You are seven years old and your favorite babysitter is moving away. Your parents tell you she has to go, that it is an exciting new time for her and you should be happy and supportive and wish her the best. But you aren’t, are you? Nor should you have to be. After all, the two of you bonded over the last several years. You grew to love her for her goofy antics, and though you fought sometimes you knew she had you in her heart. And now who is going to help you finish the major projects she insisted you start?
In case the metaphor hadn’t completely given itself away, I’m talking about former University of Wisconsin Chancellor Biddy Martin.
I understand completely why Biddy would want to leave. The last few weeks of the semester were heavily peppered with protests and rallies that went beyond peaceful demonstration and crossed the line straight into disrespect.
But the ramifications of Biddy leaving far outweigh the factors motivating her to leave.
Our school is now in the middle of one of the most heated debates in its history. We’re looking at taking a $94 million cut from state funding with no new tools or flexibilities to help manage the loss. Whether or not you think Martin’s plan of splitting UW from the system is a positive step in this endeavor, most people agree we need to change something to keep the quality of life and education as high as it has been.
You know a great way not to get people to take our needs seriously? By saddling us with an interim chancellor. By announcing her departure so late in the year Martin guaranteed we will take a year off from permanent, steady leadership.
The choice for interim chancellor, David Ward, has served as chancellor of this school before and was approved by the Board of Regents as well as several stakeholders. There is little doubt that he is qualified for the job. But the job itself is the problem.
What the school needs right now is someone with clout and the guns to back it up. Someone who can stand up to the state Legislature and the Board of Regents, and, more importantly, someone who can make some headway in uniting the student body.
That job seems impossible enough for a permanent chancellor, and it will be even harder for an interim. After all, why would you as an active and vocal member of the student body want to make deals with someone who will only be here for a year? It is likely, if not inevitable that whoever follows Ward will want to deal with things a different way. Wouldn’t it be smarter to try and stall things for now and get what you want out of Ward’s permanent replacement?
And let’s take a guess about how our oh-so-mature state Legislature will act. The side that agrees with Ward will try to ram changes through as the other party does everything in their power – legal or not – to stop them. Then after months of arguing, grandstanding and possibly filing every lawsuit anyone can think of, we’ll have to go through it all again once the long-term chancellor is announced. If you think they won’t act like children in a debate as important as funding higher education, just look at how they behaved during a debate on funding everything.
We need a steady hand on the helm. Someone who has relationships with powerful state bodies and experience dealing with the current climate on campus. Martin herself recognized this, publicly stating at a forum in April that now would be an awful time to leave the school. Even though she and I didn’t agree on every point, I was thrilled to hear her say this because at least we wouldn’t have our leadership broken up in the middle of serious turmoil. Two months later she announced her resignation. Given that Martin is largely credited for starting this debate on separation and flexibility, I think she owed it to us to stick it out through the end.
Of course, much like our childhood babysitter there’s nothing we can do to stop Biddy from leaving us behind to deal with the mess we’re in — as well as our abandonment issues. What we can do is tell her we’re disappointed. We – or at least I – really thought she was in this for the long haul. Now that that’s off our chests, let’s get up and try to finish what she started.
Nicely, please. I’m really not looking for another year of tantrums.
Carolyn Briggs ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in English.
