The percent of state aid coming to UW-Madison has dropped over the years, but the university is still doing a little better than the average of its peers when it comes to the state dollars spent directly on students, according to data from the Chronicle of Higher Education.
WASHINGTON ? “We?re broke.” You can practically break a search engine if you start looking around the Internet for those words. They?re used repeatedly with reference to our local, state and federal governments, almost always to make a case for slashing programs ? and lately to go after public employee unions. The phrase is designed to create a sense of crisis that justifies rapid and radical actions before citizens have a chance to debate the consequences. Just one problem: We?re not broke.
Tens of thousands of protesters flooded the Capitol Square on Saturday, vowing to take the fight over collective bargaining powers from the streets of Madison to the voting districts of Wisconsin.
Charles Franklin, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said Saturday’s rally was planned before the state Senate’s surprise Wednesday vote on the public worker measures.
“So you transform (the rally), you transform it into the kickoff for the electoral battles to come,” he said. “This bill will be law for years and years until there’s a Democratic Assembly, Senate and governor. Until then, Republican control of one of those three things will prevent it from being repealed.
“I think we are in for a long, marathon battle of elections just to see what party has the upper hand in Wisconsin and whether this law represents a permanent change in the balance of power in favor of the Republicans, or whether, as some Democrats fantasize, the start of their recovery.”
Defiant upon their return to the Capitol on Saturday, state Senate Democrats defended their self-imposed exile to Illinois and predicted that political fortunes would soon turn their way.
Opponents of Republican Gov. Scott Walker were back at work Sunday on recall efforts targeting Republican state senators who supported the new governor?s overhaul of public employee union rights.
The protests that rocked Madison over the last month drew union members and students ? but some key figures in the mobilizations were both. Members of the Teaching Assistants? Assn. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison spearheaded the two-week occupation of the Capitol that began Feb. 15 ? two days before Democratic senators fled the state to stall legislation limiting public employees? union rights. The students helped organize food and other supplies for the makeshift overnight campground in the rotunda.
The numbers have mattered. The tens. The hundreds. The thousands. The hundreds of thousands.
Wisconsinites from every background, every religion, every political persuasion and every job have filled the Capitol Square for the past month. Their message has been clear and unequivocal. They oppose Scott Walker?s assault on working families. They oppose the lawless actions of legislative leaders who are more determined to advance the governor?s political agenda than to respect their colleagues or to serve the interests of the whole state.
….it took about 40 years for Wisconsin college teachers to win the right to try collective bargaining, which they may well lose after two years. Meanwhile, I took my math talent and training to another state and to private industry, where in eight years I managed to more than triple my last, best college salary. What message is Gov. Walker sending to Wisconsin students who aspire to be teachers? Will a career as a perpetual political football appeal to them?
Dear Editor: The otherwise well-informed and thoughtful Ed Garvey was off his game in a recent column when he implied that fearless sifting and winnowing still guides the UW-Madison. I wish he was correct. (“Don?t put UW under rightwing thumb.”)
Ed must not know about the carefully cataloged collection of 628 videotapes comprising nearly two decades of its experiments on monkeys that the university destroyed a few years ago to prevent the public from seeing just one of them. He must not be aware that unlike Scott Walker?s much criticized weeks of delay in responding to public records requests, that the university routinely takes many months to respond when the records have anything to do with its animal experimentation ? and then routinely censors key data.
Interim Chancellor Mike Lovell was called upon to take a stance against Gov. Scott Walker?s budget proposals Wednesday afternoon at the all-campus budget forum where campus officials fielded questions and concerns from upset faculty, students, graduate assistants, and community members.
The Department of Regulation and Licensing is investigating 11 doctors who witnesses say gave out medical excuse notes to protesters at the Capitol, according to a statement by Secretary Dave Ross.
The Governor is rescinding layoff notices for state workers. The order was sent to the Department of Administration and Office of State Employment Relations, following Thursday?s passage of the budget repair bill by the Legislature.
Frayed tempers. Strained relationships. And the end of an era in Wisconsin public policy.
That?s a fair description of the struggle between Gov. Scott Walker and Wisconsin?s public employee unions, but it also describes what?s happening these days in the emerging fight over whether the University of Wisconsin-Madison should be granted the freedom to run its own affairs.
