All of the University of Wisconsin campuses face difficult personnel decisions in the wake of Gov. Scott Walker’s call for a $300 million system-wide cut in taxpayer support for the 2015-2017 biennium.
The governor, who left Marquette University without getting a degree, suggested the UW System should ask faculty to teach an additional course each semester. He said that would limit any future tuition increases “and at the same time we maintain a high quality education.”
Walker is starting his second four-year term as governor. He will be governor at least until 2019 unless he goes to Washington, D.C. It could be a lengthy period of lean times for the UW.
Walker’s budget and rhetoric will receive widespread notice because he is preparing to run for the Republican nomination for president.
Other universities across the country may seek to lure away the best upcoming stars of the UW System. Surely the long-range budget picture for the UW campuses will be a factor for current top performers if they receive offers from other colleges.
The cuts will stimulate thoughts of retirement among veteran faculty members, but that won’t come quickly enough to avoid layoffs within the system.
Other nuts-and-bolts personnel issues include whether those who are laid off will have first shot at regaining their jobs.
Republicans have large majorities in both houses of the Legislature, meaning the governor’s cut in university money likely will be approved.
However, there is some nervousness among legislators because of the potential impact on campuses in their legislative districts.
Austerity sounds great in the abstract, but there is political pain when it hits the folks back home.
The governor’s plan would give the university more autonomy while slashing state help by 13 percent.
-Matt Pommer is a veteran correspondent covering the Capitol in Madison. His column is published by BizTimes with permission from the Wisconsin Newspaper Association.
