Biology dept wins teaching award & ignores staff

Looking at Frank Church's Oshkosh in the news feature this morning, I was reminded of my nagging criticism of the way the biology department handled its reception of the award.

It is great for the University to win another Regents teaching award, but what I noticed was that the department did not acknowledge the people who teach a significant percentage of their classes.

I know that most lower level lab sections in the biology department are taught by academic staff. They are the initial contact that most students have with the department and free the t-t faculty to concentrate on the majors. However, these people, both full and part time, apparently don't count in the regents process. At the opening day ceremonies, only the tenure-track folks were invited up on stage (not to mention the picture in the program).

It seemed to me to be in poor taste not to acknowledge a large percentage of your teaching staff when you win a teaching award. (The department even refuses to pay for phones in many staff offices)

Strip faculty of right to share in governance -- argues a Republican from Menomonee Falls

Tony Palmeri saw this in the Madison paper and sent the link to the COLS list.

I am not sure what to make of it, except that the republicans love to assault us at every turn. How dare the faculty have input into the running of their own institutions. It is so un-American!


The Capital Times

UWM chancellor sounds alarm about budget cuts

In contrast to the bland opening day speeches here, the chancellor of UW Milwaukee lashed out at funding cuts and publicly argued that the cuts would hurt both the university and the region. He stressed that the only way to survive is to gain more external funding, i.e. become less of a state institution.


JS Online: UWM chancellor sounds alarm

here is the full text of his remarks.

Katherine Lyall talks of privatization

Former Chancellor of the system suggests there needs to be real debate about the direction that the relationship between the state and the UW system is taking.

Privatizing UW

U.S. Falling behind in education

This story is all over the news today, even getting a small story in the Northwestern.

We are getting a smaller percentage of our kids through high school and college. We used to lead the world in these statistics, but have now dropped to seventh.

It is not too hard to see why. Accessible higher education (and high school) is under assault by the anti-tax movement that dominates our politics. As we all know, students here face high tuition bills, less personal attention, and, I would have to imagine, a harder time completing their degree.

This report just highlights the problems we face--continuing attacks on higher education undermine our ability to create criticial thinking citizens and a work force that knows how to reason and adapt to the changing global economy.

Invest in education! Make sure Wisconsin citizens of the next generation get college degrees and can help keep our state prosperous.

This call, however, falls on deaf ears in Madison.

Inside Higher Ed :: International Erosion

Viscious Stew and Praise for diversity efforts

In a day of opposites, the local paper ran an editorial praising efforts to create a more diverse student body on campus, while Stew Rieckman attacked the bureaucracy of the university in his little rant.

Oshkosh Northwestern - UWO learning right lessons for building minority attendance

Rieckman, a bureaucrat himself if you think about it, attacks both the county and the UW system.

In the second half of his "column," he once again attacks UW for saying that universities provide backup jobs to senior administrators. One Regent says it isn't true, so Stew decides everyone else must be lying. Accusing everyone of arrogance and ignorance, he ought to look in the mirror once in a while.

Rieckman comment

He is really a pretty disagreeable character, and unfortunately, the voice of our local paper.


They also ran an editorial by head of system, Kevin Reily.

Regents support cutting backup jobs, paid leaves

Report on the regents meeting yesterday from the Journal-Sentinel. They want to toughen policies for back-up jobs and internal investigations.


JS Online: Regents support cutting backup jobs, paid leaves

Regents vow to curb backup jobs, leaves

Not surprisingly, the regents announced plans to revisit the issue of backup jobs, leaves, and due process rights.

A few troubling examples drive the whole process--no one has shown any wide-spread abuse of these policies. Before we throw the baby out with the bathwater, shouldn't we know the whole effect of these policies?


JS Online: Regents vow to curb backup jobs, leaves

Enrollment at UWO remains steady with mix

The northwestern ran a story this morning about our enrollment numbers.

The size of the U actually shrunk by a few dozen students (though as I remember this doesn't count interim), and there is slightly more diversity on campus.



Oshkosh Northwestern - Enrollment at UWO remains steady with mix

Chancellor Reilly's statement about back up jobs

JS Online: UW System strives to have its policies match its principles

WSJ on back-up positions

It seems most agree that these positions should be limited to academic faculty. I wonder how the current policy was put in place.

Wisconsin State Journal

Kreibich finds another excuse to assail university system

This guy must be planning to run for state-wide office on the basis of his hatred for the UW system.

JS Online: UW lashed for pricey new payroll system

Return backup contracts at UW to restricted use

There is even a reasonable editorial on the issue of backup contracts.

I hear that the rules come from system and state regulations, not from decisions made on our campus.


Oshkosh Northwestern - Return backup contracts at UW to restricted use

A few students displaced by Katrina make their way to UWO

At least one student from New Orleans is coming to UWO this fall to finish her degree. It is nice that UWO has found a way to help!

Oshkosh Northwestern - Katrina’s students

It is also nice to see the occasional positive story in our local paper!

Opening Day

Yesterday, the Chancellor, Dean and other administrators gave their opening day speeches. It was a strange group of speeches. No one talked about the real problems on campus, the budget cuts.

The chancellor gave perhaps his worst opening day address since I have been hear, almost mumbling through a list of planning initiatives. The speech was pure bureaucratese, devoid of substance or seriousness.

The bright spot is the new dean of student affairs, Petra Roter, who gave an amusing, spririted overview of the positives for students on campus. She completely avoided the parking issue, because it might mean realism would invade the sunny positive speeches.

Dean Zimmerman, in his address to the COLS, could not avoid a bit of negativity in his speech. Several times, he declared he didn't want to talk about the budget, though it was clear he did. Instead, he talked about some of his inititatives to convince a broader public of the need for liberal arts education. As usual, his remarks were cogent and interesting, but emphasized our weakness in self-promotion.

All in all, the event struck me as particularly empty. I was waiting to hear something substantial, but there was nothing but platitudes.

Oshkosh Northwestern - ‘Backup’ jobs for 39 at UWO

Here is the latest bad press for the university. It is hard to believe all of the people who have backup appointments. I always assumed that this was something done only for academic administrators.

I wonder how many people actually take advantage of these offers--there have been reports of a few, so one would suspect that the system isn't as excessive as critics will claim.

Still, it is unfortunate for all of us without backup appointments to watch our school get abused for it.

Mos

Oshkosh Northwestern - ‘Backup’ jobs for 39 at UWO

University issues around Katrina

The crisis that still exists in New Orleans, Mississippi and Louisiana is terrible and we should all do what we can to help.

It is astounding how ineffectual all of the government agencies have been in responding to this disaster. Apparently there had been almost no planning for such an event. Let us hope that someone can get a handle on this over the next weeks, before too many more people die.

In the meantime, here is a link to the Red Cross and a story about how New Orleans universities are trying to deal with Katrina.

Inside Higher Ed :: Finding New Homes or Temporary Homes

New York Times reports study on liberal bias of law professors

New reports of bias in the academy, a study shows that law professors give money to democrats--81% of them.

It is pretty amazing to think about the rhetoric -- making the argument that giving money to the democratic party makes you liberal and biased.

It seems to me that the democratic party has fought many internal battles about their political direction. The right wing media might have called John Kerry a liberal, but he was barely to the left of center at all.

Then they go on to declare that these "liberals" have failed spectacularly to endoctrinate their students, as if this were the secret, conspiratorial goal of all (secretly communist) college professors.

It is quite the story and once again a misrepresentation of what happens in classrooms all across this country.






If the Law Is an Ass, the Law Professor Is a Donkey - New York Times

JS Online: Carroll faculty win union battle

Faculty at Carroll college win legal right to organize a union.

