STEVENS POINT, Wis. (WSAU) — Governor Scott Walker’s proposed structure and funding changes for the University of Wisconsin system have UW officials concerned. Walker proposes another two-year undergraduate tuition freeze along with giving the UW System more autonomous after 2017, allowing them to raise tuition based on the market and make more decisions without the Legislature’s oversight.
UW Stevens Point Chancellor Bernie Patterson says the proposed autonomy for the colleges makes sense, but the proposed budget cuts will hurt. “The idea of tenure insured governance moving from state statute to the Board of Regents I think is just fine, assuming that that is the way it actually plays out, because tenure insured governance is the cornerstone of who we are as an institution, and we couldn’t deliver the product we currently do without those in place, so those are important as well, but the budget cut? That’s going to be devastating.”
The Governor’s plan calls for a 13 percent cut, but that number is huge. Patterson says just for UW Stevens Point, the impact will be significant. “We haven’t been given a number yet by the system office, but we think it’s going to be substantial, and certainly in the millions. We don’t know just yet what. We’re bracing for perhaps the highest cut we’ve seen at this university in, certainly, recent memory.”
Patterson says Chancellors, Vice Chancellors, and other UW system officials spent four hours Tuesday discussing what can and must be done to preserve programs. He says they are also having that discussion locally with students and governance groups. “What we have put in place is a campus conversation that’s going to involve no less than six different groups on campus, our governance groups, and over fifteen meetings over the next three weeks to talk about what we value as an institution and what has to be preserved as our core mission as a university, and those discussions have already started.”
Patterson says the proposed changes should not affect the progress of the proposed new science building, and the expansion of nursing programs in the former Mid-State Technical College building on Michigan Avenue.
(Listen to our interview with Chancellor Bernie Patterson on our website, here.)
