The first in a series of forums about University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin’s proposed Badger Partnership provided faculty, staff and students with a venue to ask questions and receive answers directly from the chancellor Monday.

With about 50 people in attendance, after a brief presentation, Martin fielded questions from audience members, many of which focused on how the new partnership will impact UW, how the Wisconsin Idea will change and what the definition of flexibility is.

The chancellor’s proposal asked the state to renegotiate its relationship with UW to allow more autonomy and flexibility for UW compared to other UW System schools. However, more autonomy would also hold UW more accountable.

Louise Robbins, a UW professor in the School of Library and Information Studies, said her main concern is a lack of concrete direction in the proposal.

With a new governor about to be elected and uncertainty about the future composition of the State Legislature, Martin said following a set plan before the election would not be in UW’s best interest.

To remain a world-class university, UW cannot continue along the same road, however privatization is not the answer, Martin said.

“If your view is ‘we should just do nothing and try to muddle through with less state funding and no other measures taken’…you’re making a decision to risk the quality of the institution and the value of the degree,” she said.

Martin said UW cannot become a private university for a number of reasons. Apart from violating the core mission of UW, funds are not available to endow a university as big as UW, Martin said.

UW Foundation President Mike Knetter said one purpose of the plan is to get people to realize “the weights have changed dramatically” and the state now has more power over UW than it previously did.

Martin’s assurances did not calm all the fears of those in attendance. UW professor of pathobiological sciences Tony Goldberg said he was concerned about how UW will be able to balance between public and private under a new partnership.

With other public universities re-negotiating their relationships with state government – from the University of California-Berkeley to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill – Martin said UW’s budget has increasingly been covered by grants, contracts, tuition and philanthropy.

Under the new partnership the internal structure of UW will remain unchanged, Martin said, with shared governance still in place and the same amount of power resting with UW leaders as they have now.

Following the conclusion of the forum, Martin said she thought it went well, but added she would have liked to break into small groups so people could talk with each other.

The possibility of UW hiring a consulting firm did not receive attention at the forum, which Martin said surprised her.

While UW stopped accepting proposals from companies in September, Vice Chancellor for Administration Darrell Bazzell said UW is prohibited from divulging any information about the companies until the process is complete.

Bazzell said the committee members will be able to talk about their decisions after they give their recommendations to Martin, which should be sometime before the semester ends.