It seems too bad that relations between administrators and faculty often degenerate to this point, but collective action is often the only possible response.

Look at the way the state cavalierly handles issues with us, knowing that we have little recourse to stand up to their machinations.


JS Online: Carroll faculty win union battle

Story from 9/1 on insidehighered.com

UWO budge site

If you are interested in the administration's information about the budget, it is available at the link below.

Budgets

PBS special on higher education

I think most of us missed this PBS special, but there has been discussion on the COLS list about the documentary. Some have suggested that we have a campus-wide showing and discussion.

It seems like that might be a good idea, as we struggle to define ourselves in the face of financial and ideological hostility from Madison.


DECLINING BY DEGREES
May, 2005

When award-winning journalist John Merrow started work on his PBS documentary about the state of American higher education, "Declining by Degrees," he met with noted educators, policy makers, and researchers before he shot the first minute of video. Many of us here at Carnegie spoke with him at that time. Yet, even with this degree of preparation, John admits that he wasn't ready for what he found once he began to visit campuses and started talking to faculty and students.

In this month's Carnegie Perspective, John takes on one of the primary issues raised in the documentary, the decline in the quality of education experienced by many of America's college students. For anyone who cares about the state of the academy, it's a tough piece to read, just as his documentary may be uncomfortable for many to watch. Rest assured that during his frequent periods of residence as a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Foundation, John's role is often that of challenging all of us with equally uncomfortable questions.

By John Merrow

Of all the students I met during nearly two years of working on our PBS documentary about higher education, I continue to be intrigued by a sophomore named Nate. After proudly proclaiming that he was maintaining a 3.4 GPA despite studying less than an hour a night, he wondered aloud, "It's not supposed to be this easy, is it? Shouldn't college be challenging?" Nate was one of the more enlightened students that we interviewed.

He talked about his "boring" classes, including an English class he described as "a brain dump." We sat in on that class. The teacher had assigned students to write parodies of The Road Not Taken, knowing that to do the assignment well, they would have to read and understand Frost's poem. She was meeting students at their level ... and trying to push them to go beyond it, attempting to move them out of their "intellectual comfort zone" and lead them in new directions. Tough job, because Nate and undoubtedly most of his classmates-had obviously NOT read the assignment. Nate had succeeded in high school by figuring out what was going to be on his tests and doing as little as possible. And since that approach also got him into college and was now earning him a solid B average, he saw no reason to change. Ask Nate the purpose of college, and he would probably say something about "getting a good job." The learning part wasn't necessarily what he was paying good money for.

Although we found this English class stimulating, we could see how frustrating it became for the teacher because of the lack of student-directed engagement and motivation. In this case, the students' expectations didn't match the professor's. Teaching becomes a difficult transaction when students expect to get the diploma that they pay for without caring whether they learn anything in the process. The situation is made more difficult because professors begin classroom teaching at a disadvantage. Few have any training in how to teach. We were very impressed by Tom Fleming, a senior lecturer at the University of Arizona, who took advantage of a faculty development course offered by his institution on teaching theory and effective practices. Using technology in a huge lecture hall, he deftly engaged students, allowing very few to merely get by.

College used to be a "sink or swim" environment, but today, either colleges are giving much-needed "swimming lessons"-investing in student success-or they're allowing students to "tread water"- giving decent grades for very little work. In the first case, students actually receive an education; in the second, they merely get a degree. It's all too easy for some students and faculty members to settle into a pattern of behavior that looks like an unspoken "non-aggression treaty," in which professors don't ask much of students and the students don't expect much from their professors (as long as they get A's and B's).

The good news is that many faculty members-those giving swimming lessons-work with energy and imagination to move their students beyond that simplistic "diploma=$$" formula. The relationship between Tom Fleming and his students falls into this category. Even more heartening is the fact that many students intuitively know that they're being denied an education and seek out campus experiences that give them what they need. But that 20 or so percent out there treading water are shortchanging themselves and future employers who think that a college degree indicates achievement as well as persistence. And those professors who find it more comfortable to demand little of their students are denied the satisfaction that good teaching affords.

The shift in the expectations of students and faculty members began around the time that America learned that college graduates made more money than high school graduates-as much as a million dollars more over their working lives. The mantra became, "If you want an education, then you pay for it." The old social contract-the idea that education of individuals is a public good and therefore should in part be publicly financed-is on life support and barely breathing. Instead, "Education Pays" is proclaimed on billboards around Kentucky, encouraging kids to go to college just to nail down that good job.

Kids arrive on campus determined to major in "business" and often remain impervious to the efforts of their professors to expose them to new ideas and new information. Our student financial aid system supports the "investment in me" approach by making less money available in the form of grants to needy students, and more in the form of loans to be paid back as a return on the individual's investment in themselves. The message our kids get is that they're not students; they're consumers. And if they're willing to settle for "purchasing" a degree that means nothing in terms of educational achievement, it's their right. It's their investment. In this environment, professors, colleges, and universities are forced into giving the customers what they want, not necessarily what they should want.

I admire students who squeeze as much as they can from the college experience, and I salute the teachers who dedicate their energies to seeing students succeed. Too much is left to chance, however, and too many lives are blighted by our national indifference to what is actually happening on our campuses during the years between admission and graduation. What we found is not the equivalent of a few potholes on an otherwise passable highway. Serious attention must be paid at a national level. Other countries are not standing still. Those that have not surpassed us already in educational attainment levels are clearly visible in the rear-view mirror.

...........................................................................

John Merrow, president of Learning Matters Inc. and a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Foundation, produced the documentary "Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk," which will air on PBS stations Thursday, June 23. Check your local listings for exact times. To learn more, go to http://www.decliningbydegrees.org/.

Carnegie Perspectives is a series of commentaries that explore different ways to think about educational issues. These pieces are presented with the hope that they contribute to the conversation. You can respond directly to the author at CarnegiePresident@carnegiefoundation.org or you can join a public discussion at Carnegie Conversations.

A Gag on Public Faculty?

The AAUP filed a brief in this case involving some public officials -- it has interesting implications involving the ability of public employee's to speak without retribution.



Inside Higher Ed :: A Gag on Public Faculty?

Dropping out of the Academy

This is a nice first-hand account of why a lit professor left academia.

Much of what she has to say is relevant to the problems that we face here at UWO -- mixed messages, intrusive administration, pay issues. She had the option of simply quitting, so she did. . .

Here is the commentary.

UWO the Berkeley of the Midwest!

I noticed this blog today. It is written by Jared Longsine, an Oshkosher, who denounces UWO as the Berkeley of the Midwest.

Apparently, he has never been to Berkeley, because most of us would love it if UWO had that reputation. It is one of the top universities in the country, with great academics from humanities to physics.

I know--he claims that all this doesn't matter, because there aren't enough fundamentalists on campus--but Oshkosh would be better off if our university had the resources and national stature that Berkeley has!

Washington Monthly alternative rating guide

This is an interesting counter to U.S. News and World Report rankings. The magazine argues that there are important factors left out of the other survery and tried to put together their own.

They ask what "colleges are doing for the country." and come up with a list that gives big land-grant universities more credit.

"The Washington Monthly College Guide " by The Editors

More bad UW press -- Madison is #1 party school

I am sure most of you have seen the stories about Madison taking over from UC-Boulder as the #1 party school as chosen by some magazine. (Here is the JSOnline story)

You can see one of our own student's glorification of drinking here at Oshkosh at this link: Sloshkosh.com

It is hard to know what to say about all of these stories, but I suppose it is not surprising that the students don't take education seriously when so many of those in charge of our state politics belittle it all the time.

