Dear Editor:
In response to “UW-Madison chancellor’s proposed tuition hike elicits little pushback,” a major reason for the widespread campus support for the Madison Initiative — approved Friday by the Board of Regents — is that it will have concrete benefits for the educational experience of undergraduates.
The story in political science, where I am the current chair, has been a simple one over the past 10 years: a larger number of students combined with a smaller number of faculty. Over this decade, our faculty decreased by 20 percent while the number of majors increased by over 85 percent. Compared to our peer institutions such as Michigan, Ohio State, and Minnesota, we serve far more majors with fewer faculty.