The Associated Students of Madison committee chairs raised questions surrounding the Campus Strategic Framework and upcoming biennial budget during a meeting Wednesday.
UW-Madison Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf met with Coordinating Council members to ask for suggestions on the document, requesting input from the group regarding what they would like to see emphasized or improved. The framework, created by former Provost Paul M. DeLuca, Jr., outlines goals, visions and priorities for UW-Madison.
ASM Chair Genevieve Carter expressed concern about maintaining campus diversity and inclusion programs as a priority of the framework, arguing that for many universities, those programs are the first to go in light of budget cuts.
Also in attendance was UW-Madison Vice Provost for Student Life and Dean of Students Lori Berquam, who responded by stressing the administration’s commitment to those programs. Berquam said the university would need to continue to build resources that support the concepts in the Diversity Framework introduced in October.
The provost also spoke on the biennial budget to update the council on the impending cuts to the university as detailed in Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget plan.
Mangelsdorf assured the council that shared governance and students’ rights will continue to be supported by university administration.
“Shared governance is the soul of the University of Wisconsin-Madison,” Mangelsdorf said, detailing how Wisconsin’s shared governance is unique because it is laid out in state statute.
The council still expressed concern that the institution could suffer if Walker deems the UW System a public authority, as shared governance would no longer be backed by law in the statute.
With an end goal to protect academics from cuts that could be detrimental to students’ education and avoid a possible tuition spike for both in-state and out-of-state students, members of the council inquired about administrative methods to combat these possible issues.
Although Mangelsdorf emphasized efforts to combine campus programs to promote efficiency while generating revenue for the university, she said that given the size of the budget cuts, tuition increases are likely.
Carter concluded the meeting by asking the council to brainstorm tactics for keeping the UW-Madison community informed on these issues as the budget discussion progresses.