Lareau letter called for cancelling subscription

Tony Palmeri discovered that Al Lareau's letter included a line calling for readers to cancel their subscription in protest. Not surprisingly, the Northwestern censored that line. He also posted that information in a comment below.

One of the more striking facets of writing this blog is noticing that it often turns into criticism of our local newspaper. Their editorial line is consistently anti-intellectual and specifically anti-university, unless it has to do with the sports program.

I would have hoped that our local newspaper would be supportive of one of the biggest employers in town and one that generates or supports much of the creative life of the community. Instead, Rieckman and his minions continually demonize us.

Letter to the editor today: Rieckman is hate-mongering

The Northwestern ran a letter to the editor today, on Rieckman's column of 2 weeks ago (I wonder how long ago the letter was received).

Alan Lareau emphasizes the divisive nature of the editor's nastiness.

At this link

Oshkosh Northwestern - College tosses paper

Here is the Northwestern Story on the lack of paper syllabi on campus. Frank Church provided this link in his summary of stories about the university in the press.

Oshkosh Northwestern - College tosses paper

Inside Higher Ed :: The End of the Paper Syllabus

We made this national site, so check out their reporting. . .


Inside Higher Ed :: The End of the Paper Syllabus

Paging Dr. Dahmer: Responses to UW job security column

The northwestern published a few letters in response to Rieckman's column while I was out of town, but here is the link.

Many Going to College Are Not Ready, Report Says

You have to register to read this story, but ACT scores suggest that only 21% of high school students who took the exam were ready for college in all four areas that are tested.

51% in reading
26% in science
41% in math
68% in English

The estimate is based on the ACT's correlation between test scores and a 70% chance of getting a C in college courses.

That is quite a figure and something to ponder as we get ready to start a new year. If you skim off those who go to Madison, one would have to guess that an absolute majority of our students fall into the "unready" category.



Many Going to College Arse Not Ready, Report Says - New York Times

Northwestern buries criticism of Rieckman

As a side note, two editions of the paper have been published, neither containing Zimmerman's or Wong's comments on the ravings of the paper's editor.

The next attack on state employees: Decent retirement benefits unacceptable!

This story came from the AP and appeared in papers all over the state (I assume.)

Although it impacts all state employees, it is clearly a big issue for faculty in the UW system. Our pay is already low in comparison with other systems and universities, and legislators are dying to cut our pay even more.

I can already see the battle lines in the next budget--"Lets cut the retirement pay of overpaid college professors--that will surely drive out the liberals!" the Republicans will cry.

God forbid that Wisconsin take care of its state workers in retirement!



State's pension among best

Another cushy deal for administrator in Milwaukee

This story will show up across the state and cause us more trouble.

Nothing like overpaying and coddling the administration to make the legislature unhappy and hurt the rest of us.


JS Online: UWM leader's pal gets cushy job, dandy digs

Northwestern's response to Zimmerman & Wong's letters (unacknowledged)

The Northwestern ran this editorial today, which seems to be in some ways a more measured commentary after Rieckman's rant yesterday.

It acknowledges that there are subtleties in the legal cases before the UW system, but repeats the myth of vacation pay for faculty members.

As I suggested yesterday, they continue to misunderstand higher education, claiming it is just like the "private sector."

They end by calling for an independent investigation--will in make the critics happy when they report that every university in the country sets things up in a similar way? I doubt it.


Summer to forget doesn’t have to be UW System legacy

Textbook prices

The wisconsin state journal is running an article about the inflated prices of college textbooks.

We all know this is a big problem, as publishers battle the used book market and fight to keep their margins large enough to satisfy wall street.


Textbook costs needn't be so high, study says

Here is a link to a longer version of the same report at insidehighered.com

A better analogy for Rieckman's column.

Imagine a hypothetical "Professor Rieckman" who published an article in the local newspaper attacking the integrity and operations of UWO. Because he is officially allowed to write freely,a high ranking administrator orders an investigation into the personal habits of "professor Rieckman".

After a few days, the university announces that "Professor Rieckman" has been fired for having illegal copies of software on his university computer. Campus security officers arrive at his office to immediately escort him off campus. Luckily for the administrator, the state legislature had recently removed all rights to due process or appeal from university employees. "Rieckman" is forced to move out of state and back in with his parents.

"Professor Rieckman" finds himself unemployed and the university critic has been silenced. "Rieckman's" computer program, which turned out to be shareware left on the computer for longer than the license agreement allowed, gave the administration an easy path to free the campus of a critic.

Is this really how our columnist envisions the unversity working? Wisconsin would be better off without critical inquiry and questioning? The state and country would be better if no one possessed any legal rights and operated completely at the whim of their superiors?

Those of us "drawing a paycheck from UW system" believe that free inquiry and criticism need to be protected by due process rights. If the system works a bit slowly from time to time, that is a price worth paying. It is very strange that a journalist, of all people, would not agree.

K.C. Wong weighs in on the misrepresentations in Rieckman's column

K.C. does a good job explaining the legal issues at hand, which Rieckman completely ignored:

Response to “bar” talks

On 8/24/05 Rieckman called for the immediate dismissal of three convicted tenured UW professors. There are two conclusions one can draw from such “bar” – intoxicated and intoxicating - talks:

First, the author knows very little about the facts:
The column is 588 words long. 438 words or 74.5% of the content was devoted to an imaginative case of Professor Jeffrey Dahmer, which was intended to inflame more so than inform.

The three cases under discussion came to 90 words or 15.03% of the column; hardly enough for a comprehensive and informed, much less intelligent and serious discussion of the issues involved, e.g. should tenured professors be fired for all criminal convictions, e.g. civil disobedience? should ex-convicts be hired as professors, i.e. after reform?

Second, the author knows very little about the law:
In one case, Steven Clark was convicted of stalking and serving a Huber sentence. This meant that the court has decided that Clark was of no danger to the community or his victim. More significantly, Clark was given a chance to reform himself and to contribute to the society. Should the university not support our judicial process?

In another case, Lewis Cohen, pleaded no contest to sexual communication with a minor. He was placed on two years of probation. Legally speaking, pleading no contest (nolo con•ten•de•re) is not an admission of guilt, i.e. it does not bar future contestation of the case, as in administrative (tenure) proceedings. Is Cohen not entitled to assert his rights and contest his case in the time and manner he saw fit?

In the last case, Roberto Coronado was convicted on 8/5/05 for sexually assaulting three young girls. The university was instating proceeding to fire him. Should the university not be given sufficient time to process his dismissal, in order to avoid future liability?

But for the serious implications resulting, such “bar” talks deserve no comments!

Kam C. Wong, J.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Criminal Justice
University of Wisconsin (Oshkosh)

Michael Zimmerman's letter to the editor

The Dean of COLS wrote a letter to the editor last night:

To the Editor,


Stew Rieckman embodies and enhances the Northwestern’s frequent lack of respect for and understanding of the University of Wisconsin and its employees in Sunday’s column. In case you missed it, he asked, inflammatorily, what would have happened if serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer had been a faculty member. He answers his rhetorically suspect question by concluding that the University would have done nothing. He concludes his rant by informing readers that if they’re “not outraged,” they’re “probably drawing a paycheck from UW system.”


Rieckman’s upset that tenured faculty members who break the law aren’t summarily fired. He ignores two critical points. First, depending on the circumstances, faculty members can be placed on unpaid leaves while legal battles are fought. Second, rules and regulations have been established on every campus for dealing with issues of this sort. Those rules and regulations have to be congruent with rules established by the UW Board of Regents and by the state legislature. Implementation of those rules has to be scrupulously fair and able to withstand review by the state’s Employment Relations Commission as well as state and federal courts.


