As faculty leaders in research and discovery at UW-Madison, we are writing to share our support for the additional flexibility that Chancellor Martin has been seeking through the New Badger Partnership.
After the governor unveiled funding reductions for higher education and plans to establish the Madison campus as a public authority, the chancellor said University of Wisconsin officials will use the new flexibilities to combat ?painful? budget cuts.
In December, when the divide between Madison and the rest of Wisconsin felt a lot more playful, I wrote a column about Kathy Cramer Walsh, a UW-Madison political scientist who had researched negative attitudes toward Madison and Milwaukee among residents in other parts of the state.
Gov. Scott Walker plans to phase out a program designed to help students ? especially those from low-income families ? find a path to attend college.
Nothing is certain but death and taxes. Oh, and a jump in tuition when state funding for public higher education is slashed.
Education and local government bear the brunt of Gov. Scott Walker?s first budget, a reform-minded plan that cuts about $1 billion in state aid and prevents officials from raising taxes to make up the difference.
The University of Wisconsin System would lose $250 million in state aid and face its first major restructuring in 40 years under Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed two-year budget.
Unveiling his biennial budget on Tuesday, Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin formalized his plans to split the University of Wisconsin at Madison from the rest of the system and created a pathway for the Milwaukee campus to gain a similar autonomy “soon.”
MADISON, Wis. — A Dane County judge has ordered Wisconsin officials to open the Capitol to all members of the public during normal business hours….According to court records, Judge Daniel Moeser has issued a temporary restraining order to reopen the Capitol until a trial court can schedule a hearing. The order says the building must be open to the public during business hours and when “governmental matters, such as hearings, listening sessions, or court arguments are being conducted.”
As faculty leaders in research and discovery at UW-Madison, we are writing to share our support for the additional flexibility that Chancellor Martin has been seeking through the New Badger Partnership.
MADISON, Wis. — Universities around the state will be forced to take a big hit, if Gov. Scott Walker?s proposed 2011-2013 budget is enacted. A source who has been briefed on the document said that Walker?s budget proposal calls for the University of Wisconsin System to take a $250 million cut, with half of the money coming from the UW-Madison.
After delaying his address by a week due to the upheaval at the Capitol, Gov. Scott Walker will announce the biennial budget Tuesday, and UW-Madison could be one of many state institutions facing drastic cuts and changes.
Chancellor Biddy Martin has shown an unwavering commitment to transparency and discussion that is currently unrivaled in the city of Madison. Where Gov. Scott Walker flippantly referred to the budget repair bill as ?just another bill? in his letter to Wisconsin, Martin recognizes the incredible significance surrounding these proceedings.
As University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin watched this state?s government face deeper and deeper financial woes with the approach of the 2011-2013 budget, she could have sat back and asked the Legislature to consider the university?s own difficult financial situation.
Capitol Police kept more than 1,000 protestors at bay Monday, locking down the statehouse and allowing only a few dozen inside to meet with lawmakers. Officials with the Department of Administration said they closed the Capitol to help with the cleaning of the building and could not open the doors to the public because some protestors inside the rotunda refused to limit their activities to the ground floor.
Giving UW-Madison greater flexibility in hiring and purchasing seems reasonable, but the state?s building program is a different thing. The university says the DOA adds bureaucracy to the process, but it could be said instead that DOA?s architects and engineers provide services to manage and maintain university facilities so the university doesn?t have to. This allows the university to focus its resources on its central mission ? education. Over the years the university has sought autonomy, and Republican and Democratic administrations alike have determined that state-level oversight is in the taxpayers? best interests.
Gov. Scott Walker would support increasing flexibility for all University of Wisconsin System schools but the means to do so now lies with the state Legislature, according to a UW System official.
As he gears up to introduce his biennium budget this afternoon, Gov. Scott Walker said debt needs to be refinanced by today in order to curb the current state budget shortfall.
State Capitol access will be limited again Tuesday. The only entrance open to the public will be the King Street doors, according to a Monday night memo from Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms Anne Tonnon Byers.
“Members of the public wishing to attend scheduled hearings will be given a badge and escorted by my staff to the appropriate committee room,” her memo reads.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, quickly becoming a darling of Republicans across the country for taking on union rights in an effort to address his state?s money woes, gets another chance to bolster his conservative credentials when he unveils his full budget plan Tuesday.
Quoted: UW-Madison economist Andrew Reschovsky.
