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].
After two Republican state representatives voiced opposition to the New Badger Partnership, State Rep. Dean Knudson, R-Hudson, also spoke out against the UW System split Thursday, saying it was not fit for the current budget.
For years, Katherine Cramer Walsh has had college students come into her office with concerns about grades or assignments. Lately, however, she has found herself being asked to offer romantic advice.
?I?ve had students coming to me in tears, saying, ?I?ve been dating this person for a year and I don?t know if I can do it anymore,?? said Walsh, a UW-Madison political science professor. The problem wasn?t fidelity or commitment ? it was Gov. Scott Walker?s collective bargaining law.
It?s really that simple, legislators. Give UW-Madison the autonomy it desires or give us $25 million. The third option is to turn UW-Madison into the Midwest?s pre-eminent safety school. It?s obvious to us that last option is one to avoid. Trust us, we get a pretty good education here?at least, for now.
I predict in 40 years, the differences between what society will want from UW-Madison and want from the other UW System schools will be even more stark than it is today. Already, the crushing debt burden and limited opportunities afterward are leading many to ask, ?Is college worth it?? Each campus may adapt to answer that in a different manner, and Madison?s path forward will likely be unique among the System schools. I believe a board with the expertise and time to focus on UW-Madison is crucial for our continued success, and if the best way to achieve that is a standalone board, then so be it. I hope the Legislature comes to that conclusion, too. [A column by Erik Paulson, a disseratator in computer sciences]
In a Newsmakers interview at postcrescent.com Thursday, we talked with UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells about the plans and how they might affect not just Oshkosh but the whole system.
The Columbia County Board of Supervisors is holding off, at least for a month, on taking a stand on the proposal to split the governance of the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System. The proposal is directly relevant to Columbia County, and other Wisconsin counties, because it could affect the future of the University of Wisconsin-Extension, which is governed by the same Board of Regents that oversees the rest of the system.
MADISON WKOW — A leading Republican lawmaker says there is not enough support among legislators to pass Governor Scott Walker?s proposal to split off Madison from the rest of the UW system, but UW chancellor Biddy Martin remains confident the split will go through.
….Chancellor Martin gave a passionate plea to the Madison Rotary Club (Wednesday). She says UW Madison is one of the top research universities in the world and unique with in the UW system.
Dear Editor: The danger of the New Badger Partnership can be found in the coded language of University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin. The NBP would literally make the UW ?open for business.?
The proposal to create a new, independent authority to run UW Madison is getting a robust debate in the court of public opinion. Some students are now speaking up in support, faculty seem generally cautious, we know where the Regents and System administration stand, and politicians have their fingers to the wind – which is as good a reason as any to create the new authority.
The debate over Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to spin off the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the UW System shifted again this week, with one legislator on Tuesday urging the heads of the Joint Finance Committee to drop the plan from the 2011-?13 biennial budget.
Critics of a plan to split the University of Wisconsin-Madison off from the rest of the UW System believe they are gaining traction as lawmakers express their doubts, but UW-Madison?s chancellor says she remains confident.
“There?s a lot of support out there. It?s not as visible as the opposition,” said UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin.
The Department of Regulation and Licensing (DRL) and the Medical Examining Board (MEB) have opened investigations involving eight individuals who allegedly wrote medical excuses for individuals attending rallies at the Capitol in February.
State Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater, proposed an alternative to the New Badger Partnership Tuesday that would delay any decisions from being made until after the biennial budget passed.
The Wisconsin Department of Regulation and Licensing and the Medical Examining Board have opened investigations involving eight people who allegedly wrote medical excuses for people attending rallies at the state Capitol in February.
The proposal to split UW-Madison from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System should be taken out of the budget and the state Legislature should instead work on a separate bill to give all UW System campuses flexibility, said Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater. Nass, chairman of the Assembly Colleges and Universities committee, wrote to the co-chairs of the state Legislature?s budget committee Tuesday with a “path to resolving the current controversy over the New Badger Partnership (UW-Madison split from the UW System).” Nass is opposed to the split. He suggests that his committee — and the state Senate?s higher education committee — work on developing a comprehensive bill to give statutory flexibility to all the UW System campuses, with a goal of having the new bill take effect by July 1, 2012.
Lawmakers expressed doubt this week that Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposal to split UW-Madison from the University of Wisconsin System has the support to move forward. “I think its highly unlikely that the Legislature at this time is ready to grant that authority,” said Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, co-chair of the state Legislature?s powerful budget committee. The governor?s proposal would make UW-Madison into a public authority – separate from the UW System – with its own 21-member board of trustees and more autonomy on issues such as tuition, money management, purchasing and building.
