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Category: State news

A fundamental question in UW debate: Will it be pursuit of knowledge or simply employable skills?

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The Wisconsin State Journal Editorial Board captured the prevailing opinion last weekend when it called the jaw-dropping $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin “inexplicable.” Unfortunately, the board is wrong. There is a plausible vision behind what Gov. Scott Walker is trying to do, which makes his proposal much more dangerous than a simple misunderstanding of university operations.

Peter R. Orszag: Scott Walker’s risky university experiment

Posted on
Bloomberg News

It’s hard to believe that Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to cut $300 million from the University of Wisconsin’s budget over the next two years would allow the school to maintain its quality. Walker would prohibit the university from raising tuition during that period, but instead give university officials more flexibility in managing contracting and construction projects.

[Note: this column also appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal here.]

The Governor Who Maybe Tried to Kill Liberal-Arts Education

Posted on
The Atlantic

Last Wednesday, Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Scott Walker released a biennium budget plan that had a strange twist nestled inside. This line item didn’t have much, if anything, to do with how he intended to spend the state’s money; it had no numbers, dollar signs, nor provisos. It did, however, deal ever-so-vaguely with Wisconsin’s economy—at least, what Walker envisioned it would look like down the line and how higher education would make that happen.

Hall: Letter to the Assembly on the importance of the UW System

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

I am writing to thank you for your commitment to preserving the excellence and integrity of the University of Wisconsin System. As a native Wisconsinite, I have always felt tremendous pride that our humble, decent state has created and sustained one of the world’s premier institutions of higher learning and a state system that is the envy of the rest of the nation.

Bruni: Higher Education, Liberal Arts and Shakespeare

Posted on
New York Times

Noted: Scott Walker, the governor of Wisconsin and a likely presidential candidate, signaled his membership in this crowd when he recently proposed a 13 percent cut in state support for the University of Wisconsin. According to several reports, he simultaneously toyed with changing the language of the university’s mission statement so that references to the “search for truth” and the struggle to “improve the human condition” would be replaced by an expressed concern for “the state’s work force needs.”

Chris Rickert: Students the likely losers in battle between Walker, UW

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

I really hope the state budget wraps up soon, because I don’t know how much more flippant politicking I can take from Wisconsin’s governor/presidential candidate — nor how much more righteous indignation I can take from the officials of multimillion UW-Madison and its billion-dollar parent institution, the UW System.

Walker budget clips authority of state Building Commission

Posted on
Capital Times

While the shift isn’t generating the amount of publicity as Walker’s plan to make the Natural Resources Board advisory, the change is significant since it consolidates key borrowing decisions within the Department of Administration, including bonding for transportation purposes. Under the Walker budget, the Building Commission would no longer meet in order to approve projects or the borrowing to make them happen. The commission — which by statute includes members of both political parties and is chaired by the governor — has traditionally met monthly. Instead, the commission would operate under what the budget proposal calls a “passive review process” where items are considered approved unless a majority of Building Commission members request a meeting.

Budget item to hide UW research is bad public policy

Posted on
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Among the many other non-budgetary and bad policy items in Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed biennial state budget, theres this: The governor is asking for a measure that could be used to hide certain research in the University of Wisconsin System. Two previous efforts in the last two years to thwart public access to such research failed, one rejected by the Joint Finance Committee and one by an Assembly committee.

Kudos to UW’s conservative defenders — Donald Downs

Posted on
Wisconsin State Journal

Kudos to conservative professors James Baughman and John Sharpless for defending UW-Madison in the face of the severe cuts Gov. Scott Walker is proposing to the University of Wisconsin System. It is great to hear such dedicated teachers, scholars and citizens defend UW-Madison, which is a state treasure regardless of any warts it bears.

Roberta Gassman: Scott Walker’s ‘drafting error’ reveals his values

Posted on
Capital Times

A “drafting error” of this scope, defended initially by the governor, is not really an error at all. Sadly, it is a look into the values and beliefs of the governor and those around him. It is good that he backtracked, after the public outcry. Let this be instructive to us in the days, weeks and months ahead as his full budget comes under public scrutiny in the light of day.

Gutting the Wisconsin Idea lays bare Gov. Scott Walker’s philosophy

Posted on
Wausau Daily Herald

What is the purpose of a great University? In Wisconsin, our answer is that universities exist to apply knowledge to the benefit of every citizen of the State, not just those who are privileged to attend. Rather than an ivory tower, the mission of the UW System is to search for truth and serve society. Put another way — the boundaries of the UW are the boundaries of the state. This is the essence of the Wisconsin Idea, and it’s been enshrined into state law for over a century: