The current crisis facing the University of Wisconsin system is part and parcel to the agenda of the administration of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to open the state to the tyranny of the “free market.” Much of the rhetoric of “flexibility” and “autonomous” that has been discussed in relation to the budget cuts gives off the impression that the schools in the UW system are cleaving themselves from an ineffective system that would not provide them with the resources to operate at optimum level. However, the rhetoric mis-recognizes the true effects of the budget cuts: hiking tuition rates, massive layoffs, and the potential brain drain from some of the system’s most prestigious institutions.
Office of Strategic Communication