Rieckman implies that a better policy would be to fire first and worry about legal details later. He mocks UW System for creating a system that includes “due process.” His system might be more comforting to those looking for instant “justice,” but it’s likely to lead to chaos. And, I might add, the concept of “due process” is embodied in the US Constitution.


Finally, it would be nice if Rieckman got the “facts” embedded in his fictional account correct. He says “Professor” Dahmer collected “three months accrued vacation pay.” Sorry, Mr. Rieckman, but unlike newspaper editors, professors do not earn paid vacations.


I’ll be looking for his apology to the hard-working UW faculty across the state.


Michael Zimmerman
Dean, College of Letters and Science
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

Stew Rieckman launches personal assault on professoriat

The editor of the Northwestern, Stew Rieckman attacked university professors in his column yesterday. Using a specious analogy of a hypothetical professor (Jeffrey) Dahmer, he accused the university system of protecting criminals under the guise of due process.

He ended the column by claiming that anyone who believed in work-place rights must "drawing a paycheck from UW systemy." It makes you wonder what planet this guy is from.

Here is the link:
I am going to post two responses that have already come to the COLS list last night and this morning.

New Option for Student Shoppers: E-Books

How about this? We are getting rid of paper syllabi, why not ditch the paper all together and start in with e-books?

The textbook market is an incredibly awful racket, with updates coming at unnecessarily frequent intervals. The companies charge extremely high prices, but I am not sure much of the cost is actually in the paper.

This will give the students an even better chance to make excuses--"my book crashed last night before the test. . ."

Inside Higher Ed :: New Option for Student Shoppers: E-Books

JS Online: Editorial

The Journal Sentinal editorializes on their story of the day before:



Taking job security too far

The Capital Times Editorial

The Cap Times Editorial writers weigh in on the latest bad press for the UW system:



Tenure in Jail

The latest university "scandal"

Read about republican "outrage" over professors receiving before they are fired. . . .



JS Online: UW-Madison keeps jailed professors on payroll

New Madison Transfer Program

UW Madison is trying a new transfer program, with closer ties between it and the community college where students will be taking their first years' classes.

I imagine the whole system, including Oshkosh, will be doing something like this in the next few years if it works.


Wisconsin State Journal

Editorial against Schneider/Kreibich bill

The State-Journal criticized Marlin Schneider today for his micromanaging of the UW system. They point out that he is on his crusade because he got a parking ticket helping his daughter move in. . .



Wisconsin State Journal

The Faculty Salary Game

Here is an interesting article about the differences in faculty pay between univesities and why it happens.

Inside Higher Ed :: The Faculty Salary Game

What Professors think about the Internet

From the Chronicle of Higher Education: Here is the summary of a large survey of college professors on the internet. I think I would have answered the questions in much the same way.

The internet has helped with student communication, but students are less able to use the library and particularly susceptable to plagiarizing essays. I have several each semester that I catch who have cut and paste off some website.

There also seems to be very little reflection on the problems of unmediated information out there on the web. They do not take a critical eye to what they find, tending to accept it as correct and true.

As we move courses away from the tradtional, paper-based world, we have to think more about how we teach students to interpret what they find electronically. We want them to treat our syllabi as gospel, but how can we stress that this is not true of most of what they find out there?


Professors Give Mixed Reviews of Internet's Educational Impact


By JEFFREY R. YOUNG

Although campus computing is often touted as aiding education, many professors say the Internet has actually hampered students' academic performance.

When asked whether the Internet has changed the quality of student work, 42 percent of professors in a recent survey said they had seen a decline, while only 22 percent said they had seen improvement. But a majority of participating professors, 67 percent, said the Internet had improved their communication with students.

The nationwide survey, of 2,316 faculty members, was conducted in May 2004 by Steve Jones, a professor of communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and Camille Johnson-Yale, a graduate student in communication at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The researchers have been presenting highlights of their findings at academic conferences, and they have submitted a report on the survey to a peer-reviewed scholarly journal.

"What the Internet has done, judging by this survey, is increased the amount of communication and in some ways it's improved the quality of communication," Mr. Jones said in an interview. "But that, in and of itself, doesn't necessarily translate into increases or improvements in learning."

Student plagiarism emerged as a key concern of professors. Forty-four percent agreed that plagiarism had increased in their students' work since the Internet has emerged, while 23 percent disagreed and 33 percent were undecided.

A surprising number of the professors surveyed, 74 percent, said they were using the Internet or other high-tech tools to detect plagiarism.

Mr. Jones said he was not surprised to see professors reporting some negative effects of technology.

"The thing that I hear from faculty colleagues is that there's plagiarism and cheating going on over the Internet and that there's a worsening in the quality of students' writing," he said. "I hear complaints more often than I hear any kind of positive comments about how the Internet has affected students' work."

G. David Pollick, president of Birmingham-Southern College, said in an interview that the Internet and computer tools might be dumbing down student writing.

"The style of writing is changing -- it's becoming conditioned by models and forms," he said. Grammar-checker features of word processors, for instance, often mark flowery phrases as mistakes and suggest bland alternatives, he said. "You start to lose a lot of artistic and aesthetic quality."

"It increasingly makes the language a dead language instead of a live language," he added. "If a computer model starts to become the form of communication, then what you end up with is a language that is dying instead of one that gets richer and richer through use."

Top Universities Hire their Own

Here is a change of pace. We have been obsessing about our own budget for the last few months, but this is an interesting study of who gets the jobs in academia.

Academia, just like every other part of life, runs on who you know more than what you know. This study just stands to confirm that. . .

Inside Higher Ed :: Pecking Order

Professor undercover as an undergraduate

Gerry Grzyb posted this to the university list. It is a cute look at the behavior of undergraduates through the eyes of their professor.

village voice > arts > Undercover Mother

Marlin Schneider is Back

Marlin Schneider is making news again with his bill trying to micromanage book choices and advising at Wisconsin Colleges.

If you remember, he proposed the same thing last year. Dean Zimmerman invited him to campus to discuss the issue. Schneider promised to come several times and then backed out at the last minute.

I doubt there is much to worry about, but here is the story from the Lacrosse paper.


Lawmaker calls for UW ‘student bill of rights'

Thanks to Brian Bain for posting this to the university discussion list.

Cute picture over at a local site

ABV News has a cute picture of a kid holding a sign asking for affordable tuition. I don't know the context, but I liked the shot.

Enrollments are climbing--How will Wisconsin deal with it?

I have not been very consistant at the blogging thing since I returned from my trip. Most of the issues that got me started have slowed, but there are still big questions about the directions of higher ed in our state.

Here is a profile of the increasing number of college students in the US. The percentage of students at 4-year schools continue to grow, though the percentage at public schools declined slightly. I suppose this is what the legislature envisions--if they keep cutting funds for us and raising tuition, we will all be transformed into private schools.



Inside Higher Ed :: College Enrollments Continue to Swell

Back-up appointments stopped

You may have seen this in the news: administrators will not be give back-up appointments until the furor over them has died down abit.



UW System News

No Paper Syllabi

Our listserv has been abuzz with discussion about the new order from the Dean that we are no longer to give out paper syllabi in our classes.

Instead, we are supposed to post the information on D2L and e-mail the students to inform them of the location.

This is done in the name of cost-savings, as the College will no longer have to bear the expense of producing these documents.

There are too many comments for me to republish here, but suffice it to say there has been prolonged discussion. I count about 27 postings related to the topic.

Most are concerned that not having paper copies of the syllabus causes 2 major problems. First, the syllabus can be seen as something close to a contract between the instructor and the student. Without a paper copy, it leaves this contract more open to misinterpretation and allows students to claim that they never knew.

