The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents met Thursday to discuss the Wisconsin Idea Partnership, a plan endorsed by 13 UW chancellors to increase flexibility for every UW System School while keeping UW-Madison within the system.
As the UW System faces a $250 million budget cut in Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget, UW chancellors are looking for ways to increase flexibility on their respective campuses.
Senior Vice President for Administration and Fiscal Affairs Michael Morgan detailed provisions of the Wisconsin Idea Partnership, including the flexibilities he said it would provide.
Morgan said one example of this flexibility would be the board's ability to set the tuition price for every UW campus.
Under current law, the board has limited tuition setting authority, rendering them incapable of determining undergraduate tuition rates, Morgan said.
Morgan said the Wisconsin Idea Partnership would provide the board with the authority to set tuition levels for UW campuses, giving every campus the ability ""to meet the needs of students and employers, while maintaining high levels of educational equality.""
Board member Thomas Loftus said the UW chancellors owed it to Wisconsin citizens to create a unified proposal, and to present the proposal to the legislature as ""one voice.""
""We have a very divided state,"" Loftus said. ""We're adding to the division by presenting or seeming to present two competing proposals to the legislature.""
UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin said she hopes to meet with the other UW chancellors to create a unified proposal.
Martin said any amendments to the governor's bill should be additive, rather than taking away from what UW-Madison would currently gain from the bill.
Also at the meeting, Associate Vice President of Capital Planning and Budget David Miller detailed the 2011-'13 Capital Budget Summary.
The budget includes a new $50 million program that would fund system-wide facility renovation of existing buildings.
The program would improve the quality of UW campuses and create new jobs, according to Miller.
