Chancellor Biddy Martin took questions about the New Badger Partnership from faculty members at Monday's Faculty Senate meeting.
Most of the people at the meeting said they supported partnership, saying it would provide flexibility in terms of monetary allotment, including the ability to raise the salaries of faculty and staff.
Martin told the audience flexibility in spending would also directly benefit students, because of increased state resources and the ability to hire new faculty.
""I see the New Badger Partnership as a way of continuing to strengthen and ensure the best possible education for our students,"" Martin said.
A number of faculty members had questions about details of the partnership, however.
One consistent concern was how the partnership would affect financial aid for students. According to Martin, the partnership would affect students' access to financial aid.
The university would continue to raise money to allot more financial aid than it currently provides, Martin said.
Martin said she is currently working on a campaign to inform prospective students of the difference between price of tuition at UW-Madison and the actual price of an education.
Another concern Faculty Senate members expressed surrounded Gov. Scott Walker and the state Legislature's power to change the proposed partnership, including provisions that give professors tenure and providing UW-Madison with shared governance.
Martin acknowledged the possibility of the proposal changing, but said she has heard nothing to indicate that tenure or shared governance would be removed
Other members worried about the quality of other UW System schools if UW-Madison were to split from the rest of the state system.
""There is nothing in this … that provides incentives for us to ignore partnership with the other institutions,"" Martin said.
Martin said other universities' quality does not depend on UW-Madison, but Madison will continue to do what it can to ensure its quality does not suffer.
Martin said UW-Madison has been working to enhance students' ability transfer to different schools within the UW System.
""I believe our relationships with other campuses will remain strong,"" Martin said. ""There may some bumps in the road with some interactions in the short run, but I don't think they'll last.""
