University of Wisconsin students and faculty carried more than boxes of chocolates and roses this Valentine’s Day as hundreds gathered with signs of protest at Library Mall to speak out against the state’s proposed budget cuts to the UW System.
The event, held Saturday afternoon, was co-sponsored by United Faculty and Academic Staff, the Wisconsin University Union and the Teaching Assistant Association in response to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed 2015-17 budget calling for a $300 million cut to the UW System in exchange for increased system autonomy under a public authority model.
Despite near sub-zero temperatures, demonstrators gathered to listen to Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison, UW student DeShawn McKinney of About Race UW and Brandi Grayson of the Young, Black and Gifted Coalition, among others.
“If they don’t listen, we shut it down!” shouted English professor Lane Hall of UW-Milwaukee to onlookers, some of whom were displaying homemade signs and playing instruments. Echoes of the crowd chanting “I believe that we will win,” were heard across the mall.
Featured speaker DeShawn McKinney, who headed efforts to form About Race UW, condemned the proposed cuts as contributing to the further marginalization of minority students and urged demonstrators to continue protesting for a cause much bigger than themselves.
“Under a public authority model, shared governance will be eliminated, so there will be no place for students to voice their concerns,” McKinney said. “The university will no longer have legal responsibility for recruitment of minorities and disadvantaged students — we can’t have that. Furthermore, we can expect massive tuition increases.”
Walker’s “drafting error” did not go unmentioned at the protest, during which many brought light to the implications of even briefly removing “the search for truth” and “improve the human condition” from the Wisconsin Idea.
“The Wisconsin Idea talks about a search for truth being the main focus of the entire system,” McKinney said. “It talks about how we need to [ingrain] in our students intellectual, cultural and humane sensitivities that apply to everyone, including marginalized groups.”
Ellen Samuels, an associate professor in English and Gender and Women’s Studies involved in planning the protest, expressed concern that the proposed budget would negatively affect her students’ educational experience.
“I’m teaching over 250 undergraduates this semester,” she said. “That’s twice as high the number of students as when I started here in 2007. I value all of them, but I can’t devote the kind of time teaching them because my class sizes keep increasing, and it’s been made clear that class sizes will continue to increase due to these cuts.”
Samuels said the university might have no choice but to turn to adjunct professors for instruction, something that, in her opinion, will decrease students’ educational experience. She said the budget cuts will mean less contact with professors, fewer resources for students and difficulties in recruiting and retaining distinguished faculty.
“Our stellar reputation will go away if we turn into a university that doesn’t invest in education and cares more about short-sighted ideas about training students in particular trades rather than giving them a true education that prepares them to be citizens to serve their state,” she said.
