world-class provider of higher education and to provide maximum flexibility from state bureaucracy to all UW System campuses. These flexibilities will allow all UW chancellors to lead their campuses in meeting the needs of our regions and our state using 21st century management practices.
MADISON, Wis. (AP) ? The chancellor of UW-Madison says she will release some of the emails from a history professor requested by the Republican Party of Wisconsin, but she?s withholding others to protect “academic freedom.”
Let?s keep this as simple as we possibly can: An open record is an open record is an open record.
In 1976, I was elected to the Berlin Area School Board. I ran because I believed that students from Berlin could have futures just as bright as students from anywhere else in Wisconsin. I was concerned that decisions made hundreds of miles away could hurt our kids. For the more than 20 years I served on the board, we strived to do what was best for Berlin?s students.
Recent efforts by conservative-leaning groups to obtain the e-mails of Michigan and Wisconsin public-university professors have shed light on this much: Citing a need to protect “academic freedom” is, in itself, unlikely to help the universities avoid complying with requests for e-mails under state open-records laws.
Last month, Stephan Thompson, deputy executive director of the Wisconsin Republican Party, filed a request under the state?s open-records law asking the University of Wisconsin at Madison to turn over copies of e-mails from William J. Cronon, a tenured professor of environmental history. The request appears to have been prompted by Cronon?s political activism, including a blog post and an op-ed essay in The New York Times. In both, he criticized Gov. Scott Walker and conservatives in general.
The University of Wisconsin at Madison said on Friday that it would release to the state?s Republican Party records a party official had sought from the e-mail account of a Madison professor who had criticized the governor and Republican-backed legislation to curtail the collective-bargaining rights of university and other public employees in the state.
MADISON, Wis. — A Dane County judge said she?s keeping in place her restraining order preventing a law that would strip most public workers of a majority of their collective bargaining rights from going into effect while she considers whether a law was broken in the process of passing the law.
A temporary restraining order blocking enactment of the budget repair bill will remain in place until Republican lawmakers can appear in court. The ruling comes after Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne rested his case Friday in a lawsuit claiming passage of the bill violated the open meetings law.
If the Wisconsin Republican Partys perceived attack on the academic freedom of a prominent faculty member at the University of Wisconsin at Madison was seen as a test for Chancellor Carolyn A. Biddy Martin — with some wondering whether Governor Scott Walkers backing of the universitys push for autonomy would compel her to hold her tongue — she appears to have passed.
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin announced Friday that she will release some of the emails from a history professor requested by the Republican Party of Wisconsin, but she is withholding others that “fall within the orbit of academic freedom.”
Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi amended her temporary restraining order Thursday morning, declaring Gov. Scott
Considering the immense amount of opposition Gov. Scott Walker has faced regarding his controversial collective bargaining rights bill, it should come as no surprise that enacting the bill into law would be an equally torturous journey. That is exactly what is happening.
Academic freedom is the hallmark of any great university. Especially in times of societal turmoil and uncertainty, the work of researchers and professors is tantamount to understanding and forward progress.
University of Wisconsin System officials provided new details of their proposal to gain flexibilities as a united entity in a Joint Finance Committee meeting Thursday, a plan the Madison chancellor has said could pose a risk to the excellence of the system?s flagship campus.
UW-Madison received an open records request from Stephan Thompson, deputy executive director of the state?s Republican Party, for email records of history professor Bill Cronon two weeks ago. On Friday, Chancellor Biddy Martin revealed in a letter to the campus community that the university will release those emails.
The Department of Administration agreed to cease implementation of the governor?s union bill Thursday after a Dane County circuit court judge declared in an amended order the bill?s publication did not make it a law.
MADISON, Wis. — A new analysis shows that as long as state lawmakers approve a budget fix bill proposed by Gov. Scott Walker, the state?s budget would be balanced even if the collective bargaining law currently on hold doesn?t take effect. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau analysis released Friday shows that the bill expected to be passed Tuesday would balance the budget currently projected to be $137 million short by July 1.
Wisconsin college students would have to pay more to attend the University of Minnesota under a proposal backed by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker that his administration announced Thursday.
Proposals to give the University of Wisconsin-Madison independence from the rest of the UW-System and greater management flexibility are not going to lead to excessive tuition or cost students at UW-Baraboo access to the Madison campus, a UW-Madison spokesman said Thursday.
Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point voted Thursday to form a union with collective bargaining rights through AFT-Wisconsin, a statewide labor federation affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. The vote was 283 to 15 in favor of union representation, AFT-Wisconsin said in a news release.
What is needed? Improving health outcomes requires policy initiatives supporting all four health determinant areas: health behaviors, socioeconomic factors, health care access and physical environment. Of those, policies that focus on reducing poverty and unemployment and on increasing graduation rates and social support will have the biggest impact on improving health across the state.
University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers analyzed policies and programs with scientific evidence that they improve the socioeconomic factors that drive health, including wage supports for working poor (e.g., expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit) and other programs for poor and working class families (e.g., comprehensive early childhood education and development programs, such as Head Start).