Second, it disrupts the beginning of class. On that first day, not all students will have checked their e-mail or perused the electronic syllabus. The possibility exists that there will be continuing confusion as students join the class and discover the syllabus after that initial class period.

I sympathize with both these concerns. I think that having paper copies of the syllaubs placed in students hands lets them concretely visualize the requirements and expectations for the course. I also often include handouts that will be used later in the semester in with the syllabus. Directing students back to the website is not nearly as efficient use of my time as waving the paper they all have in front of them.

It also seems likely that the expense of syllabus printing will simply be shifted from our budget to the more expensive laser writers in the library and computer clusters. I suppose this was the goal of the Dean, but it doesn't really help the overall budget of our institution.

I am generally a believer in technology in the classroom, but decisions made for economic and not pedagogical reasons seem suspect to me.

Pay raises for faculty?

The JCOER apparently voted for a 5% pay raise over the next two years.

Also, they voted to freeze pay for administrators.

One has to wonder about the whole budgeting process. Shouldn't this have been part of everything that has been going on over the last few months?

It would be nice if this comes to pass. . .

News stories about the UW vetos

The lt. governor's announcements here yesterday made the Northwestern:

Here is the story


The Journal Sentinal ran a longer story this morning about the vetos yesterday:

JS Online: UW System to gain $50 million with Doyle budget vetoes


The Wisconsin State Journal story is here

Kevin Reilly's statement about the veto

Not surprisingly, the President of the UW System praised Doyle for vetoing the Senate's additional cuts.

UW System News

Doyle's Memo about vetoing some of the cuts

It is nice to see Doyle giving at least some lip-service to protecting the UW system.

WisPolitics.com

Doyle stops worst republican savaging of UW budget

The Capital Times is reporting that Doyle will veto the late-night cuts made by the senate. This is what the Lt. Governor is going to talk about this afternoon.

The Capital Times

The Journal Sentinal reports that he did veto the changes this morning.

Here is their story.

Lawmaker seeks ban on UW resignation payoffs

More Republican attacks on system: Kreibich likes to make the news everyday by denouncing higher education in Wisconsin. I suppose he hopes that if he can drive all the good professors out of the state, he'll be able to kill the university system all together. . . .

JS Online: Lawmaker seeks ban on UW resignation payoffs

Lt Governor on campus to announce something about UW budget -- 1 PM tomorrow

To the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh community


Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton will be on the UW-Oshkosh campus tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. as part of a series of budget announcements relating to the UW System. The campus community is invited to attend.

TIME: 1 p.m.

WHERE: UW-Oshkosh
Reeve Memorial Union
Room 227 C
748 Algoma Blvd.
Oshkosh, WI

Chancellor Wells on local cable

This week's Oshkosh Cable Access Television program "Eye on Oshkosh" features an interview with Chancellor Wells. The program can be seen tonight (Monday) in Oshkosh on channel 2 at 7 p.m., Thursday at 1 p.m., and Saturday at 6 p.m. Individuals living in Algoma, Black Wolf, Nekimi, or Omro can find program times here:

Here is an even better story about dissolving the system!

Check out this link: maybe we'll be talking about this next budget cycle!

WisPolitics.com

UW-Milwaukee granted four former administrators paid leave

This story was excerpted in the Northwestern today, and I suspect across the entire state. Just what we needed: more bad press. Unfortunately, it makes great fodder for whipping the entire system . .

I'm sure there is at least one example on every campus across the nation, but these stories seriously hurt our chances of reducing the next round of vicious cuts.

AP Wire | 07/17/2005 | UW-Milwaukee granted four former administrators paid leave

State Rep. Nass continues to assail UW system with public records request

Wisconsin State Journal

Sara Stichert comments:

You're right that the legislature needs to get this message. But they need to hear it from every one of us (not just the Chancellor of the University), right down to the custodians. It makes no sense to just put stuff like this out on a discussion list when we could be talking to our legislator about it if we are concerned.

However, the time to talk to them about it should have been months ago, while they were still working on the state budget, and therefore our input would have had some impact. I'm not saying to not talk to them about it now--it should be an ongoing process. However, there's not much to be done about it now that the bill is on the Governor's desk. Maybe you could call the Governor's office if you are really concerned.

If you do decide to talk to the Oshkosh area state senate and assembly reps, a word of advice: Be polite or they will stop listening to you.

Sara L. Stichert
Music Library and Art Slide Library
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

Joe Heim at Lacrosse asks for letters against paying for pensions

Jim Simmons passed along this email

All,


Please take Joe Heim's advise (see below) but do not use your office computers or university stationary when you contact the Governor or your legislators.


Jim



Date: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 16:07:52 -0500
From: Joe Heim
Subject: 1.5 Pension Contribution


>To: Faculty and Instructional Academic Staff
From: Joe Heim, UW-La Crosse Faculty Representative


As part of my duties as Faculty Representative, I believe that the faculty need to see this as soon as possible.


We've heard that the Governor's office is not hearing from folks about
the importance of a veto of the 1.5% pension contribution when pay plan is expected to be about 2% per year. You may wish to communicate the impact that this would have on recruitment and retention of valuable faculty and staff. Communications should not be by state e-mail. A call to the Governor's office 608-266-1212 would be helpful or notes on personal stationery. These communications are counted and reported to the Governor and need to happen ASAP. Thank you.


The Governor's address is:


Governor James Doyle
Office of the Governor
115 East State Capitol
Madison, Wi. 53702





Joseph P. Heim
Department of Political Science/Public Administration
University of Wisconsin-La Crosse
La Crosse, WI 54601
Office Phone: (608) 785-6640
FAX: (608) 785-8486



--
James R. Simmons, Chair
Political Science Department
University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh

Bill Wresch responds to Tom Lammer's comments

Let's go a bit easy, folks. Where is the evidence that education is getting worse? Do we have any evidence that students are learning less now than five years ago, or that they will learn less in the next two years? None of us like having our budgets cut, but without data to support our position, we are just presenting our opinions -- opinions the legislature feels very comfortable ignoring. If someone wants to start defining educational "quality," maybe we can begin to create an argument that has some chance of succeeding.

Tom responds to Roxana

That is a valid concern. But we might turn it around and ask whether we ARE doing The Right Thing by allowing budgetary problems to compromise the education they receive. You are right that they count on us to do the right thing. We owe it to them to do what we think is best for THEM. Is it fair to a student to admit them to the university if we know that we will only be able to give them a minimal education? It would be more fair, I think, to turn them away and let them look elsewhere than to take them in and then neglect them.

The legislature needs to understand that if you won't buy the carpenter nails, you can scarcely blame *him* for not nailing boards together.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)

Roxana Huebscher adds her comments:

Thomas, What a logical, practical idea. Why wouldn't it work?
Random thoughts:
Could they possibly fire all of us? or at least those in admin? There is a fear factor, of course. And the idea that some cuts might work out well.
But then there also are rights (I'm talking rights, not the privilege of gaining an education) for young people, who trust that adults are making right decisions about their lives, including quality in education. Even the 'older' grad students I teach place a tremendous amount of trust in me, trust that I know what I am doing. So not only quality but trust will go away when we are not doing what we know is right, and more importantly, when we are not being what we need to be. I like the 'lean' principle but malnutrition is another matter.

Roxana Huebscher, PhD, FNPC, HNC
Professor and Interim Graduate Program Director
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh College of Nursing

COLS list discussion inspired by the Chancellor's letter, pt. I

Tom Lammers wrote:

I agree that this is an important message to convey, and we all should do so when the opportunity arises.

I do not pretend to understand fully how things operate at the upper levels of this university and the UW System, and I am certainly woefully ignorant about state government's inner workings. So take this as a thought that may be built on sand rather than a solid foundation.