The proposal to split UW-Madison from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System should be taken out of the budget and the state Legislature should instead work on a separate bill to give all UW System campuses flexibility, said Rep. Steve Nass, R-Whitewater.
Lawmakers expressed doubt this week that Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposal to split UW-Madison from the University of Wisconsin System has the support to move forward.
“I think its highly unlikely that the Legislature at this time is ready to grant that authority,” said Rep. Robin Vos, R-Rochester, co-chair of the state Legislature?s powerful budget committee.
WHITEWATER ? Jeff and Denise Ehren aren?t clear on the exact definition of middle class, but they?re pretty sure their place in it is shaky. They both work full time at UW-Whitewater ? he?s a custodian, she helps run the sports and recreation center ? but those jobs together grossed just under $50,000 last year, they said. They?ve got a mortgage, student loans, credit card debt and a list of side gigs, from bartending to secretarial work.
“I certainly don?t feel middle class,” said Denise Ehren, 34. “Sometimes I think we should just call ourselves poor and be done with it.”
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.
While differing opinions bombard the state concerning the New Badger Partnership, some UW-Madison students have formed a group to show their support for the proposed change to the UW system.
A lead member of the state?s powerful Joint Finance Committee said Sunday he thought the governor?s plan to allow the University of Wisconsin to spin off from other state schools is a complicated issue that may require more than one budget cycle to decide.
In this raging debate over whether UW-Madison should become a public authority and separate from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System, a smaller model for such a concept might be the UW Athletic Department. In the early 1990s, UW Athletics became a separate item in the state budget after years of being lumped into the overall UW-Madison budget appropriation. That separation initially led to greater scrutiny of athletic department spending by state lawmakers, but eventually gave way to less intrusiveness once Richter and Co. led the department out of debt and began building what is now a profitable, self-sufficient entity. Speaking of the current separation proposal, it?s interesting to hear members of the UW Board of Regents oppose the move on the grounds that it implies a second-class attitude toward the smaller campuses. A show of hands, then, on who followed the Badgers to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., and who was there to see UW-Whitewater win its second straight NCAA Division III title in Salem, Va.
Rep. Robin Vos, R-Burlington, and a co-chairman of the Legislature?s budget committee, said on Upfront with Mike Gousha on Sunday that Gov. Walker?s vision to spin off UW-Madison from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System may be too big “to digest in one budget cycle.” “I am positive that we are going to give some additional flexibility, but probably not go all the way to allow Madison to spin off and set its own tuition and all the things without more oversight.”
State universities have struggled through the financial crisis, forcing many to confront the question of what it means to be a state university.
(This story appeared first in the Sunday edition of the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper.)
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin looked out at the room of faculty and explained once again why she wants to break the state?s flagship university away from the University of Wisconsin System. But this time, she went off script.
“If you feel like you can?t get behind this, you just need to let me know,” she said at the end of a two-hour Faculty Senate meeting this month. “Because, you know what? I?m tired. If I?m out there completely on my own, I need to know that so that I can make the choices that will be best for the university.”
A top Republican legislator says his colleagues probably won?t split UW-Madison from the rest of the university system.
WAUSAU (WAOW)–UW-Marathon County hosted a listening session Monday to discuss proposed state budget cuts and a break-off of UW-Madison.
Leaders of the University of Wisconsin System discussed two proposals to give universities more flexibility to cope with expected budget cuts during a forum Monday at UW Marathon County.
Most of the decisions surrounding the New Badger Partnership have focused on its promise to keep UW-Madison competitive in spite of deep budget cuts from the state. But beyond the financial benefits of increased autonomy, public authority status also presents UW-Madison students with a golden opportunity to strengthen shared governance.
A lead member of the state?s powerful Joint Finance Committee said Sunday he thought the governor?s plan to allow the University of Wisconsin to spin off from other state schools is a complicated issue that may require more than one budget cycle to decide.
MADISON, Wis. — Critics of a plan to split the University of Wisconsin-Madison off from the rest of the UW System believe they are gaining traction as lawmakers express their doubts, but UW-Madison?s chancellor says she remains confident.
Joint Finance Assembly Co-chair Robin Vos says lawmakers are likely to change the guv?s budget proposals for recycling grants, SeniorCare and spinning off UW-Madison from the rest of the system.
A central Wisconsin economic development agency is taking a stand against Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to split the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus from the larger UW System.
Logic for UW-Madison?s flagship freedom is built on a few realities and implications.
….Quoting a management phrase, “lead, follow or get out of the way.” The Legislature, Regents and System should get out of the way.
Many government managers welcome the chance to shed some union contract obligations they see as too cumbersome or costly, but they also are struggling with how to create an entirely new governance structure.
