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The answer to that first question, according to a couple of comments from top administrators, seems to be yes. It’s not clear about the second question, but there are some signs of legislative antipathy toward higher education, which also could be a real problem in the future.
A story in Sunday’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which was repeated by The Associated Press, said salaries for campus chancellors were below peer institutions by tens of thousands of dollars — and Wisconsin was losing top administrators as a result.
Faculty salaries also are below peer institutions, and the university system has faced larger than average state budget cuts since 2001, making it more difficult to make up any shortfall, and guaranteeing that tuition increases will have to make up some of the differences.
But what was most disturbing were comments from administrators.
Former University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire chancellor Don Mash was president of a Nebraska college in 1998 when he was recruited by UW.
“I was intrigued by the Wisconsin system,” he said, “which I described to colleagues at the time as arguably the best public higher education system in the country. I don’t describe it that way anymore.”
UW-Parkside chancellor John Keating, who is retiring, said he was satisfied in his job, but disappointed in the way the Legislature “treated the university as a cash cow for the state.”
Many legislative Repub-licans resent the university because they view it as being too liberal. On the Democratic side, Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker of Weston, Wis., blocked a fund-transfer that would have allowed more financial aid for low- and moderate-income UW-L students. It had earlier passed without controversy on a voice vote in the Assembly.
Higher education does not just help students. Universities can contribute to economic development in states — and the number of adults with advanced degrees also affects the state economy.
Legislators need to be more supportive of it.
