Last Wednesday, the Joint Finance Committee handed UW System an additional $46.1 million cut in the form a budget lapse, continuing the deleterious trend of divestment from public higher education and the economic engine of Wisconsin. Like the $250 million that JFC cut from UW System this summer, this $46.1 million budget lapse will lead to continued faculty and staff salary freezes, gradually rising tuition, and threats to UW-Madison’s ability to produce an educated workforce for the twenty-first century. Although it is politically convenient to blame these cuts on the current Republican legislature and the Walker administration, the cuts to UW System have long-standing bipartisan roots. (more…)