The University of Wisconsin-Madison Faculty Senate Monday backed a motion supporting the proposal to establish the university as a public authority separate from the UW System.
The motion approved by the Faculty Senate also gives the University Committee, the Faculty Senate’s executive body, the flexibility to work for a compromise if the public authority proposal is removed from the budget.
The proposal, advanced in recent months by Chancellor Biddy Martin, is included in Gov. Scott Walker’s biennial budget bill.
The Faculty Senate’s action followed release of letter earlier Monday from 63 additional academic leaders who signed on in support of the New Badger Partnership. They joined 10 who last week offered their support. The letter was sent to the co-chairs of the Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee, which is considering the budget this month.
The Faculty Senate legislation said any compromise would need to reflect a set of core principles the faculty see as essential to gaining needed flexibility in managing personnel, managing university funds, setting tuition, overseeing building projects, purchasing and running university facilities, the Faculty Senate said.
The University Committee had originally proposed having the body decline to take a position on the public authority proposal.
Judith Burstyn, chair of the University Committee, said such a move was recommended because lawmakers have encouraged faculty to advance the flexibilities that are viewed as most important to the health and vitality of UW-Madison in lieu of the public authority proposal.
UW-Madison Vice Chancellor for Administration Darrell Bazzell has said the public authority proposal is still being discussed, and Martin has suggested a way for the Legislature to advance similar flexibilities to other UW System institutions.
Many members of the Faculty Senate argued it was critical for the university’s faculty to take a stand on such an important proposal for the future of UW-Madison.
Cyrena Pondrom, a professor of English, made the motion to support the public authority proposal, arguing that it is essential for maintaining the university’s strength and international standard of excellence.
“One reason the University Committee may find legislators think there is small prospect for the New Badger Partnership is our silence to date,” Pondrom told the Faculty Senate. “I’d like to advance that.”
Others said the proposal had been moving too quickly and that as scientists, faculty should push for more review and hard facts.
Carrie Laboski, associate professor of soil science, argued that UW-Madison is a leading land-grant university with one of the nation’s best extension systems, and that proceeding without facts could harm the institution for future generations.
While students and administrators come and go, faculty members might spend 40 years on campus, using that time to look out for the best interest of UW-Madison, said Eric Raimy, associate professor of English. Faculty members are in a prime position to evaluate data and use their knowledge and resources to come up with the best model, he said.
“I’d love to have the opportunity to have the data to convince me which plan to follow,” Raimy said.
But those who recalled the merger of the university with the UW System said the public authority proposal was the best way to preserve the strength of UW-Madison, which is fundamentally different from other UW institutions.
“We are a different institution with a much broader, much deeper mission and we are suffering deeply without the kind of flexibilities discussed by the chancellor,” said Provost Paul M. DeLuca, Jr., who chaired the meeting for Martin, who was absent. “If we are not aggressive in the next month and this Faculty Senate doesn’t act in some positive way, we’re going to lose an opportunity to greatly benefit this institution.”
The Faculty Senate passed a resolution Monday supporting transforming UW-Madison into a public authority, the latest in a series of endorsements of the plan that is proposed in the 2011-13 state budget.
– Stacy Forster, University Communications