When considering gubernatorial candidates this November, University of Wisconsin students will find several controversial academic issues up for debate.
Those issues range from social and economic policy to more emotionally charged controversies like gay marriage and stem-cell research.
Of particular interest to many UW students, both candidates have begun sparring on the issue of rising tuition.
"Gov. Jim Doyle's Board of Regent President has raised tuition 50 percent for in-state students and has lowered it for out-of-state students," said Rob Vernon, communications director for Republican challenger and U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Wis. "Green thinks this is not acceptable and would take steps to make sure Wisconsin students get to take advantage of our great university system."
But Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton defended Doyle, the incumbent Democrat, noting that under his reign state contribution to financial aid has doubled.
"When Gov. Doyle was presented with the last state budget, Republican leadership in the Legislature tried to cut $8 million in University of Wisconsin System funding," Lawton said. "And the governor vetoed [the measure] and restored that funding."
Both Lawton and Green have attended UW System schools, including UW-Madison, and have expressed their admiration and pride in the system and in its students.
"The Doyle/Lawton ticket gives the promise of smart, innovative policy and welcomes the full participation of students in both the democratic process of election and the design of our government," Lawton said. "We want young people to have a prominent place in the design for the future."
The Green campaign agrees, but Vernon also cited Doyle's record in his four years as governor.
"Things that have happened [in the UW System] under Jim Doyle, with tuition increases and back-up jobs for professors and mismanagement of finances — those are things we need to change," he said.
Yet an area of recent success and prestige for the university system, and specifically at UW-Madison, has been stem-cell research.
Lawton described an expanding economic impact of the pursuit of stem-cell research and said such research "speaks to the values that we hold here in Wisconsin."
"As a people, we have initiated life-saving research with life-saving potential, and we want to continue that, not just for the citizens of Wisconsin, but for everyone," she added.
Green, on the other hand, advocates for a limit to stem-cell research.
"Green supports stem-cell research on adult stem-cell lines, umbilical cord stem-cell lines and embryonic stem cells on the current existing lines," Vernon said. "But he does not support expanding embryonic stem-cells lines."
The controversial issue has already prompted the Doyle campaign to launch an advertisement citing Green's voting record on the issue. The ad is reminiscent of the barrage of negative campaigning that occurred in the 2002 gubernatorial election.
According to UW political science professor Charles Franklin, negative campaign ads can be an effective tool to stimulate discussion, though not without shortcomings.
"[The ad] raises an issue that Green doesn't particularly want to emphasize," said Franklin, whose expertise is in political campaigns. "In the same way, the Doyle campaign didn't make a fine distinction and painted Green as uniformly opposed to stem-cell research."
Franklin also said there is actually little effect on voter turnout due to negativity and that such campaigning actually produces information and discussion that would otherwise have been avoided.
According to the latest Zogby Interactive poll, Doyle shows a slight lead, with 49 percent of respondents saying they would support the incumbent, while 45 percent say they would support Green Nov. 7.
