If you have any doubt that now is the time for Chancellor Biddy Martin’s New Badger Partnership, turn to the Wisconsin Idea.
At first glance, the two contradict. The Badger Partnership calls for the University of Wisconsin to back away from its currently close relationships with the Legislature and UW System and replace them with a more independent business model. The Wisconsin Idea, on the other hand, calls for the highest form of integration by allowing the benefits of the university to stretch to all corners of the state.
That concept of total integration is deeply tied to the rise of both the state and university, and resulted in both a flourishing dairy industry the state is still famous for and an era of progressive politics that changed the tone of state law forever.
Fast-forward to today, and the Wisconsin Idea is still here, borne out in short courses, public service hours put in by students and the continued dissemination of ideas and technologies produced at UW. Despite the end of that era of progressive cooperation however, UW’s most famous partnership is not with the state as a whole, but with the Legislature.
Instead of focusing on how to best take in dollars and then reinvest them in the community, the question has become how can the university fight the Legislature to win the minimum amount of funds necessary to cope with a harsh economic reality that is already here.
I spent the last four months at a small private Italian university on the outskirts of Rome. Early on in the semester, whispers began to creep out of administrative offices and into classrooms about financial troubles – a result of the Euro’s rise, widespread financial woes in the European Union and competition with nearby universities.
The saddest part was that nobody seemed to care. Just a few decades old, the university had few roots in the community or in its students, the bulk of whom were there on a temporary basis as they completed their time abroad. With only itself to rely on, the university faces further budget cuts and tuition hikes, which in combination could mean its end.
I came back to a similar financial situation at UW, but with one difference – UW is not alone. Even with greater autonomy, UW has a friend in a state already invested in its future. Though state funding has been essential to keeping UW afloat until this point, it is its relationship with the Wisconsin Idea – not the Legislature – that has put it in a unique position to begin increasing other sources of funding. It is the Wisconsin Idea that grew this university into an integral part of this state, and it is that state it will bring itself back to by cutting back on its reliance on the Legislature as a middleman.
Former state legislative librarian and progressive reformer Charles McCarthy said it well 99 years ago in his book, “The Wisconsin Idea,” which explores the lessons of the Progressive era:
“In these days of the ocean cable and the fast racers of the sea, waves of public opinion and thought and the struggles of other lands reach us so quickly, that whether for good or evil, great and sudden changes are emerging from this turmoil. We are encountering but the first [waves] of what appears to be a flood of mighty forces. … The best there is of our sturdy individualism must be preserved.”
We no longer communicate by cable, and we certainly are long past the first waves of the pressure of worldwide change. Martin is right that UW needs to equip itself to deal with the fast pace and immediate demands of the modern world, and a university-centered take on that individualism McCarthy spoke so highly of is the answer to that. Only then can UW seek out its true partners, the people of Wisconsin, by moving away from the Legislature’s authority and becoming a more agile, valuable resource.
Signe Brewster ([email protected]) is a Junior majoring in life sciences communication.
