The state of Wisconsin has built a tremendous resource in the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Even when the economy slows — as it has in the past — our education and research continue moving us forward. We’ve pushed the boundaries of discovery and given the state a value worth more than just dollars and cents.

But, we’ve faced financial shortfalls for several years. Budget restrictions limit what we can do and prevent us from keeping pace with the costs of higher education. We need to find new ways to provide a world-class education and compete on a national and international playing field.

Chancellor Biddy Martin proposed the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates just a few weeks ago. This initiative addresses the threat of an eroding undergraduate experience and increases need-based financial aid.

Personally, and as Dean of the College of Letters & Science, I enthusiastically support the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates. This proposal will greatly improve the core education in the university, but will ensure that future students continue receiving world-class educations and hopefully even better.

You may not know this, but L&S teaches more than 80 percent of the first- and second-year student credit hours. Those classes you took in math, chemistry, English, philosophy and political science stem from L&S.

L&S also supplies courses for students who major in other schools and colleges. An average student who majors in business or engineering will take more than 45 percent of his or her credits from L&S.

Simply put, L&S provides the core of an undergraduate education at Wisconsin. To continue doing so, we must address our highest undergraduate priorities.

The Madison Initiative for Undergraduates would do just that. If the proposal is implemented, L&S would be able to do the following:

? Increase the capacity of the Economics Department to meet rising student demand for courses and majors. We would hire more faculty and teaching assistantships and offer more faculty-taught large class sections and faculty-taught small class sections. This would tackle an ongoing problem in Econ, where full classes close out students. In Economics 302, an average of 200 students are closed out of the class every semester.

? Increase the capacity of language instruction — especially in the Spanish Department — by hiring additional faculty, teaching assistants and academic instructional staff. This semester there were more than 350 students that could not be accommodated in Spanish courses. We even added and filled three additional Spanish sections on nearly the last day to add courses in the semester.

? Meet annual demand in chemistry by hiring additional graduate teaching assistants for some group sections. Currently, demand exceeds capacity by about 300 seats each semester in Introduction to Organic Chemistry.

? Increase the number of Freshmen Interest Groups (FIGs) or Undergraduate Research Scholars (URS). These programs work extremely well — students in FIGs or URS are three times more likely to graduate with a GPA higher than 3.1. They also graduate sooner and are more likely to participate in service activities and take on leadership roles on campus.

? Improve academic advising and services. Combined with better course access, this will ensure students get access to courses appropriate for them and in the correct sequences.

? Increase the amount of need-based financial aid five-fold, which will support incoming students before department specific aid is available to them.

We have a great university. The Madison Initiative will help maintain that quality in our undergraduate experiences in the College of Letters & Science and throughout the entire university. I fully support it.

Gary Sandefur

Dean, College of Letters and Science