Gov. Scott Walker said in a television interview that there still is hope all of the campuses across the University of Wisconsin System could be granted some long-sought freedoms and flexibilities from state oversight.
Gov. Scott Walker will reveal on Tuesday the full cuts in state programs such as health care for the poor and aid to local governments he says are needed to balance the state?s more than $3 billion budget deficit over the next two years.
At the same time, the state will hit a deadline for doing a refinancing deal that the Republican governor said is key to solving a more immediate budget problem and preventing the layoffs of up to 1,500 state workers. On Monday, Senate Democrats who have blocked that deal by holing up in Illinois put forward their own plan that they said could prevent the layoffs even if the refinancing falls through.
Gov. Scott Walker isn?t releasing details of his 2011-2013 state budget until Tuesday, but a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor has calculated what some of the financial losses to school districts could be if the expected cuts become reality.
Andrew Reschovsky, a professor at the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison, released a paper that speculates how school districts? revenue limits could be affected if Walker cuts school aid by more than $900 million and imposes a revenue limit that mandates a $500-per-pupil reduction in property tax authority.
Wisconsin is one of 41 states where public employees earn higher average pay and benefits than private workers in the same state, a USA TODAY analysis finds. Still, the compensation of Wisconsin?s government workers ranks below the national average for non-federal public employees and has increased only slightly since 2000.
Gov. Scott Walker would support increasing flexibility for all University of Wisconsin System schools but the means to do so now lies with the state Legislature, according to a UW System official.
University of Wisconsin leaders will be closely watching the Governor?s budget announcement Tuesday afternoon. Amid speculation Walker will announce a split of UW-Madison from the system’s 25 other schools, some school leaders are voicing their concern.
Separating the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the state?s college system could dilute the system?s cachet and lead to infighting for funding.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, quickly becoming a darling of Republicans across the country for his plan to take away most collective bargaining rights from public workers, will get another chance to bolster his national conservative credentials when he unveils the rest of his plan for dealing with the state?s budget woes.
Protests continued in downtown Madison, but those who showed up at the state Capitol on Monday were denied access to the building.
As University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin watched this state?s government face deeper and deeper financial woes with the approach of the 2011-2013 budget, she could have sat back and asked the Legislature to consider the university?s own difficult financial situation.
Chancellor Biddy Martin has shown an unwavering commitment to transparency and discussion that is currently unrivaled in the city of Madison. Where Gov. Scott Walker flippantly referred to the budget repair bill as ?just another bill? in his letter to Wisconsin, Martin recognizes the incredible significance surrounding these proceedings.
As the governor prepares to reveal his budget on Tuesday, major changes could be in store for schools in the UW-System. The flagship, UW-Madison, may split from the rest.
The proposal to split the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the UW System does not belong in Gov. Scott Walker?s budget bill.
After the Assembly passed the budget repair bill early Friday morning, tens of thousands of demonstrators turned out at the Capitol, culminating in the largest protest to date Saturday.
MADISON, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said the two weeks of protests in the state capital haven?t swayed his resolve to eliminate collective bargaining rights for most public employees.
Leaders of Wisconsin?s largest public workers? unions have capitulated to Walker?s demands for their members to cover more of their pension and health care benefits to help close Wisconsin?s budget deficit. But Walker said Sunday on NBC?s “Meet the Press” that stripping the workers of collective bargaining rights is necessary to give the state the flexibility to get its finances in order.
Along with others, former speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly and current University of WisconsinRegent Tom Loftus has asked Chancellor Biddy Martin to withdraw her support for the proposal to separate the University of Wisconsin-Madison from the rest of the UW System.
I support the administrative flexibilities included in the ?New Badger Partnership.? Like every Wisconsin resident, I understand that Wisconsin faces a significant budget deficit. Any plan to improve the economy must ensure a competitive and educated work force. During my years at UW-Madison as a student-athlete and director of athletics, it was necessary to have the best tools to compete successfully. The same holds true as UW-Madison faces increased competition in the world of higher education.
Wisconsin union leaders willing to publicly discuss the issue aren?t sure there would be strikes if Gov. Scott Walker is able to enact a law stripping away most collective bargaining rights for public employees, but several said this week that they wouldn?t be surprised if walkouts occurred. Nobody wants to strike, said Peter Rickman, a leader of the 2,800-member Teaching Assistants? Association, American Federation of Teachers Local 3220, but that could change if the bill passes.
