OPINION & EDITORIAL
Pocket Pinching
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Badger Herald Editorial Board:
- A security fee-for-all (December 11, 2007)
- Farewell, Chancellor (December 10, 2007)
- $$FC (December 6, 2007)
- In a bind (December 5, 2007)
- Entitlement Town (December 4, 2007)
Related Stories:
- Letters to the Editor -- 3/12/02 (March 12, 2002)
- Doyle passes the buck (February 20, 2003)
- Stakes are high for Wisconsin as regents plan for UW budget squeeze (August 30, 2002)
- Picking politics over students (March 19, 2002)
- A runt needs milk (January 29, 2004)
by Badger Herald Editorial Board
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Despite countless news stories, editorials and commentaries outlining the need to preserve the quality of a UW education, Gov. Doyle and the entire state legislature failed to consider the serious ramifications of the proposed budget cuts to the UW System. As a result, the hit UW took last spring is now clearly landing in the laps of students during registration week.
Finding space for a required lab or seminar a little tight? So are we. This should come as no surprise. A $38 million budget cut was handed to UW this year, and a substantial part of the cut was at the expense of intermediate- and advanced-level course offerings. The College of Letters and Sciences was forced to reduce its budget by $6 million and as a result, cut more than 250 spring classes. The schools of Business and Engineering each saw their overall budgets decreased by 6 percent. These cuts forced both departments to reduce undergraduate course offerings.
Though university administrators took pains to keep academic offerings up to par with previous years, there is only so much one can do in such an unprecedented situation. The entire UW System was cut deeper than any other time in the history of the institution. How does an administration deal with that kind of a situation?
It is not as if there are fewer students enrolling at UW to justify these cuts.
At a research university renowned for its output of new, often technical knowledge, undergraduate course offerings are both critically important and an easy target for rollbacks. Administrators have insisted again and again that undergraduates are a priority at this university. But with such a large budget cut from the state, we wonder where undergraduates stand with the governor and the state legislature.
Advising is already a major concern at this university; the cuts in classes will likely force more students to depend on the already inadequate advising services for help in finding ways to graduate in a reasonable amount of time. The ability to graduate in four years, even with the best advisers, will lessen as there are fewer course offerings and less flexibility in times courses are offered. These problems only exacerbate the issue of rising tuition — a concern shared by many students, who must now spend more time at the university.
If the university is truly an investment in the state’s future, and we truly believe that it is, then the governor, legislature and administration must do everything they can to offer more courses, not less. The effects of this decrease are significant this year, and they will only worsen each year if fewer classes become the norm.
