After University of Wisconsin System students testified on both advisory boards and tuition increases, a special task force recommended all institutions in the UW System develop advisory boards with Board of Regents members.
The Special Task Force on UW Restructuring and Operational Flexibilities supported the suggestion of UW-Oshkosh Chancellor Richard Wells, who presented recommendations signed by the UW System’s chancellors to members of the task force.
The first recommendation called for a structure allowing individual chancellors to create or strengthen institution-level advisory boards. The Board of Regents would still be the governing authority for the UW System.
Wells also said the chancellors supported the option for these advisory boards to include regent members.
Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls, said campuses already have the ability to appoint advisory boards. Still, she said appointees to these advisory boards should be left up to the individual chancellors.
“I think at a time where we’re focused on trying to provide campuses with greater flexibility, I don’t want to start telling them what to do,” Harsdorf said. “And so, I believe who they should appoint should be up to the chancellors. If they want to have a regent, I think they can do that.”
Rep. Steve Doyle, D-Onalaska, said the policy has to be discretionary and not mandatory in order to provide flexibility. He said he liked the idea of having one or more regents on the board as a “pipeline” to the Board of Regents.
David Olien, senior UW System vice president emeritus, was the only member of the task force who said he does not support the recommendation. He said UW-Madison should have its own Board of Regents and that it is the only major research university in America that does not have a separate board.
“I recognize the situation is very delicate and this is not likely to happen, but I think it’s very important that it happen down the road,” Olien said. “I also would support a separate board for UW-Milwaukee and for UW-Stout. I will say no more.”
Before the decision, the task force also heard testimony from student leaders on tuition costs and advisory boards.
United Council of UW Students Vice President Dylan Jambrek said tuition at UW-Madison in 1971 was $451. In 2011, it was $8,592. He said the average annual increase for tuition has been 7.9 percent and over the last decade has been 9.2 percent on average.
“UW System has told us they oppose a tuition cap, but we understand a system or a Board of Regents would not support constraints put upon them by an outside entity,” Jambrek said. “However, the reason to oppose a tuition cap is so that you might raise tuition higher than the cap that was then placed upon you.”
Libby Wick-Bander, an Associated Students of Madison Student Council representative, said she supported advisory boards because campuses need to be able to identify and deal with inefficiencies. She added there must be a stronger connection between campuses and their respective communities to get the public to reinvest in the UW System.
Wick-Bander said the role of these boards should be strictly advisory because governing boards, rather than advisory boards, would create more bureaucracy in the system.
“More bureaucracy doesn’t create more accountability. In fact it diminishes it from stakeholders and taxpayers,” Wick-Bander said. “It also diminishes efficiency within the system.”
The Legislative Fiscal Bureau will now begin to formalize the recommendations.
