The UW System, reeling in the wake of massive budget cuts, might need to rethink its structure, according to several academic scholars.
The scholars addressed an audience of UW-Madison faculty and staff, including UW-Madison Chancellor John Wiley, at a forum presented by the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education Tuesday. The program, entitled \Moving from Fiscal Constraint to New State University Partnerships,"" focused on the national trend toward reduced state spending on universities. Speakers proposed alternative structural models to help the UW System fund itself more effectively.
The discussion was particularly relevant since Gov. Jim Doyle proposed $250 million in cuts to the UW System prompting UW officials to search for alternative methods of funding.
David Breneman, dean of the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia, described the dire state of secondary education funding nationwide.
""There have been boom-bust cycles in higher education just about all of my career,"" he said, ""but we're at somewhat of a tipping point.""
Because of the economic boom fueled by the Internet industry in the late 1990s, Breneman said states began cutting taxes and providing exemptions that led to fiscal crises. Over 40 states have experienced budget gaps in the fiscal year 2003, worsening a decades-long trend of states spending less on their universities.
""People want lower tuition, higher quality and higher access, but they don't want higher taxes,"" Breneman said.
Furthermore, he warned that this pattern could have adverse consequences.
""We're really moving toward a train wreck,"" he said.
Terry MacTaggart, the university system research professor at the University of Maine System, offered constructive solutions to counteract Breneman's worrisome statistics.
MacTaggart said the UW System needs to consider making fundamental structural changes. He noted that while Wisconsin has high quality universities, its economic performance is only ""mediocre.""
""Wisconsin industry in the new economy is closer to Mississippi than to its neighbors,"" he said.
Since the lagging economy cannot pull Wisconsin's university system out of its budget hole, MacTaggart said the UW System should consider deregulating its structure. MacTaggart suggested the UW System ""rethink and reconfigure the relationship between the university and state to grant it substantially greater independence of action.""
He noted that other states have tried different tactics, such as changing governance boards, recasting their systems into public corporations and becoming charter colleges. However, he promoted deregulation in Wisconsin, citing a successful switch in Oregon as support.
Such a change would grant the System greater authority over fiscal affairs like setting tuition, managing debt and construction oversight.
""Now is a time to make a case for ... a good deal more freedom and independence from state oversight,"" MacTaggart said.
UW System President Katharine Lyall suggested a similar plan at the UW System Board of Regents meeting earlier in the month.
Michael Olneck, a UW-Madison professor of educational and policy standards, said he was hesitant to accept deregulation as a panacea for the UW System's budget ills.
""In general, deregulation has been used in private enterprises,"" he said. ""If it doesn't work in the private sector, why would it work in the public sector?\
