A group of state legislators, a regent and two chancellors, including University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank, held a panel discussion Thursday on the UW-Madison campus about the need for communication between state government and educators on higher education funding.
The discussion, which took place in the Gordon Dining and Events Center and was titled Viewpoints on the Challenges of Funding Public Higher Education, centered on the topic of keeping higher education funding sustainable over an extended period of time through increased communication between educators and legislators.
Patrick Hogan, vice chancellor for government regulations at the University System of Maryland, served as the moderator for the panel and repeatedly emphasized the need for both politicians and educators to be “realistic” about their communication. He commended the panelists for taking time to have the conversation and said the panel serves as the first step in breaking down the “barrier” that often comes between the two parties nationwide.
Blank talked with members of the panel to discuss some of the larger funding issues she feels she faces as the lead administrator at UW-Madison.
One of her main requests to the state Legislature was to advance the university’s ability to bring in funding from outside the state, such as federal research dollars, by relaxing restrictions on the way funding is processed and utilized within the university. She also proposed educators and legislators discuss raising out of state tuition to levels more in line with other Big Ten schools, such as the University of Michigan, which has an out-of-state tuition just above $40,000 a year.
Blank concluded her section of the panel saying her success will lie with her ability to freely leverage the varying funding streams to find the comparative advantage of each.
“[The state Legislature] needs to work with me as a partner [on outside funding],” Blank said, referring mainly to her ability to collect out-of-state tuition. “Let’s let California and New York help fund the great University as much as we can. I have no problems with … that at all.”
State Sen. Alberta Darling, R-River Hills, was the first panelist to speak at the event and emphasized the need for more open communication after the fallout surrounding the UW System’s $648 million unrestricted revenue surplus made public at the end of the last school year. Darling described last year’s surplus news as a “blow up” and a “huge breach of confidence.”
“The [UW] System is broken,” Darling said. “We need to have a conversation that is transparent, honest, accountable and truthful.”
The remaining members of the panel discussed the importance of the UW System to the state and the necessity for the System to organize funding to maintain flexibility even through times of economic downturn around the state.
State Rep. Pat Strachota, R-West Bend, proposed Blank look into building partnerships with small businesses around the state as a way to boost revenue for the university through donations. Strachota also said the partnership would help to boost the state’s economy.
Jim Schmidt, the UW-Eau Claire chancellor, said he saw the public universities as making up “the fabrics of our communities” by training people like nurses and city council members to better serve the state. However, Schmidt admitted state educators need to do a better job communicating their needs to the state legislature.
“Frankly, we do a lousy job of telling our stories,” Schmidt said.
The panel was part of the first day of a two-day event that will continue Friday and marks the first larger event where legislators and educators have sat down to have discussions since the surplus lead to heated meetings between the two parties last spring.
