Archive for the ‘The UW-Madison Campus’ Category

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Defunct war strategy program may still overshadow University of Wisconsin-Madison’s history of dissent.

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

This article is part 2 of a two-part series on the military’s influence in academia and originally appeared here on Truthout. Part 1 ran previously on Truthout.

Once viewed by some as a “rising star” at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, historian Jeremi Suri announced in early May that he was leaving Madison to pursue his fame and fortune at the University of Texas-Austin.

With him went the fortunes of the short-lived and now deceased UW-Madison Grand Strategy Program (GSP), which he founded and headed as one part of a broader network of strategic studies programs currently underway on select campuses elsewhere.

The UW GSP, formally launched two years ago, opened a new era of direct military and national security state involvement at Madison. Over a year’s in-depth look at the now-defunct project – including emails and other documents obtained via the Wisconsin Open Records Law – has provided a glimpse into the goings-on at one university in a network increasingly enmeshed in preparations for a “Long War” for US global power in the 21st century.

Back to the Future

The University of Wisconsin-Madison was once a storied center of opposition to war and militarism, especially during the Vietnam War era. (more…)

Posted in The UW-Madison Campus, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Rise in sticker price at public colleges outpaces that at private colleges for 5th year in a row.

Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011

The Chronicle of Higher Education recently published the following article on rising costs at public universities:

Rise in Sticker Price at Public Colleges Outpaces That at Private Colleges for 5th Year in a Row, by Beckie Supiano, October 26, 2011

The average price for tuition and fees at public four-year colleges was $8,244 for in-state students in 2011-12, up from $7,613 in 2010-11, an 8.3-percent increase. That percentage change drops to 7.0 percent if California—which had a 21-percent increase in tuition in that one-year period—is excluded.

Here in Wisconsin, in-state tuition and fees for the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the fall 2011 semester totaled $4,832.50, compared with $4,491.60 for the fall 2010 semester; in-state tuition and fees for UW-Milwaukee for the fall 2011 semester totaled $4,337.70, compared with $4,075.63 for the fall 2010 semester.   In percentage terms, the increases are 7.6% and 6.4%, respectively.

The basic message in this is that UW-Madison’s in-state tuition is still well below the national average, but the percentage increase is comparable to that experienced elsewhere.  In short, like elsewhere, the investment by the state of Wisconsin in making higher education affordable for all of its citizens is being dialed back.

We already knew this, of course.  But the latest massive hits to the UW-System budget, not reflected in the above figures,  are virtually certain to sharply accelerate the cost increases.    In fact,  if current trends continue, we can expect to see the distinction between private and public institutions become almost meaningless.

Is this really what the citizens of Wisconsin want?

 

Posted in College costs, State-University Relations, The University Budget, The University System, The UW-Madison Campus | 1 Comment »

A graduate student asks, what does Budget Repair Bill really mean for us?

Monday, July 18th, 2011

On June 15, 2011, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled to lift Judge Sumi’s injunction on the Budget Repair Bill giving the state the go-ahead to implement the bill as law.  During the protests of February through May, people came together in attempt to stop the bill from becoming law – but now it is law and that’s that.  In the media, I didn’t see any uproar, or questioning of this new law’s impact, or calls to know what’s in store for us in the future — I found just two (1, 2) recent articles which recounted the push-back and feelings of solidarity of the protests and emphasized the need to remember these feelings and our (i.e. public employees) connections to each other.  Both articles, however, treated the fight for our collective bargaining rights as being over — we should look back on our solidarity and our fight and know that even though we “lost,” we tried our darnedest.  But the assault isn’t over — it’s just beginning.  Things are going to change and people’s lives are going to be affected – we just don’t know exactly how or when. (more…)

Posted in Collective bargaining, College costs, Compensation, Graduate student affairs, State worker benefits, State-University Relations, The UW-Madison Campus | 2 Comments »

Politics and UW-Madison: Confronting the new reality

Wednesday, July 13th, 2011

It is easy — indeed, it is natural after a series of crises to mistake a momentary calm for a return to normalcy. We, of course, want the threats to subside and to return to the way things once were which, even if they weren’t quite perfect, were familiar.

In that vein, we’d like to look back and regard the events of last semester as an aberration and not indicative of the life we live now or how we will live in the future. We’d rather not consider all of the facts and face the new reality: that we no longer know what life will be like in the future other than that it will probably be worse in some distinct but as of yet, unknown, ways. But “the facts get in the way” of our attempts to ignore our new and discomforting reality. (more…)

Posted in Collective bargaining, Compensation, State worker benefits, State-University Relations, The University Budget, The UW-Madison Campus | 6 Comments »

Press conference today to announce interim chancellor selection.

