The German philosopher Schiller once said “Mit der dummheit kampfen die Gotter selbst vergebens,” which means “Against stupidity the gods themselves war in vain.” Such could be said about the current attacks by our governor on education in general and the University of Wisconsin in particular. The Governor opined recently that the faculty should just “work harder” while he moves to cut $300 million from the University’s budget.
It is one thing to make budget cuts to balance a budget which resulted from his fiscal mismanagement of the state; it is entirely another matter to make educators feel unwelcome and unappreciated for their work. The University is one of the great economic engines of our state. Research occurs every day to find cures for disease, advances in technology, engineering, distance learning, science, law, music, art, biology, agriculture, genetics, economics, business, literature, thermonuclear physics, molecular biology, military science, and the list goes on and on.
University Research Park alone houses 126 companies with a combined payroll of $226 million, including Kikkoman USA R&D Laboratory, Inc., WiCell Research Institute, PRISM Computational Sciences, Inc. and others. It also brings $826 million to Wisconsin’s economy each year, supports over 9,300 jobs across our state and generates $43 million in state and local tax revenue.
Businesses that have spun out of UW research include LifeGen Technologies, Third Wave Technologies, Tomo Therapy and Imago 3D imaging founded by UW professor Tom Kelly. Where are our business and agricultural communities who are the major beneficiaries of the products of our great university system? There seems to be almost complete silence from them when it comes to this attack on the university system. How shameful! When campuses are closed, where will Scott Walker be?
History teaches us the value of university education and the intellectuals who do the basic research and teaching to train the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, artists, teachers, and advanced computer technologists. While the President is trying to make university education more affordable and more widely available, our Governor’s response is to make it more difficult, more expensive, and less attractive than ever before. Does he believe that these brilliant minds need to stay in Wisconsin? Does he think that by attacking the morale of faculty and academic staff that he enhances the state’s world-class university system? While he runs around the country running for President, he undermines the very values that have made Wisconsin a leader in education around the world.
And now our Governor who has not graduated from any college, never taught a college class, never worked on a Master’s thesis or a Ph.D., J.D., or M.D. degree wants to have his finger on the nuclear trigger. Governor, if this were not so serious, it would be laughable.
Governor Tommy Thompson had a degree in law, as did Governors Jim Doyle, Tony Earl and Marty Schreiber. Lee Dreyfus had a Ph.D. in Communications. Scott Walker has a degree in nothing, but he is “smart” enough to tell university professors how to teach.
According to the non-partisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau it would require a 40 percent increase in tuition to make up for the $300 million in cuts proposed by Governor Walker. Were it not for the expected departure of our best and brightest teachers and researchers (thanks to both the proposed cuts and the Governor’s inflammatory comments) one could rightly fear that our university is in danger of becoming an elitist institution much like Harvard, Stanford, USC, or Yale with ever rising costs of tuition, fees, housing, and books. Unfortunately, under this governor/presidential wannabe, our campuses are likely only to become elite for the high costs they will need to charge to provide a very average education. Of necessity they will draw more and more non-residents and Wisconsin kids will be the big losers.
In a state that values the “continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth may be found,” it would be a truly sad truth indeed to find that Governor Walker has sacrificed one of our state’s greatest accomplishments for his own selfish presidential ambitions. But then I doubt that Scott Walker has any idea of who Richard T. Ely was.
Marlin Schneider is a former member of the Wisconsin Assembly. He served longer in that body than anyone else in the state’s history. Do you agree with his stance on this issue? Does Gov. Walker’s budget go too far with regard to higher education? What effect will these cuts truly have on the UW System? Is the governor spending too much time away from the state? We want to know your perspective on this. Please send all comments to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
