Playing host to so many political protests in recent years, the Capitol rotunda saw another June 11, as a coalition of activist groups known as Another Budget is Possible rallied against Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed biennial budget.
More than 10 speakers challenged the budget cuts, including Sergio González, a doctoral candidate in the UW-Madison history department and a member of the Teachers Assistant Association. He spoke about the revised budget that was released May 29, which reduced the cuts by $50 million to the UW System to $250 million while eliminating tenure from state law.
“There is no way that faculty will come to this university knowing that the university won’t stand up to protect their right to speak freely about any issue that they feel is important and represents the interests of the state, their students and the university,” Gonzalez said.
Under the proposed budget, the UW System Board of Regents would have the right to give tenure, but it would no longer be required by state law. Gonzalez disagreed that this would provide enough oversight.
The June 11 protest followed the ruling of a June 4 Board of Regents meeting, where the Education Committee voted 4-3 to officially pass tenure as a Board of Regents policy after a series of debates, according to a UW System release.
“I pledge to do everything in my power as chancellor to develop a set of campus policies and procedures to guide the ways in which this proposed statute is used,” UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in a June 3 online post. “Removal of tenure should always be a last-case option.”
“The most recent appointee to the Board of Regents is the son of the man who was Governor Walker’s campaign chair,” Gonzalez said. “You don’t want to come to a state where you don’t know what the future is.”
Peggy Coyne, who attended the protest but did not speak, said she retired from teaching special education a year earlier than planned to be a full-time activist as a result of the cuts.
“[The cuts] are impacting our capacity to serve our particularly vulnerable population, being children with special needs,” Coyne said. “ I had planned to stay one more year but I thought, ‘I can’t keep teaching full time and devote the amount of time necessary to [activism].’”
UW-Madison administration hosted several budget forums throughout the past semester to update students, faculty and staff and dispel rumors.
Blank clarified certain effects of the potential state budget in an online post April 17, announcing the termination of 400 jobs and the merging or closing of programs.
This statement came after the Board of Regents passed a plan earlier that month to increase UW-Madison’s out-of-state tuition $6,000 across the next two academic years, bringing it to $31,523.
Additionally, international tuition will raise to $32,523, a $7,000 increase across two years, along with certain graduate school tuition.
UW System President Ray Cross said UW-Madison should increase its tuition to compete with other Big Ten institutions.
More recently, UW-Madison could see the Associated Students of Madison morph from an interactive decision-making student government to one that suggests changes to the chancellor.
“It’s more getting rid of all of the stakeholders in a university beside the chancellor working with the Board of Regents with everything that happens on campus.” ASM Chair Madison Laning said May 29.
Blank thanked Cross in a May 29 release for the Board of Regents continued support of shared governance initiatives.
“Our number one goal is to continue to give our students the highest quality education possible, and we remain committed to working with the governor and legislators to make the case for renewed investment in higher education in Wisconsin,” Blank said in the release.
Members of the TAA shifted their semester goals to focus on protesting the proposed state budget, which will need approval from the state Senate and Assembly.
However, the Joint Committee on Finance still needs to hold one more meeting before the budget can officially be signed by Walker.
