Chancellor Biddy Martin said Monday she will aim to develop a relationship between the university and Wisconsin's largest business interest group that will benefit the state.
Although former Chancellor John Wiley has been an open critic of Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce, Martin said her goal is not to provide an analysis or opinion of the group.
What I want to do, however, is not so much form a view of the WMC '¦ so much as I want to build a relationship I think will be beneficial to the university,"" Martin said.
Martin and WMC President Jim Haney met shortly after she took office and shared their visions for UW-Madison.
She said her desire to improve relations with WMC does not necessarily stem from a difference of opinion between her and Wiley, but from her desire to build ""positive relationships with any and everybody who has the well-being of the university and the state at heart.""
Martin said she hopes relations between the university and WMC will help the state increase the economic benefits it receives from the ""economic engine"" of UW-Madison.
""I think that the university is an economic engine in its own right,"" Haney said. ""Some of the research that comes out of the university is very good for the economic development of the state.""
Haney said he is ""inspired"" by what he has heard from Martin, but also thought he had a good working relationship with Wiley, contrary to Wiley's comments in the September issue of Madison Magazine.
In his article, Wiley criticized WMC for promoting deregulation and not supporting higher wages, saying these measures have not moved Wisconsin toward the goal of economic competitiveness.
""Over the years, I've had the opportunity to closely examine the strategies '¦ WMC employs to pursue that goal,"" Wiley wrote. ""Apparently, the organization's definition of being competitive is being among those states with the lowest taxes, lowest wages and least regulation in the nation.""
However, Martin remains much less critical of the group and said she hopes to continue to meet with WMC to develop shared goals.
