The fight for the UW is a battle for the state's soul.
Killing the Wisconsin Idea
By
Ed Garvey
No one can believe the great University of Wisconsin, our finest institution and the glue holding this state together, is in real danger of becoming a second-tier university. We know the reality - as goes the university, so goes Wisconsin.
The University of Wisconsin, known throughout the world for research, innovation, academic freedom and a world view of education, was described in the 1919 autobiography of Bob La Follette, former governor and U.S. senator. He wrote, "It is difficult, indeed, to overestimate the part which the university has played in the Wisconsin revolution - a sense that somehow the state and the university were intimately related, and that they should be of mutual service."
La Follette talked of the frequent meetings between government and university officials. President John Bascom "was forever telling students what the state was doing for us and urging our return obligation not to use our education wholly for our own selfish benefit, but to return service to the state."
"When I was governor, I sought the constant advice and service of the trained men of the institution in meeting difficult problems."
Ah, what a difference. Today the only advice incumbent politicians seek is from fundraisers and special interests whose motives clearly are not the good of the state.
In La Follette's time, the state and the university were one. The common goal was to educate and thereby lift up the people of this special place. Think about that common goal when reading the outrageous quotes from legislators armed with scalpels as they attack the university budget. One, while calling for $30 million in cuts over and above the $65 million proposed by Governor Jim Doyle, added, "I hope we can still keep the good stuff."
John Bascom, John R. Commons, Charles Van Hise and E.B. Fred would not be smiling today, because lost in the process is the mission of a state university system. That mission is, in part, to maintain the tradition begun during the Civil War that each generation should do better than the previous one. All of the young people of our state should be provided with the necessary passport to a productive career. They must be educated, not just trained for a particular job, because one of their key jobs is to participate in our democracy.
Every entering freshman learned on day one that the boundaries of the university were the boundaries of the state - the Wisconsin Idea. We cared about the plight of small farmers, small business, quality education in our public schools. To be part of this university meant you were part of state-wide problem solving. You know, the Wisconsin Idea.
So what has gone so wrong that the wheels are about to come off? Ideas passed up State Street never make it up the stairs. Our brightest people in the Capitol know what is expected when a $10,000 contribution is made. There is a quid pro quo. No one gives large buckets full of money for the hell of it. So those at the opposite end of State Street do not run for office and are not invited to be advisers. They are oddly out of problem-solving efforts. They don't give money either. This is a sensible conclusion, but it further isolates the university from the power brokers residing in the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce building - where the ideas are hatched for special interest legislation and candidates are selected, trained and funded.
The second problem is our penchant for prison building as our way of growing our economy. If a small town has high unemployment, build a prison. If the prison is empty, pass more laws calling for longer sentencing, euphemistically called "truth in sentencing." Limit parole and build the population. Guards get paid, they spend money, the local economy does better for a moment, but guess what? There is not enough money for our huge prison population and the university. So, the choice must be made.
Finally, without a champion fighting for the university in the governor's office, all is in danger of being lost. The governor and the Lobbyists' Legislature are now playing chicken with our children's futures. "I can cut more than you can" is the game. And, of course, the mantra of "I will not raise taxes" rises above the din of fundraising.
The governor has to listen to his constituents who want their kids and grandchildren to be educated and remain living here. This is a battle for our soul, and thus far, sad to say, Doyle is part of the problem not the solution. We need a champion who will fight for this university and for fewer prisons. We cannot lead the nation in prison population and in stem cell research.
(A version of this article originally appeared on the opinion page of the Capital Times.)
June 16, 2005
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Ed Garvey is editor and publisher of FightingBob.com.