Will anyone in state government pay any attention to the "quality" argument as long as we continue to provide access? I mean, they are essentially getting what they want. We are trying to convince them they should want more, but is that the best approach? Would it not be more fruitful to NOT let them get what they want? Could we not say, "So, this is how much money you are willing to provide to us? Okay, for that money we can handle 8,000 students next year. The other 3,000 can go fish."

I would think our most powerful allies in all this would be inconvenienced students and their parents. As long as it's chancellors and regents arguing the case, legislators can dismiss us as elitist intellectuals out of touch with the real world. But we might get somewhere if everyday constituents begin to buttonhole their state reps, shouting, "How come I'm paying five and six year's tuition for my kid to go to college? Why can't he get the classes he needs to graduate in four?"

Now, there are probably all sorts of practical exigencies and unforeseen consequences that make this idea impossible. But I just can't help but thing that the legislature might be a little more willing to bargain if they weren't getting what they want.


Thomas G. Lammers, Ph.D.

Associate Professor and Curator of the Herbarium (OSH)

Chancellor's Comments about the Budget meeting

Chancellor Wells send this out to the university community a few days ago. In it, he discusses his perceptions of the regents meeting:


The purpose of this memo is to provide the campus community with highlights of the Board of Regents’ meeting and their Question and Answer session with Governor Doyle on 7 July 2005 and with a strategy to meet the additional budget cuts and provisions contained in the Legislature’s revised budget now sitting on the Governor’s desk.

In our joint presentation to the Board of Regents at their meeting last Thursday, UW Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard explained the cost to his campus community of coping with recent major cut backs in funding, and I spelled out with brutal frankness the dire consequences the additional cuts and provisions contained in the Legislature’s budget would have for faculty, staff and students at UW Oshkosh. In addition to providing insight into the damaging consequences of these kinds of cuts for our campuses, our presentations delivered information that is representative of the kinds of costs all UW institutions will bear if these cuts are not vetoed by Governor Doyle.

After hearing details of the disastrous impact additional budget reductions would have on our campuses, the Regents voted 10-6 to approve an operating budget that “reflects cuts and reallocations required by the state, as well as increased costs for fringe benefits, debt service and utilities. It also includes a 2 percent pay plan recommendation, proposed by the Office of State Employment Relations in May. . . a tuition increase of 6.9 percent for resident undergraduate students. . . room-and-board rate increases averaging 5 percent, and segregated-fee rate increases averaging 8.8 percent at the 13 four-year campuses.” A summary of deliberations, discussions and outcomes of the BOR meeting is available at http://www.wisconsin.edu/news/2005/r050707b.htmas

Many Regents and Chancellors thanked us for detailing how our respective campus communities were dealing with the strain of large budget cuts. They also expressed their perturbation over the impending consequences of further large funding cuts added by the legislature, and they vowed to help convince the Governor to restore funding with his veto pen.

At the Question and Answer session with the Governor, three priorities emerged.

1) The Chancellors and Regents expressed serious concerns over the need for more financial aid for students, and I am pleased to report that Governor Doyle assured us he would work hard to soften the impact for students of the tuition and rate increases.

2) The Chancellors and Regents voiced grave misgivings over the damage that the $34 million being withheld at the request of the Senate would inflict on our campuses, and I am happy to report that Governor Doyle said he will likely be able to restore the $34 million. If the Governor accomplishes this, then the dire consequences outlined in my BOR presentation, such as the loss of 6,600 seats and the layoff of 60 teaching staff, will not be necessary. A problem remains, however, in that we would still need to prepare for the increased cuts added by the Joint Finance Committee and approved by the Legislature. The estimated share for UW Oshkosh over the biennium is $1,066,457 of which $666,000 needs to be identified in the 2005-06 budget.

Fortunately, in our initial budget planning exercise for the $2.6 million cut, we set aside $200,000 for unanticipated cuts. Furthermore, we will cut minimally an additional $100,000 in administrative costs through reassignments and reorganization and by canceling two searches -- those for the Associate Vice Chancellor for Lifelong Learning and Community Engagement and for the Associate Vice Chancellor for Enrollment and Information Services. Thus, through these actions we will have met $300,000 of the $666,000 cut. The remaining $366,000 cuts for this academic year as well as those related to the 2006-07 academic year will be identified through our normal process, and as usual, your input will be requested.

3) Finally, the Chancellors explained the importance of removing the 1.5% employee contribution to the pension fund, and I want you to know that while Governor Doyle said he intends to veto it, he has a challenge to find the necessary funding.

I cannot stress how crucial it is to convince Governor Doyle that wide-spread and strong support exists beyond that voiced by the Chancellors and Regents for these vetoes. I encourage you to share your concerns and priorities, especially over the 1.5% employee contribution to the pension fund, with the Governor’s office. Should you decide to call or write, please abide by University policy and do so as a private citizen.

I fully understand the demoralizing impact of frankly discussing highly undesirable consequences, such as layoffs and major reductions in the number of seats available, and I would like to point out that last week such candor served us well by engendering a greater sense of urgency. I deeply appreciate your patience, cooperation and understanding as we negotiate these difficult times.

While the state is defining access as keeping seats in classrooms, which we have done, it has significantly diminished the quality of access for each seat by reducing support for supplies, equipment, field trips and other essential resources. I believe that access without quality is no access at all and that quality without access is simply self serving especially for a public university. This is a message that I constantly and consistently share with elected officials and external stakeholders. We must maximize access without eroding quality for our students.

Here is the Chancellor's document about the Senate cuts

I found this in my e-mail from last week. Here are even more details about the Senate cuts for us.

Impact of Potential Additional Budget Reductions
University of Wisconsin Oshkosh*

• Impact on UW Oshkosh from the Governor’s Budget is $2.6 million cut biennially.

• Agreed to keep students in the classroom by minimizing the impact on instruction.

• The Joint Finance and Senate version result in an additional $2.7 million reduction for UW Oshkosh.

• The 2005-06 impact is approximately an additional $1.4 million cut in GPR. Additionally, up to $500,000 of tuition revenue would be lost due to enrollment losses.

• 80% or $1.5 million of the reduction will impact instruction directly.

• Students have been enrolled and faculty/teaching academic staff are under contract: very little can be done for the Fall semester.

• Conservatively, the impact of cutting $1.5 million from the instruction budget in the Spring semester is a loss of 6,600 seats in the classroom.

• A reduction of 6,600 seats would be accomplished primarily by freezing Spring enrollments, including transfers from 2 year colleges, increasing class size, and decreasing per student average credit load for our 11,000 students.

• Layoff notices, where possible, would have to be issued to approximately 60 teaching staff for the Spring semester alone.

• The 2005-06 impact will continue into the 2006-07 academic year namely through decreased enrollments, increased time to degree, increased cost to students, thereby increasing debt load upon graduation

*This assumes no return of the $34 million Senate budget reduction.

Regents approve budget

The regents approved the budget for the system last week. It surely was a depressing meeting for everyone involved. They approved a huge tuition increase and, of course, all sorts of reductions.

Here is a succinct summary from the Regents president:

“I think we’ve been dealt a cruel hand again by people with other priorities."


Here is what may happen to UWO:

Chancellor Wells said that while past cuts to the UW System budget have not affected instruction at UW-Oshkosh, 80 percent of the Legislature’s most recent reductions will impact it directly, resulting in lost revenue from tuition and fees, increased class sizes and the potential layoffs of some 60 teaching staff in the Spring semester.

The percentage of support from the state dropped from 25.5% to 24%.