The Wisconsin chapter of the American Federation of Teachers will proceed with planned union elections on four University of Wisconsin campuses, despite the state?s adoption of a law this week denying collective-bargaining rights to the university system?s faculty and academic staff members and curtailing the bargaining rights and benefits of many other public employees.
In response to the governor?s proposal to break the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus from the rest of the System campuses, the Board of Regents unveiled a plan to seek similar flexibilities for all UW institutions at a meeting Thursday.
In a move that shocked opponents and threw the Capitol into chaos, Senate Republicans pushed through a stripped-down version of the governor?s contentious budget repair bill Wednesday in an 18-1 vote.
“The rich have gotten much richer,” bellowed Jesse Jackson Jr. amid the rumble of cheering voices, horns and maracas. “Yeah!” roared back the crowd of at least 10,000 protesters who had gathered in Madison, Wis., Thursday morning.
St. Paul, Minn. ? Jason Lund worked for years at breakfast joint in Dinkytown before finally finding a career he loved: teaching.
For public workers in Wisconsin, there?s more bad news. Having lost the battle on collective bargaining, they may soon be asked to make more financial sacrifices.
Gov. Scott Walker signed his controversial budget repair bill into law early Friday, bringing to an end the month-long battle over collective bargaining that captured the nation?s attention and brought state government to a grinding halt. Walker signed the bill privately at about 9:30 a.m. His office has announced a 3 p.m. ceremonial bill signing, which will be open to the news media.
Reason has taken a holiday in Wisconsin politics. Civility along with it.In their place is a nastiness rarely seen in a state that long has believed in good government as a guiding principle.Republicans got what they wanted Thursday: a flawed and divisive bill that strips public employees of most of their ability to bargain collectively. Gov. Scott Walker?s party may now reap the whirlwind.
University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin defended the governor?s proposal to split the state?s flagship campus from the rest of the UW System during a tense Board of Regents meeting Thursday.
But ultimately, the regents voted, 16-1, to seek an amendment to Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed 2011-?13 budget to give all UW institutions the same management flexibilities proposed for UW-Madison, and to do it within the current regents governance structure, so they can better deal with budget cuts.
Gov. Scott Walker signed the bill Friday that repeals most collective bargaining by public employee unions. He signed the bill in the morning and will hold a ceremony and press conference later in the day to tout the signing.
Dear Editor: As a registered nurse working at UW Hospital and Clinics, I have a question for Gov. Scott Walker: Why are my job and union targeted in the budget repair bill since zero taxpayer dollars go toward my wages? As you were told in a letter from the CEO of UWHC, ?Eliminating collective bargaining for UWHCA has no fiscal effect to the state since we receive no General Purpose Revenue.?
Tears flowed freely from the eyes of several protesters while others had a look of stony resolve when it became clear that the state Assembly had, as expected, voted Thursday to approve a bill that sharply curtails collective bargaining rights for most public employees.
….Katie Hoverson, a nurse from Evansville who works at UW Hospital, arrived in her scrubs Thursday afternoon just after the bill passed. She says she was “angry” but committed to staying engaged and fighting against similar attempts to strip working people of their rights.
Quoted: University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin.
March 16 is the 260th anniversary of James Madison?s birth, and to mark it the American Society of News Editors and other groups, including the Society of Professional Journalists, celebrate Sunshine Week. Sunshine Week promotes the importance of freedom of information and open government at all levels. A proposed proclamation submitted to the governor reads in part, ?an open and accessible government is vital to establishing and maintaining the people?s trust and confidence in their government and in the government?s ability to effectively serve its citizens.? The proclamation further calls for all state deliberative bodies and their committees to be open to the public. This is especially important now as the governor is creating the new public-private Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation to replace the Department of Commerce, splitting UW-Madison from the University of Wisconsin System and backing a statewide board to grant school charters.
Layoff notices to 1,500 state employees have been rescinded by Gov. Scott Walker because of the passage of his budget bill on Thursday. Walker also announced on Friday morning that he will sign the budget bill sometime on Friday, with the signing open to the media.
“The time and details of the bill signing are still to be announced,” said Wisconsin State Journal reporter Mary Spicuzza, after talking with Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie.
