Like a group of petulant toddlers, Assembly Republicans threw a tantrum this weekend and showed they care more about their hurt feelings than about Wisconsin students and the future of this state.
The trouble began late Friday night, and like most infantile struggles, was perpetrated by the eventual crybabies. Assembly Republicans on the Joint Finance Committee cut an additional $10.3 million from the UW System’s budget, already trimmed by $51 million under Gov. McCallum’s plan. At the same time the committee reduced McCallum’s cap on tuition from 10 percent to 8 percent, resulting in a $10 million loss of revenue for the System.
The result was a financial disaster for the UW System, which was already forced to bear nearly 50 percent of the total cut to state agencies under the McCallum plan. Facing the additional cuts and restricted from raising revenue through tuition, the Board of Regents made the decision to preserve the quality of the UW System and cut costs the only way possible — by halting admissions.
That’s when things got ugly.
On Saturday, Assembly Republicans voluntarily gutted the state’s best hope for an economic future free of these budget dilemmas — they cut an additional $13.5 million from the UW System and jacked out-of-state tuition by 10 percent — just because the regents pointed out the error of their ways.
The results could be catastrophic. As we have editorialized in the past, maintaining quality in the UW System should be paramount. But if the Joint Finance Committee and Assembly plans go through, this will be impossible. The $4 million cut in the advertising budget, along with the increased out-of-state tuition, will dramatically lower the quality of the applicant pool, lower UW’s national reputation and destroy diversity efforts. Eliminating a $1 million need-based grant program for study abroad will reduce the opportunities for a diverse education. Slashing the travel budget by $9.5 million will drastically reduce fundraising and educational opportunities for faculty.
The result will be a mere provincial school in Madison anchoring a low-quality system incapable of producing the graduates necessary to carry Wisconsin forward.
Assembly Republicans are mortgaging the future to pay for sour grapes. Wisconsin has held two statewide economic summits and both concluded that increased enrollment at quality Wisconsin universities was the key to Wisconsin’s economic future. Assembly Republicans are trying to sell the key.