Here is the link for the entire press release

No Response to Faculty Petition

Bill Mode reminds us that the petition that started this blog has yet to be answered by the administration, and they are promising to cut even more from the instructional budget:

Dear COLS Faculty Colleagues,


Recently at the COLS Faculty Committee meeting I asked the committee members if anyone had received a response from the Chancellor to the petition submitted by University faculty and staff this spring asking the Administration to reconsider the way budget cuts were made across the University (http://www.uwosh.edu/faculty_staff/yackel/petition/petition.pdf). No one has received a formal response to the petition. The petition indicated that instructional budgets had been cut disproportionately compared to non-instructional areas. The email that we all received from the Chancelor July 7 suggests that the Administration maintains its position that the budget cuts thus far have protected instruction rather than cutting it disproportionately:
"As you know we will have over the 2003-05 and 2005-07 biennia cut $9.3 million out of areas other than direct instruction. If the Governor does not veto the additional $2.7 million cuts, then we will not be able to continue to protect direct instruction."
Clearly the Administration believes it has protected instructional budgets, an assertion that was questioned by the petition and by many at the information meeting.
The following sentence in the Chancellor's attachment to the July 7 email, entitled "Impact of Potential Additional Budget Reductions University of Wisconsin Oshkosh," reveals the Administration's intention to cut instruction much more deeply than other areas: "80% or $1.5 million of the reduction will impact instruction directly." Such a disproportionately deep cut to instruction seems imprudent, potentially disastrous. It is discouraging to realize that the Administration places such a low value on our instructional mission. Let us hope that such cuts will not materialize.


Bill Mode



William N. Mode
Professor and Chair
Department of Geology

It Just Gets Worse

Wow! I never thought things would take such a turn for the worse while I was out of town.

The legislature decided to cut even more from the system, apparently in response to the Paul Barrows case.

I have really just started to read some of the older news stories about what has happened.

I just have to say that it is hard to believe that anyone finds it surprising that Universities vote overwhelmingly against Republicans. Who in their right mind would vote for a party that has chosen to make attacks on education one of their priorities? How could it be any clearer when they decide to cut public education and encourage home-schooling through tax policy?

Reilly's statement about the Senate cuts

UW System News

Republicans are traitors to UW

The Capital Times

Blog break

I will be out of the reach of Wisconsin educational politics for the next few weeks, so there will be a brief hiatus in my blogging. . . .

I'll take up the task again when I return.

An Angry Parent in the Northwestern

As Brian Bain noted in his comment below, the Northwestern published a letter by a parent, decrying the cuts to the UW system. It was nice to see. We'll never know if there have been additional letters to that effect . . . .

See the second letter down.

Oshkosh Northwestern - Professor’s views not newsworthy

Why the UW is a 98-pound weakling

Try this editorial about the failure of the UWS to find political support in the state. . .

FightingBob.com: GuestBlog

Wisconsin State Journal: Finding more for UW is a must

Another pro-education editorial board down in Madison:

Wisconsin State Journal

Journal-Sentinal: Editorial: Are they dismantling UW?

Compare the editorial position of the Journal Sentinal with Stew Rieckman's comments.

JS Online: Editorial: Are they dismantling UW?

Wisconsin public radio covers the UW cuts

Ben Meren's show today
featured Louis Molepske, Democratic State Representative from Stevens Point. He is a member of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities.

and

Joy Cardin talked with Chancellor Reily, at this link.

I haven't listened yet, myself, but I'm sure it was better discussion than you can find in local print media.

Oshkosh Northwestern -Rieckman decides ridicule is right response to his newspaper's stupidity

As Stew Rieckman usually does in his Sunday column, he ignores the subtantive complaints about the paper's news coverage and attempts to make fun of his opponents.

You can see his two shots at UWO in his column, linked below, along with his attempt at humor on other topics of the day.

You never realize quite how bad news coverage is until it is you that is being covered. Then you realize that the Northwestern's coverage is full of crap. . .

Oshkosh Northwestern - Don’t jump to conclusions but you can learn much from newspapers

Oshkosh Northwestern - Politics are polarizing UW budget

Just a quick update. This is the northwestern story for the day--it is more honest about the budget cuts, an improvement from its headline earlier this week.

As usual, it sounds like a press release from the budget slashers in Madison--'we did all we could,' 'it isn't our fault,' blah, blah, blah.


Oshkosh Northwestern - Politics are polarizing UW budget

Madison Chancellor: UW System needs cure, not Band-Aid

The journal-sentinal posted an editorial from John Wiley, chancellor at Madison.

My favorite line: We are witnessing the systematic dismantling of public higher education in Wisconsin. . .


Maybe I can find a job in Minnesota!!


JS Online: UW System needs cure, not Band-Aid

Daily Northwestern Update

The Northwestern ran a front page story today, entitled "UWO Grant funds spike." The story is a nice feature, about how much money the university brings in. The headline is, as usual, a boneheaded one--what does spike mean in this context? The suggestion is that there is something temporary or unusual in the fact that we bring in lots of outside funds to support our research agendas. Perhaps they are suggesting that they hope that the numbers drop again, once we are all forced to teach more.

They also published the letter to the editor from Tom Lammers.

Tony's comments on journalistic ethics

Tony Palmeri added gannett's own ethical policy. I want to post it here, so it doesn't get lost.

The coverage of the Northwestern on the university budget cuts seems to violate their own policy on many accounts.

Take a look:



In its reporting and editorializing about the UW, the Oshkosh Northwestern has managed to violate many of Gannett's Principles of Ethical Conduct for Newsrooms. The principles are:

Seeking and reporting the truth in a truthful way

* We will dedicate ourselves to reporting the news accurately, thoroughly and in context.
* We will be honest in the way we gather, report and present news.
* We will be persistent in the pursuit of the whole story.
* We will keep our word.
* We will hold factual information in opinion columns and editorials to the same standards of accuracy as news stories.
* We will seek to gain sufficient understanding of the communities, individuals and stories we cover to provide an informed account of activities.

Serving the public interest

* We will uphold First Amendment principles to serve the democratic process.
* We will be vigilant watchdogs of government and institutions that affect the public.
* We will provide the news and information that people need to function as effective citizens.
* We will seek solutions as well as expose problems and wrongdoing.
* We will provide a public forum for diverse people and views.
* We will reflect and encourage understanding of the diverse segments of our community.
* We will provide editorial and community leadership.
* We will seek to promote understanding of complex issues.

Exercising fair play

* We will treat people with dignity, respect and compassion.
* We will correct errors promptly.
* We will strive to include all sides relevant to a story and not take sides in news coverage.
* We will explain to readers our journalistic processes.
* We will give particular attention to fairness in relations with people unaccustomed to dealing with the press.
* We will use unnamed sources as the sole basis for published information only as a last resort and under specific procedures that best serve the public’s right to know.
* We will be accessible to readers.

Maintaining independence

* We will remain free of outside interests, investments or business relationships that may compromise the credibility of our news report.
* We will maintain an impartial, arm’s length relationship with anyone seeking to influence the news.
* We will avoid potential conflicts of interest and eliminate inappropriate influence on content.
* We will be free of improper obligations to news sources, newsmakers and advertisers.
* We will differentiate advertising from news.

Acting with integrity

* We will act honorably and ethically in dealing with news sources, the public and our colleagues.
* We will obey the law.
* We will observe common standards of decency.
* We will take responsibility for our decisions and consider the possible consequences of our actions.
* We will be conscientious in observing these Principles.
* We will always try to do the right thing.

You can find the list online here: http://www.asne.org/ideas/codes/gannettcompany.htm

Data to support Babblemur's contentions

There are a growing number of jobs in higher education, however they are dominated by part-time, non-tenure track positions.