The University of Wisconsin System is floating a proposed amendment to Gov. Scott Walker?s budget that would keep UW-Madison in the System and give all 26 campuses flexibility on tuition, purchasing and human resources. Calling it the Wisconsin Idea Partnership, it?s a counter-proposal to the language in Walker?s budget that makes UW-Madison a public authority and splits it from the System. At a UW Board of Regents meeting Thursday, UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin urged the Regents to not stand in UW-Madison?s way, saying there?s been “a certain amount of smug snottiness about Madison.”
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and his Republican allies may have imagined that the insufficient debates, inappropriate votes, flagrant violations of open meeting laws, threats and general legislative lawlessness used to pass his plan to strip public workers and teachers of their collective bargaining rights would finally silence the opposition. But when the state Assembly finally voted Thursday to approve a version of Walker?s draconian proposal, following Wednesday night?s surprise state Senate vote, the people who have for four weeks campaigned to ?kill the bill? kept on coming — hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of Wisconsinites, rallying, marching, banging on the doors of the state Capitol in Madison and chanting: ?Let us in! Let us in!?
The Wisconsin Capitol was eerily quiet Thursday night following three weeks of protests against anti-union legislation that drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to Madison. While people had been sleeping in the building for weeks, all eventually left after the Assembly voted to approve a bill eliminating public employee?s collective bargaining rights. Danny Spitzberg, 26, a graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said officers gave protesters vague explanations for why they had to leave.
The University of Wisconsin System is floating a proposed amendment to Gov. Scott Walker?s budget that would keep UW-Madison in the System and give all 26 campuses flexibility on tuition, purchasing and human resources.
MADISON (WKOW) — After hours of debate, the state Assembly has passed a bill ending most collective bargaining rights for most public employees.
Quoted: “Once you fundamentally threaten the existence of unions, key support for the Democratic Party, there’s no way to settle this except in future elections,” said University of Wisconsin political science professor Charles Franklin.
Quoted: That could be a tough needle for Walker to continue to thread. As Dennis Dresang, a political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison put it to The Lookout: “They?re contradicting themselves on that one, that?s for sure.”
Quoted: Resentment in those areas helps explain support for Republican Governor Scott Walker?s push to restrict the collective bargaining rights of some unions, said Katherine Cramer Walsh of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She noticed the bitterness while doing research in 27 communities, where many residents work multiple jobs without benefits while local government employees have health coverage and pensions.
Quoted: Although Wisconsin has traditionally had liberal and conservative forces, “usually the discourse is much more civil and deliberate, even when there are differences in public policy,” said Dennis Dresang, founding director of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. “If this can happen in Wisconsin, it can happen anywhere.”
Are you with us or against us? That was the general tone during much of Thursday afternoon?s UW System Board of Regents meeting at the Pyle Center on the UW-Madison campus.
The Republican-dominated state Assembly passed on Thursday the controversial bill that would take away most collective bargaining rights from public workers.
As an initiative to help inform the student body about the possibility of UW Madison splitting from the UW System, students and faculty passed out fliers and buttons that read, “Save My UW.”
It was business as usual at the state?s two largest public universities Thursday, but with an undercurrent of tensions over the state Senate?s abrupt vote Wednesday night to eliminate collective bargaining provisions for most public workers.
A day of turmoil at the state Capitol wrapped up Thursday afternoon, with the state Assembly giving final approval to a modified version of the Governor?s budget repair bill. The bill passed on a 53-42 vote, despite numerous calls from Democrats to stop an assault on middle class families by removing many collective bargaining rights from public employees.
State Senate Republicans removed all fiscal items from the budget repair bill, avoiding the need for a quorum, and passed limits on collective bargaining Wednesday, sparking massive protests and raising questions of constitutionality.
UW-Madison plans a normal class and work day today, despite tensions at the Capitol over a bill that strongly curtails collective bargaining rights for public workers.
One group on campus that would be affected by the measure — teaching assistants — has a membership meeting scheduled for tonight, but there?s no motion currently on the agenda to strike, said Kevin Gibbons, co-president of the T.A.A.
Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Stout voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to form a union with collective bargaining rights through AFT-Wisconsin, a statewide labor federation affiliated with the American Federation of Teachers. Faculty voted 196-31 in favor of being represented, AFT-Wisconsin stated in a press release.
