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CONVOCATION |
| Another
good read for those who enjoy the genre. The tale of an epic journey is
set up with these words: When the world has come to the end of the last great Age...and the next is struggling to be born... and somehow it's up to you what kind of Age it will be...What do you do, when you don't know what you're doing? Those few words are my theme for this morning. Public higher education is undergoing dramatic change; that which is struggling to be born is, as yet, undefined; we must not abdicate our responsibility for determining what kind of age it will be; and, most importantly, in order to figure out what to do, we must deeply understand what it is we are about. Convocation remarks typically take a different form, an annual "State of the University" address. Quite formulaic, the Chancellor offers: • a reflection on the past year, • a progress report on recent accomplishments, and • a look ahead to the new academic year. Today, I intend to approach things a little differently. And, I will apologize in advance for taking somewhat longer for my remarks than I have in the past. I want to allow time to challenge you... to share observations that go to the heart of what our university is about. I also want to brief you on how UWGB will tie into something the Regents are pursuing ... something called "Charting a New Course for the UW System." Clearly, the time-tested models for sustaining quality higher education are headed out the window. Particularly on the financial side, the federal and state governments have put themselves in a financial vise that will, inevitably and increasingly, relieve pressure by putting the squeeze somewhere else. Our Board of Regents, wisely, is embarking on a year-long effort to face this reality, head-on. I want us to be a part of that conversation, and I'll address that shortly. It is important to remember that, within the national context, the UW System and UWGB retain great inherent strength. And our newcomers need to know they are joining a very good university in a very good state university system... |
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A
few days ago, we had clear validation of this assertion. U.S. News and
World Report released their highly publicized college rankings. The
list of the top 10 Midwestern public comprehensive masters institutions
included UWGB. We are one of the top publics in the Midwest. That is recognition
of the dedicated and effective efforts of all those assembled this morning. We are pleased to be included. But, we already know just how good is a UWGB education, and our pleasure, therefore, derives from the widening recognition of that reality. What was truly astounding in that list was the fact that, among the top ten public masters comprehensives in the Midwest, half came from one state: Wisconsin. Five of the top ten were UW campuses. We are a part of a strong system. However, maintaining and building on that strength is the challenge we face. As you are already well aware, the state budget situation has hit home at UWGB. As we enter Fall Semester 2003 we don't have: • 16 FTE positions • the level of services we'd like, or as many course sections • raises for hardworking and dedicated colleagues • $2.4 million in overall state support and another $1 million that will be taken from auxiliary accounts. And, we don't have our students enjoying tuition as low as it used to be. We took a hit because the UW System took its biggest hit ever: $250 million in state support, lost, over two years. The cut was disproportionate. UW System expenditures make use of a total of 9% of the state's tax resources. The UW System took 38% of the cut. Taxpayer support of the UW System and its many services, 50% at merger and 31% last year is now 27%. The gradual erosion in state support has become a cave-in. Convocation talks are to be uplifting. But, I have to tell you that I am angry. Really angry. The numbers I have just reported are bad enough. But, consider the "big five," the five largest state budgets for 2003-05: Department of Public Instruction: increased $117,000,000 Health and Family Services: increased $77,000,000 Shared Revenues: increased $437,000,000 Corrections: increased $54,000,000 UW: decreased $117,000,000 The UW is the only one of the "Big Five" to be cut. |
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One
final way to look at what happened to us. State government will cut a total
of 660 full-time equivalent positions as a result of the budget process.
Of those 660 net position cuts, UW will contribute 645. The State Human
Resources Office will add 52 positions; Corrections will add
528 positions. Those were the numbers before the budget process concluded. We fought, with the strong help of our local legislative delegation and System partners, to see that cuts did not go deeper during legislative deliberations. We were successful. Then the uniquely powerful Wisconsin veto pen came out, and the recent vetoes may cost the UW System another $21 million dollars. We are angry. And, with good reason. As academics, though, we understand that anger, if it is to be put to good effect, must be guided by understanding. How did it happen and why? There are some simple answers that do apply to the immediate circumstances: • Of the state's big budget areas, only we were cut. You have heard me refer to the mosaic of budget cuts and increases as a contour map of the state's centers of political power and influence. The fact is that, were the party control of the Governor's mansion and the legislative bodies different, the budget would not look much different, for the underlying political forces the budget reflects would remain unchanged. And, higher education is not an effective political force. • We are also seen as having another source of revenue, of being able to raise tuitions to cover cuts. In effect, our students' tuition hikes go directly to increase the budgets of those other four of the "big five" budget areas, the ones with the greater political clout. When students pay higher tuition, there is more to spend for local revenue sharing and K-12. • In some quarters, we are also seen as over-paid, under-worked, unresponsive, and arrogant. Not to the degree I have witnessed in other states. And, what there is is usually directed at "system" and at not local campuses. But, of course, we are all in this together. |
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OF PAGE Office of the Chancellor, David A Cofrin Library, Suite 810, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 Phone: 920-465-2207 E-mail: shepardb@uwgb.edu Comments to: Chancellor's Web Manager Revised: 03/02/2006 |