Steve Nass, second to none in his venom toward the UW system, was chosen by state Republicans to chair the assembly committee that oversees colleges and universities.
This is an obvious signal that Republicans will continue to try to use attacks on higher education to further their election campaigns. Nass has been one of the most irrational UW haters in the state and has been given a prominent seat to continue his nonsense.
The Republican leader of the assembly says the appointment is because UW officials "gloated" over the loss of the other UW hater, Rob Kreibich. It is good to see that there is no pettiness among the losers.
The article then has the speaker of the house say that "suggestions that one party was better for the System were ill-advised."
How could any rational person come to any other decision? Instead of seeking to work with us to improve higher education by choosing some one who is less of an anti-intellectual, he picked the most outspoken crank in Madison.
Now instead of being able to ignore this crackpot, we are all going to have to deal with his ridiculous assertions for years to come!
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4 comments:
Ugh, I know. It's all so demoralizing. I grew up in this state, and when I was in grad school, all I wanted was to come back and work in the UW system. I was so impressed with the system, and the value the state placed on education.
I was one of the lucky ones--I got the job I wanted in the location I wanted. I love my job. I work damn hard at it, and I don't have to tell anyone who reads this that I do so for comparatively little pay. I knew that would be the case, but I made that choice. I'm fine with that. Yet, I'm not fine with driving home from work and hearing the citizens of this state tell Ben Merens (or whomever) how there's "no accountability with those overpaid professors", one day, and I'm not fine with arriving home to read about the anti-university sentiment raging once again in the legislature.
It's scary. It's depressing. It makes me wonder if there will continue to be a job here for me, or if the cuts will get to the point where I'm set loose regardless of merit.
Please don't forget that while the Repbulicans may hurt your feelings, Democrat governor Doyle made the biggest cuts to the UW in the history of the system. He's made your job more difficult than Nass ever could. But at least Doyle tells you he likes you.
Yet another anonymous said:
"Please don't forget that while the Repbulicans may hurt your feelings, Democrat governor Doyle made the biggest cuts to the UW in the history of the system. He's made your job more difficult than Nass ever could. But at least Doyle tells you he likes you."
That's a good point. At the same time, I personal find politically motivated disrespect and lack of appreciation FAR more debilitating and demoralizing than lack of adequate funding. After all, funding COSTS somebody somewhere something; it therefore is much more difficult to come up with. But a kind word and a courteous thank-you is free; the cost-benefit ratio is wonderful.
I must have missed the day where Nass and Kreibich were calling for big increases (or smaller cuts) for UWS in the last round of budget discussions.
The nasty rhetoric is combined with an attitude that higher education is expendable. If they truly valued what the UW system has to offer, would they expend so much effort villifying us?
Doyle has hardly been a staunch supporter, but at least he didn't try to make anti-UW sentiment part of his political campaign (as Green did).
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