Wednesday, June 29th, 2011

At a news conference scheduled today at 4 p.m., UW System President Kevin Reilly and Board of Regents President Michael Spector will announce the selection of an interim chancellor for UW-Madison.

Coverage of the news conference will presumably be carried here, among other local outlets.

Posted in The University System, The UW-Madison Campus | 1 Comment »

It’s time to move on…

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Biddy is moving on. We have to move on.

Higher education is changing. We see this in how students approach learning, the infusion of technologies into our everyday work habits and the financial stresses on our organization. Biddy is a strong leader who is future focused, she recognizes that changes are needed and fights to make them happen. There is no question that our leadership and administration must be vigilant and continually examine whether changes should be made that would enhance our endeavors. But, running a university is a people business. You must take into account the people of the organization or risk becoming irrelevant. (more…)

Posted in Shared governance, The UW-Madison Campus | 5 Comments »

A sad day … and a new chapter.

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

Biddy Martin has a great many admirers on the UW-Madison campus.  This is no surprise, as her public persona is very appealing: she is exceptionally intelligent, articulate, diplomatic — all the qualities, in fact, cited in the Amherst press release announcing her hiring.

I was among those faculty who greeted with enthusiasm her arrival as our new chancellor in September 2008, a scant three years ago.  And a bit like those for whom the Obama administration failed to live up to (possibly unrealistic) expectations, I am among the most disappointed today. (more…)

Posted in Shared governance, The UW-Madison Campus | 19 Comments »

Review of NBP Controversy in Inside Higher Ed

Tuesday, June 7th, 2011

In Inside Higher Ed‘s otherwise balanced and comprehensive review of the NBP and its remains, one statement stands out as demonstrably false and ultimately self-serving:  Near the end of the very long article, on the issue of continued state support for higher education, Martin says, “We have laid the groundwork for increased investment in higher education when the economy in Wisconsin begins to grow again.” (more…)

Posted in State-University Relations, The University Budget, The University System, The UW-Madison Campus | 10 Comments »

System and Madison: A little data

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Bashing System and the Regents has joined football, hockey and basketball as a major sport on the UW-Madison campus, including in (often grossly insulting) comments on this blog. As Sara Goldrick-Rab has just pointed out (here), players in this game often have no data of any kind.

One theme is that System bleeds state funding to Madison, diverts money from the flagship to other campuses and that as budgets get cut, Madison suffers disproportionately. There’s evidence on this: the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau has just provided vast amounts about higher ed funding in Wisconsin. (Here are the links, with a little context.) #690 lays out the material on public authority. Check out this passage from paragraph 10 (p. 4):

When adjusted for inflation, state funding provided for UW-Madison and for all other UW System institutions decreased from 1990-91 to 2010-11. Over that period of time, state funding for UW-Madison decreased by 2.8% while state funding for all other UW System institutions decreased by 6.8%. At the same time, enrollment at UW-Madison increased by 1.5% while enrollments at all other UW System institutions increased by 23.4%. When these increases in enrollment are controlled for, state funding for UW-Madison decreased by 4.2% while state funding for all other UW System institutions decreased by 24.4%.

As I understand this, over the last 20 years, Madison has had a tiny increase in enrollments while other campuses have grown by a quarter, yet other campuses have been hit far harder by budget cuts.

Posted in State-University Relations, The University Budget, The University System, The UW-Madison Campus | 12 Comments »

The dead parrot has finally fallen off its perch.

Thursday, May 26th, 2011

Three weeks ago, S&W contributor Joe Salmons shared his conviction, apparently based on his conversations with key lawmakers, that Public Authority was already dead.

Despite that spreading belief, which was also shared by Paul Fanlund of the Capital Times and others, lobbying for the NBP continued unabated, with one observer likening the Public Authority to Monty Python’s dead parrot.

Subsequently, the “compromise” proposal was floated that UW-Madison remain within the System but get its own Board of Trustees, an idea that was sharply criticized by almost everyone who knew anything about it, including former UW-Madison adminstrator Harry Peterson.

A report this afternoon by the Cap Times’ Todd Finkelmeyer seems to make the deaths of both the Public Authority and the two-boards proposal official:

Walker’s plan to split off UW-Madison is dead

With that news,  the closing comments from Joe Salmon’s May 5 post seem worth reposting: (more…)

Posted in State-University Relations, The University Budget, The University System, The UW-Madison Campus | 17 Comments »

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