For most administrators, these are probably financial decisions--they love to be able to fire people at will--but as we have seen there are serious ideological consequences as well. There is no room for complain when your boss can simply not renew your contract. No due process, no appeal, no nothing. . . .

Inside Higher Ed :: The Tenure Track Shrinks

The Budget battle as a culture war

Babblemur has posted an essay, arguing that the budget fight is really a culture war, punishing the university system for disagreeing with their right-wing political agenda.

I think that he is definitely on to something, as the strongest voices in favor of cutting education are those who complain most loudly about Ward Churchill.

Check out his opinion, and feel free to add your own comments!

Chancellor's message on the latest cuts

June 2,

TO: University Community

FROM: Richard H. Wells, Chancellor


Yesterday’s action by the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee to cut an additional $40.3 million from the 2005-2007 UW System budget is disheartening. As System President Kevin Reilly says, it will diminish our capacity to provide the state more baccalaureate and graduate degree holders, more high-paying jobs and a brighter economic future. It will hurt students, faculty and staff.

Actually, it could have been even worse, if not for efforts by area legislators such as Dean Kaufert, Carol Roessler and Gregg Underheim to thwart a proposal that would have meant nearly $50 million in additional cuts.

And the budget process is not over yet. The Assembly and the Senate must both vote on the budget, and then it must get the signature of the governor. We must all work hard to try to soften the impact of the cuts that the governor and the committee have proposed.

Whatever happens, we will proceed with our current campus budget plans for fiscal year 2005. A final budget may not be approved until late summer. Any additional budget cuts will be made largely in the second year of the biennium, after we carefully analyze all of our options.

With signs of an improving state economy, I hope the governor and the legislature will consider a budget repair bill during the biennium and restore some funding to UW, which has suffered significantly more than its fair share of state budget cuts since 2001.

Chancellor Richard H. Wells


Statement by UW System President Kevin Reilly on June 1 Joint Finance Committee action on UW budget:

“This afternoon, the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Finance voted to cut the University’s budget by $40.3 million in 2005-07, from the level proposed by the Governor. This cut follows others of $50 million in 2001-2003, $250 million in 2003-2005, and cuts and reallocations of $65 million required in the Governor’s budget proposal for 2005-2007.
“This cascading series of harsh cuts seriously diminishes the university’s capacity to deliver what we all know Wisconsin desperately needs more baccalaureate and graduate degree holders; more high-paying jobs based on university expertise, research, and spin-offs; and the resulting higher per capita income.
“That’s why I’m troubled and puzzled by this set of reductions. I’m sure students and their families are also trying hard to understand the message the state has been sending. Do we want to increase access to higher education in Wisconsin, or limit it by shrinking enrollments? Do we want to continue to raise tuition to offset budget cuts, or hold down tuition increases? Do we want to stoke the university’s powerful research engine and strategically connect it to job creation and the discoveries of the future? And once the state decides how to address these and other issues, how do we get there?
“We should not continue to cut our academic programs and student services blindly without answers to these and other critical public policy questions. I heard Joint Finance Committee co-chairs (Dean) Kaufert and (Scott) Fitzgerald talk during the committee’s deliberations about wanting to make future reinvestments in the university, and the need for a stronger, more frequent, more collaborative dialogue and partnership with the legislature and the state to accomplish that. The Governor has made the same points.
“Under these circumstances, I am proposing that the Board of Regents and I work with the Governor and Legislature to appoint a bipartisan Commission on the Future of the UW System. This Commission should clarify what the state of Wisconsin wants from its public university, and what its citizens are willing to support. Without this clarification, I believe Wisconsin will slip into the backwaters of the 21st century knowledge economy. With this clarification and the targeted reinvestment it will drive, we can marshal the resources of the university to promote the economic security and quality of life of all our residents.
“We will continue to work with the legislature and the governor to try to make sure that the final 2005-07 UW budget is in the best interest of students and the state’s future. In the meantime, I ask the legislature and Governor Doyle to join us in supporting creation of a commission that will engage the state in a candid, meaningful discussion about the future of this great university that preceding generations of Wisconsinites struggled so hard to build. Those earlier generations, and our kids and grandkids, deserve no less.”

The Northwestern Today

As a final note before I turn back to some real work, the Northwestern reported today that this $90 million reduction approved by the JFC was an increase in funding.

Also, they published the letter to the editor by Jonathan Gutow.

They are obviously stringing out the letters--I suppose they are trying to blunt the loud, angry outcry by the faculty here. It strikes me as dishonest not to publish the letters when they are recieved or to put a date on them.

I hadn't thought about this game being played by editorial staff--they can really pretend that the resounding negative sentiment created by their lame editorials never occurred.

If you didn't know how many letters were sent, you would have no idea about the university community's response. It is once again clear that having alternative media outlets is essential for true public debate. Mine is a pathetic little blog, but keeping track of letters written and published has given me more insight into the current failures, about which others have been writing for years.

A few more links

Frank Church, the News Director at UWO, compiled a nice list of additional links, so if you want to see how the cuts are playing out across the state, take a gander. . .



Madison Mayor Cieslewicz: Joint Finance Cuts Will Harm Economic Development Efforts, WisPolitics.com, June 1,

More UW cuts would devastate the system, Column, Wausau Daily Herald, June 1,

Too-stringent UW budget cuts could hurt the economy, Editorial, La Crosse Tribune, June 1,

More deep cuts will devastate UW System, Letter to the Editor (2nd item), Appleton Post-Crescent, May 31,


UW System budget cuts go too deep, Column, Wisconsin State Journal, May 28; also in Capital Times, Dubuque Telegraph Herald, La Crosse Tribune

President of Regents fears UW quality is slipping away, Capital Times, May 28,


Why make middle-class families pay for UW chancellors' whine and cheese? Column, Capital Times, May 28,


Support for UWGB needed, Column, Green Bay News-Chronicle, May 28,

Doyle's Dream world

I know it is a bit redundant to link info off of Tony's website again, but here is another article discussing how students get screwed by our government's hacking away at higher education

Dreaming of a fair budget

Doyle's Response

I found this over at TonyPalmeri.com, linked from someplace else.

It makes for interesting reading, though as Tony points out, Doyle doesn't acknowledge his own cuts to the UW system.

Doyle Statement

We should really title all these posts: How to f*ck UW with a smile!

Oshblog: What is REALLY happening to UW budget?

Miles Maguire was busy this morning, putting together the best picture of what went on with the Joint Finance Committee decisions on the UW system. Take careful note of the figures that Miles provides that the new budget doesn't not cover any costs of inflation, but makes us cut to cover those rising expenses-- 90 million in cuts!!!


Oshblog: What is REALLY happening to UW budget?

As far as the budgeting process goes, it is unclear what the results of these decisions will be. Obviously, this is just one of the whole sequence of bad moments for the system. Doyle, however, has to sign off on the budget as well.

Will he stand up for any of the proposals he made? Will he be honest about the cuts he proposed to the system, covered with a veneer of new initiatives?

Locally, it is hard to tell if this will amount to a new round of cuts for UWO. In the course of the next few days, I suppose we will find out how much more we lose, thanks to the increase the media claims we are getting.

First Reports of Additional Cuts

The Bullets from the story in the Journal-Sentinal:


# Reduce overall system funding by $25 million over two years, in addition to the $65 million cut Doyle included in his budget; $1.5 million of the reduction would come from UW System administration.

# Reject Doyle's request for an additional $11 million to create 120 new faculty positions.

# Accept Doyle's appeal for $2.5 million a year to bolster salaries of faculty members who are in high demand by other universities.

# Provide $2.5 million for Alzheimer's disease research.

# Eliminate a proposal to allow undocumented aliens to receive resident tuition rates.


JS Online: DayWatch