Harriet Rowan was among the first to join what has become an almost two-week-long rally at the Wisconsin Capitol, and she said with the arrival of thousands of others, confusion, misinformation and rumors quickly spread. “I came back on Tuesday night and there was absolutely no organization,” Rowan said. The University of Wisconsin senior made a spur-of-the-moment decision to coordinate protest efforts, making signs with media talking points and starting a Twitter feed detailing legislative meeting times, union rally locations and details on day-to-day life in the Capitol.
Yesterday I got the chance to catch up with a friend from high school who is now a sophomore at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My friend, Andrew, lives a 10-15 minute walk away from the state capital. Andrew considers himself a conservative, moderate Republican, so I was surprised to hear that he is not supportive of Governor Walker s plan to heal the state s deficit.
The budget-repair bill, which would strip most collective-bargaining rights from 175,000 public-sector workers while imposing immediate benefits concessions, prompted rapid mobilization on the part of unions. Before Walker unveiled his budget-repair bill on Feb. 11, the Teaching Assistants? Association at UW-Madison, along with campus student groups Student Labor Action Coalition and Multicultural Student Coalition, had planned a noon march from the Memorial Union to the Capitol to deliver “I Heart UW” valentines to Walker and urge him not to cut education funding. They were hoping to draw a couple hundred. The budget bill changed everything. More than 1,000 people joined the march and rally, screaming “Spread the love, Stop the hate, Don?t let Walker legislate.” That night, TAA leaders went back to campus and sent their 2,800 UW-Madison members an e-mail urging them to return to the Capitol on Tuesday and testify at the Legislature?s powerful Joint Finance Committee, which had scheduled a hearing on the bill at 10 a.m.
How about fixing the regulations rather than splitting the System and, for example, bringing back the rivalries that were reasons for creating the System in the first place?
It feels like a divorce, said one.The flagship university is “sailing away,” said another. The comments came from chancellors of University of Wisconsin System campuses who spoke Friday to the UW Board of Regents, concerned about a proposal that would split UW-Madison from the rest of the System. It is expected to be included in Gov. Scott Walker?s budget. The meeting pitted some of the System chancellors against UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin, who has argued in favor of the separation.
The facts have been overshadowed by rhetoric at the Wisconsin Capitol, where protesters and politicians have been engaged in a tense standoff over the governor?s proposal to strip most public employees of their collective-bargaining rights. Gov. Scott Walker insists the state is broke and must make drastic spending cuts. Walker says his plan is needed to ease a deficit that is projected to hit $137 million by July and $3.6 billion by mid-2013. Not raising taxes and not tapping federal aid leaves Walker with few alternatives other than reducing the money the state gives to schools and local governments or reducing Medicaid to the extent allowed under federal law. Aid to schools and local governments is more than half of the entire state budget. Medical assistance programs are 9 percent, as is funding for the state prison system and money for the University of Wisconsin system. Walker won?t make cuts to the prisons, but he?s expected to make deep reductions in higher education.
Tommy Thompson was about halfway into his breakfast of whole wheat toast and bacon at Kavanaugh?s Esquire Club on North Sherman Avenue on Saturday morning when somebody at the table asked for his take on the crisis at the state Capitol. “I think you never like to see this kind of disruption,” the former governor said. “It possibly could have been handled better. I?m not being critical. I still support Scott Walker and what he does.” He also has an eye on the possibility of UW-Madison splitting from the rest of the University of Wisconsin System. Thompson was in the state Assembly when the system was established and worries about the impact the split might have on other state universities. He said he is not completely versed on the proposal, but added, “At first blush, I?m not sure it?s the right decision.”
The occupation of the Wisconsin Capitol by protesters fighting efforts to strip public workers of union bargaining rights carried on Sunday after police decided not to forcibly remove demonstrators and end a nearly two-week-long sit-in. A cheer went up from the several hundred protesters who had ignored a request from the state agency that oversees the Capitol to leave by 4 p.m. so that the normally immaculate building could get a thorough cleaning. “If you want to leave _ it?s totally cool, because the doors will be open around 8 a.m.” on Monday, said protest coordinator Erika Wolf, 25, who works with the United Council of University of Wisconsin Students.
Protesters who spent the night in Wisconsin?s Capitol vowed Monday to remain as long as necessary to speak out against Gov. Scott Walker?s plan to end most collective bargaining rights and demonstrate against his budget. Walker planned to deliver his two-year budget plan in the state Assembly chamber on Tuesday afternoon. He has said that plan will help make clear why the collective bargaining concessions he is seeking from public employees are necessary to help plug a $3.6 billion shortfall.Walker has said his budget will include about a $1 billion cut in state aids to schools and local governments. He is also expected to propose dramatic changes to how the University of Wisconsin is organized, make cuts to Medicaid and possibly increase fees to help raise money.
