UW System officials want to make sure state Rep. Duwayne Johnsrud, R-Eastman, knows what he’s doing with his bill that would require the legislature to name all state-owned properties.
University leaders object to the current version of the bill because it would create difficulties in luring donors with the promise of a building named after them.
“The university needs to be able to retain the right to name the buildings,” Systems State Relation official David Miller said.
Johnsrud said he will agree to the amendment when his Assembly bill is heard Feb. 20. However, he said he will do all he can to ensure the message of the bill remains clear.
“There should be a thought process to this instead of a brown-nosing bureaucrat trying to suck up to their boss,” he said. “What’s being done now is wrong.”
Johnsrud proposed the bill after being annoyed with the plethora of state buildings and properties being named after former Gov. Tommy Thompson. Johnsrud said the properties he is aware of include a fish hatchery, a board room at Miller Park, a dorm at the state fair, a hall at Marquette University, a commerce and a center for progressive government. The final straw, said Johnsrud, came with the recent dedication of a centennial park.
“It’s a little too much,” he said.
While systems leaders do not have a problem with the bill per se, they want Johnsrud to recognize that much of the university’s funding comes from private donors.
“It’s not a gigantic problem–it’s just terribly inconvenient,” Miller said.
Private gifts account for a large percentage of new buildings on campus, Miller said. He named the Kohl Center, where Sen. Herb Kohl donated a third of construction costs and the Grainger Business School as examples of name recognition for large gifts. He added that sometimes the university wishes to honor donors in that way, even if they make no such request.
Johnsrud said he has been ridiculed by some of the governor’s spokespeople for his bill.
“[Thompson’s] pissed off at me now,” Johnsrud said. “They said I should have more important things to do.”
However, Johnsrud said he will not give up his crusade.
“We represent five million people,” he said. “We represent the public and we represent public buildings.”
“I want this to be a thing of honor.”
