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Also by Tom Schalmo and Douglas Schuette:
- Board to have new ranks (November 13, 2006)
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by Tom Schalmo and Douglas Schuette
Monday, November 13, 2006
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents met Friday at Van Hise Hall, excited at the prospect of new regents' confirmations by the state Senate in January.
With last Tuesday's elections giving the Democrats control of the Senate in Wisconsin, Regent President David Walsh said in a conversation with incoming Senate Majority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, that he expects the confirmation process to be swift at the start of the year.
"We will finally be moving forward with some decisions," Walsh said. "In caucus yesterday, [Robson] indicated that this was their initial and primary responsibility to be handled immediately."
According to Walsh, 10 regents have yet to be confirmed because the Republican controlled Senate has denied confirmation to Gov. Jim Doyle's candidates. Despite this, though, the nominees have still been able to serve on the board.
Walsh also spent time at the meeting saying the results on Election Day show that citizens in Wisconsin voted with a passion for higher education.
"I think Tuesday clearly sent a message to the decision makers that people care about higher education in Wisconsin," Walsh said. "When we look around the state … I think you can find a lot of messages about the public saying that education is important."
UW System President Kevin Reilly told the board he was proud of the increase in student voter turnout at UW campuses statewide.
"I'm extremely impressed by the large voter turnout this time around, especially by our UW students," Reilly said. "Regardless of who they voted for, our young people did vote, and that's an important and impressive fact."
Turnout at polling stations was up 66 percent at UW-Madison compared to the 2002 elections and was up at least 40 percent at the Eau Claire, Stevens Point, Oshkosh and La Crosse campuses.
Both Walsh and Reilly said the regents have the responsibility to contact the newly elected and continuing "decision makers" to continue higher education initiatives like the Wisconsin Covenant and Growth Agenda.
"The Covenant and access to higher education in the state of Wisconsin is very important," Walsh said. "And if we're going to compete in a knowledge economy, we must get this engine going faster and faster and we must grow and we must serve the public."
The Covenant gives state eighth graders the ability to pledge to maintain a B average in high school and display good citizenship in exchange for a guaranteed seat at a UW school. Meanwhile, the Growth Agenda aims to improve access and affordability to higher education in Wisconsin.
Walsh said the Growth Agenda is resonating with people throughout Wisconsin, and people around the state need to keep hearing about the agenda to enforce the importance of it.
Reilly said he traveled to the St. Croix Valley in northern Wisconsin as part of his continued effort to spread the Growth Agenda plan.
Walsh also said the University of Iowa raised their tuition last week, making tuition at UW-Madison the lowest in the Big Ten conference.
Despite this, though, the Board of Regents raised tuition again this year as it has for eight years, and such action has received criticism from state Republicans and the United Council of UW Students.
Other regents' news
In a closed session Friday afternoon, the regents officially voted to confirm Joe Gow to become the next chancellor of UW-La Crosse.
Last Friday, the UW System announced Gow's nomination by a regent subcommittee with a starting salary of $184,000 set to begin once he enters office Feb. 1.
As part of their continuing effort to sustain employees, the regents also approved salary increases for chancellors of UW-Stout and UW-Superior and both the chancellor and provost of UW-Platteville.
Anonymous (November 15, 2006 @ 11:18pm):
If one wants to make education more affordable, one should look at first improving the system in place (eliminating waste) and last at increasing taxes.