Gov. Scott Walker said on “Upfront with Mike Gousha” that he?d like to give all University of Wisconsin System campuses the flexibility that he is expected to offer UW-Madison in his budget. A proposal to separate UW-Madison from the rest of the System – giving the flagship its own 21-member board of trustees – has frustrated chancellors of other UW System schools and members of the UW Board of Regents who want to see all the campuses get the same freedom from state regulations. “I told the chancellors if we can work the members of the Joint Finance Committee and ultimately the Legislature, I?d like to see that expanded to give them flexibility all across the board throughout the state,” Walker said.
No additional demonstrators will be allowed into the state Capitol until those currently in the building comply with police directives. Department of Administration officials say some protesters who refused to leave Sunday night have ignored orders to remain on the ground floor of the Capitol. Until those protesters comply, no other demonstrators will be allowed into the building. Officials say crowd sizes may be adjusted throughout the day to prepare for Gov. Scott Walker?s Tuesday afternoon budget address.
The state Capitol has historically remained open to the people of Wisconsin — officially when the Legislature is in session, and practically when Wisconsinites have wanted to rally, assemble and petition for the redress of grievances.
The legislators who have voted to change long-established rules and approaches have done so for the wrong reasons. They act as fools or political stooges, not as representatives of the people of Wisconsin. And they should be challenged, as they are assaulting the very core of our democratic practice.
An e-mail arrived the other day from a longtime friend and Wisconsin native who lives in Washington state.
Its contents:”What the hell is going on back there? I am so embarrassed by the actions of the governor. Any sense of how it will get resolved?”
The confrontation between labor and politics at the Wisconsin Capitol was just starting as workers in Egypt who left their jobs and took to the streets toppled a government, and it wasn?t long before activists in Madison began invoking the spirit of that uprising. “Fight like an Egyptian” emerged one cry as picket signs cheering the people?s revolt half a world away were raised in protests on the Capitol Square.
Thousands have thronged the Capitol daily since large scale demonstrations began Feb. 14. Madison school teachers called in sick for several days to protest and on Feb. 21, the Madison-based South Central Federation of Labor took the unprecedented step of endorsing a general strike among its 45,000 members if Gov. Scott Walker’s controversial budget repair bill is made law.
Are the University of Wisconsin System and its Madison campus headed for divorce court? Can this marriage be saved? Should it be saved?
These are good questions, but no one can answer them yet because Gov. Scott Walker has yet to make fully public a proposal for such a split.
But we can speak to what we will consider, and it is not a given that what is good for the Madison campus is be good for Wisconsin, the rest of the UW System or the Milwaukee campus. Put another way, how Madison benefits should not necessarily trump the needs of the state, the system, the Milwaukee campus or students.
Gov. Scott Walker said Sunday he supports spinning off not just the University of Wisconsin-Madison as a separate authority, but a number of other campuses as well.
“I?d like to offer that for all the campuses,” the Republican governor said on “Upfront with Mike Gousha” on WISN-TV (Channel 12). “I?d like to see that expanded to give them flexibility all throughout the state.”
Quoted: Charles Franklin, a University of Wisconsin-Madison political scientist.
Madison Police Department spokesman Joel DeSpain said police figure the crowd of protesters Saturday in downtown Madison, Wis., exceeded last week?s Saturday protest, which was estimated at 70,000 people and included a small counter-demonstration by supporters of Gov. Scott Walker. “The crowd could have numbered as high as 100,000, but counting it was difficult because it was spread over parts of State Street as well as the Capitol Square and in the Capitol itself.
The hundreds of people who have called the Capitol home these past two weeks last week have formed a village, demonstrating a common determination to sleep on marble, fight for a common cause and make a heck of a lot of noise.
Along with others, former Speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly and current University of Wisconsin Regent Tom Loftus has asked Chancellor Biddy Martin to withdraw her support for the proposal to separate UW-Madison from the rest of the UW System.
What began as an effort to seek more flexibility and autonomy for public higher education in Wisconsin is quickly turning into an ugly spat between the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the other campuses in the UW System.
The most pressing issue before us is the prospect of deep budget cuts, after years of cuts to our budgets, without the tools we need to deal with the decline of state support.
