On Tuesday the Wisconsin State Journal published an op-ed piece by John Wiley, who was Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, from 2001 to 2008. Wiley pointed out that “In 1900, Wisconsin was one of only 14 research universities that came together to form the now prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU is now…
In a post yesterday entitled “The End of Tenure in Wisconsin?” I discussed proposals approved last week by the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee that would remove tenure protections from statute, weaken shared governance, and modify layoff policies and procedures for faculty. While the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents will remain empowered to restore…
This week, Politico published an article by Matt Valentine titled “Texas Just Made College Less Safe: University Leaders Have Thought That Guns on Campus Are a Bad Idea since 1824. So Why Do States Keep Allowing It”—a very provocative title and slant for Politico. Here are the opening paragraphs: “When the founding fathers wrote that…
Last Friday afternoon the Wisconsin Legislature’s powerful Joint Finance Committee declared war on the University of Wisconsin’s faculty. By a vote of 12-4 the Committee approved an omnibus spending bill that would impose drastic budget cuts and, most important, eliminate tenure from state statute. The committee also approved adding new limits to the faculty role in…
Testimony before the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education Presented by Liz Marasco May 19th, 2015 Honorable Chairman Duffy and members of the committee, Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this morning. My name is Liz Marasco, and I am graduate of Ohio State University. I graduated summa cum laude with…
Testimony before the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education Presented by Alli Rigel May 19th, 2015 When I first entered college, I was wearing the rose-colored glasses of the American Dream. Having grown up in varied degrees of poverty, supported by a single mother that carried the economic stigma of bankruptcy and ongoing student loans…
Testimony before the Senate Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education Presented by Rachael Collyer May 19th, 2015 Honorable Chairman Gardner and members of the committee, My name is Rachael Collyer and I address you today both as a student with a personal stake in the issue and also as an educational justice organizer with the…
The Illinois State Senate’s Democratic Caucus has released a report on administrative bloat in the state’s colleges and universities. Although much of the focus is on executive compensation and expensive perks, there are many acknowledgements that the issues with executive compensation are indicative of proportionately high compensation throughout the administrative hierarchies of our institutions and…
On Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced The College for All Act, legislation that would eliminate undergraduate tuition at public colleges and expand work-study programs to help students at private universities. The bill also calls for a reduction in interest rates on federal student loans to stop the government from profiting off of lending to young…
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has released a new report titled Years of Cuts Threaten to Put College Out of Reach for More Students. Prepared by Michael Mitchell and Michael Leachman, the report shows that the decline in state support for public colleges and universities was exacerbated by the Great Recession of 2008,…