Wisconsin Senate Democrats who fled to Illinois three weeks ago are coming back.
Shortly after Senate Republicans? surprise vote Wednesday to eliminate most collective bargaining rights for most public employees, protesters started collecting signatures from citizens in preparation for filing an open meetings complaint. It is not yet clear where these complaints will be filed, but former Attorney General Pat Lautenschlager said they can be filed with either the Dane County District Attorney?s Office or the Attorney General?s Office.
Hundreds of people waiting to get inside the State Capitol Thursday morning were stymied as law enforcement officers gathered to assess how to handle the throng of protesters at the building.
Wisconsin State Journal reporter Mary Spicuzza was outside the King Street doors at the scheduled 8 a.m. opening time. “They were all chanting ?It?s 8 a.m., let us in,?” Spicuzza said.
The Wisconsin state Assembly votes late Thursday morning on explosive union rights legislation that passed the Senate Wednesday night in an extraordinary turn of events that has thrown the state into deeper political turmoil.
Recently I marched in Madison with tens of thousands of other people, shouting, ?This is what democracy looks like.? I was so proud to be a Wisconsinite and an American. A few days later, I went with a group to a small hearing room in the state Capitol, where I witnessed the trampling of democracy by three Republicans. They let us speak, but they didn?t listen; two weren?t even in the room most of the time. They took a vote, but they didn?t deliberate. And what they decided was to rob the voters of Milwaukee of their paid sick days victory.
State Rep. Mark Pocan, a Madison Democrat and the former co-chair of the legislative Joint Finance Committee, says he is starting to feel as if he lives in a ?third world junta.
State Sen. Bob Jauch, a senior Democrat, says that what he is witnessing feels like ?a coup.? And thousands of Wisconsinites have poured into the state Capitol in Madison, shouting: ?Shame! Shame! Shame!?
Wisconsin workers will be gathering in a dozen cities across the state on Thursday morning to protest Senate passage of a bill curtailing collective bargaining rights, organizers say. The rallies are being organized by the state AFL-CIO.
The biggest rally will be at 9 a.m. at the State Capitol, where thousands of protesters surged into the building Wednesday night when the Senate quickly passed the bill.
Quoted: Michael Caldwell, a UW-Madison lecturer in psychology who studies psychopathy.
Kevin Gibbons, 29, a doctoral student in geography, is co-president of the UW-Madison Teaching Assistants? Association, which helped run the budget protest in the state Capitol. The organization coordinated such things as rallies, cleanup crews, medical help, day care and food and is credited with helping keep the peace in the historic building and working with police and maintenance people.
Thousands of protesters rushed to the state Capitol Wednesday night, forcing their way through doors, crawling through windows and jamming corridors, as word spread of hastily called votes on Gov. Scott Walker?s controversial bill limiting collective bargaining rights for public workers. The budget repair bill was stalled in the Senate since the body?s 14 Democrats fled Wisconsin on Feb. 17 in a desperate gambit to slow or stop passage of the measure, which affects about 175,000 public employees. Representatives of the union that represents blue-collar, technical and safety officers at UW-Madison said the possibility of a general strike has been discussed.
MADISON (WKOW) — 27 News? crews inside the Capitol say at least one door to the Capitol remains open. Protesters are beating drums as they chant against Gov. Walker?s bill which ends most collective bargaining rights for most public workers. A modified version of the bill passed the Senate tonight, and the Assembly is expected to vote on the measure Thursday morning.
MADISON (WKOW) — Protesters converged on the Capitol as soon as word spread that Senate Republicans passed a bill taking away nearly all collective bargaining rights from public workers, but the building was supposed to close at 6 PM.
Thousands of people poured into the state Capitol following a surprise vote by state Senate Republicans to pass elements of a bill taking away most collective bargaining rights from public workers.
Following the Senate?s vote on a stripped down version of the budget repair bill, massive crowds began converging on the State Capitol in protest. Those not already in the building when the Senate began taking action though were left locked outdoors initially. However, just after 8pm, doors were opened by those still inside the Capitol and thousands began rushing in to the building.
The Wisconsin Senate, without the participation of Democrats, voted Wednesday to approve legislation that would end the right of University of Wisconsin System faculty members to unionize.