Quoted: William Powell Jones, UW-Madison associate professor of history
Wisconsin?s new collective bargaining law would take away many of the traditional tasks of public sector unions, so some labor leaders are considering plans to shift more of their focus to the political arena. The law forbids contract negotiations on anything but cost-of-living raises ? eliminating bargaining on base wages, benefits and working conditions.
Chancellor Biddy Martin and Gov. Scott Walker are an odd pair pushing to give UW-Madison autonomy.
Gov. Scott Walker testified in front of the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Thursday to discuss the policies he has put in place at the state level since he took office in January.
The governor spent more than three hours Thursday fielding questions from members of the federal House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the actions he took during his first months in office to deal with the state?s budget troubles.
The operation of Baraboo?s two-year University of Wisconsin campus, the success of its students and reputation of the degrees they will earn are built on connections with the UW System and its Madison campus, says Dean Tom Pleger of the UW-Baraboo/Sauk County.
MADISON, Wis. — Political experts expect presidential candidates to visit Wisconsin many times during election season. Many consider Wisconsin?s colors to be green and gold, but when it comes to politics, experts say the state is purple and expect that to carry over into the 2012 presidential race. Recent political battles over collective bargaining rights, recalls and the state Supreme Court race show a deeply divided state and have thrust Wisconsin into the national spotlight.
Quoted: Charles Franklin, UW-Madison professor of political science
When UW-Madison released some emails of professor William Cronon to the state Republican Party earlier this month following a much-hyped open records request, the university withheld correspondence with students, citing federal privacy laws.
“We are excluding records involving students because they are protected under FERPA,” UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin wrote to the campus community in explaining why some of Cronon?s emails were not given to the state GOP.
NEENAH ? For more than eight hours Wednesday, about 200 Wisconsinites stood before a state finance committee at Neenah High School and lavished both praise and contempt on Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed biennial budget.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison isn?t the only state campus in need of greater flexibility to cope with $250 million in proposed spending cuts, UW System President Kevin Reilly said Wednesday.
….Union/nonunion state employees receive substantially the same wage/benefit package every two years. The exception are the highly paid UW administrators or faculty members who supposedly require ?catch-up? with peers to dissuade them from leaving.
I exist on a monthly annuity from the Wisconsin Retirement System (covers state employees, K-12 teachers and most municipal employees). Annuitants aren?t exempt from Scott Walker?s cultural and economic blitzkrieg. We know it?s only a matter of time before the GOP stormtroopers target the WRS, raid its coffers and/or privatize it!
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.
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 Columbia County Board of Supervisors will be invited to go on record as favoring a proposal that would keep the University of Wisconsin-Madison part of the University of Wisconsin system – and opposing Gov. Scott Walker?s proposal to put the Madison campus under a different governance system than the rest of the system?s campuses.
The Governor also mentioned the Wisconsin State Journal?s endorsement Sunday of his plan, along with UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin, to give public authority to the campus. This split from the rest of the UW-System, would provide the flexibility necessary to ensure world class research and development at the Madison campus, said Walker.
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.
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.
In his inaugural budget address, Gov. Scott Walker stood before a joint session of the Legislature and delivered the somber news: We?re broke.”
Too many politicians have failed to tell the truth about our financial crisis,” he said. “The facts are clear: Wisconsin is broke and it?s time to start paying our bills today so our kids are not stuck with even bigger bills tomorrow.”
Quoted: Andrew Reschovsky, a professor of public affairs and applied economics at UW-Madison’s La Follette School of Public Affairs
UW-Madison needs more freedom and flexibility to remain a world-class institution of higher learning and research.Gov. Scott Walker and Chancellor Biddy Martin?s push for public authority status for the Madison campus deserves bipartisan support from the Legislature.
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].
Gov. Scott Walker has called the state?s current university setup a “cumbersome bureaucracy” that imposes red tape on campuses.He expressed openness to management flexibilities for all campuses, but he wants to start with the state?s flagship research university.
That proposal, called the New Badger Partnership, would make UW-Madison a public authority, which means it would no longer be attached to the state executive branch, but it would remain a public institution that would receive state funding.
GREEN BAY ? In an era of tightening budgets, an organizational battle is brewing over the structure of Wisconsin?s public university system, and it involves rival plans.
Last Thursday, Chancellor Biddy Martin sent a campus-wide email arguing that the Wisconsin Idea Partnership proposed in response to the New Badger Partnership did not go far enough in extending flexibility to this university. Martin stated she had offered a compromise, one in which Madison would still gain public authority status, with other System campuses gaining similar forms of independence. She ended the email with a call for individual students to contact their legislators and advocate for the proposal.
