Several leaders from the University of Wisconsin system have asked Gov. Scott Walker not to remove UW-Madison from the rest of the state system in his upcoming budget.
Board of Regents President Charles Pruitt, Board of Regents Vice President Mike Spector and UW System President Kevin Reilly wrote a letter to Walker Tuesday expressing their concerns over the potential restructuring of the UW System.
""If changes are proposed that establish UW-Madison as a separate, self-contained institution with its own governance board separate from the Board of Regents, we would return to a two-tiered system the state abandoned 40 years ago for good reasons,"" they said in the letter.
The three admitted that changes need to be made to the UW system, however they said UW-Madison and the system as a whole have benefited from each other for years and separating the two would result in needless competition between Wisconsin universities.
""We ask that you not take any precipitous action in the budget to de-merge the University of Wisconsin System, which has worked so well for the people of this state for so many years,"" the letter said.
""Our leadership wanted to go on record raising some serious concerns about that before this got too far down the road,"" UW System communications director David Giroux said.
Walker will announce his budget proposal Feb. 22. Walker spokesman Cullen Werwie said they could not release any specifics about the plan for now.
""Lots of the details of the UW System, including funding and flexibility will be released in the Governor's budget, which will be introduced on Tuesday,"" Werwie said.
Chancellor Biddy Martin said she hopes that Walker's budget will include flexibility for all UW institutions.
""If UW-Madison were to be separated from UW System, the university could be a test case that paves the way for other institutions in the system to benefit from such flexibilities,"" Martin said in a statement.
