UW-Madison officials continue to debate Provost Paul DeLuca's plan to restructure the graduate school, and will hold another town hall meeting Friday for further discussion.
DeLuca proposed the restructuring to help the school comply with complex federal and safety regulations, but many professors and administrative officials have raised concerns over the cost and effectiveness of the plan.
Jeremy Foltz, professor of agriculture and applied economics, said he feels the proposed course of action does not properly address the needs of the university.
""The issues that have been raised are clearly issues that need to be addressed, but only some of them clearly might be helped by restructuring the graduate school,"" he said.
Foltz said the separation of the graduate school and the research department under the proposed plan is unnecessary, and will be a detriment to the school in the future.
DeLuca, however, disagrees.
""A large part of this discussion is to make sure that if we're going to run a world-class research enterprise that we provide at least the minimal level of support to do that correctly,"" he said. ""The amount of resources we've put into supporting that enterprise has frankly been insufficient.""
Foltz said he remains unconvinced by the plan, and said he questions the financial wisdom of the proposal. According to DeLuca, the proposed plan will cost approximately $6,000 to $8,000 per year.
""The restructuring seems to me very costly both in money and in people's time,"" Foltz said. ""There seem to be ways to deal with some of these issues without a complete restructuring.""
Members of the Faculty Senate's University Committee have previously stated they want a team of faculty to study the proposal.
""This should be an open conversation between the administration, faculty and students,"" Foltz said.
