Walker tries to redefine Wisconsin Idea again.

Scott Walker won't stop until he turns the UW system into tech schools, because it's obviously not doing very well as a nationally recognized highly ranked university system.

So after it was revealed that Walker lied about trying to change and destroying the "Wisconsin Idea," he's now going to attack it via state funding, after squeezing it dry:

“... some performance-driven components as a possibility going forward” … the governor’s office pointed to outcomes-based funding for technical colleges that ties a growing percentage of their budgets to how well they perform in categories such as graduates’ job placement and the number of degrees colleges award in high-demand fields.

“I think that makes sense,” Walker said. “It’s certainly what we hear from employers who are looking to fill critical positions.”

What he "hears from employers?" Love that anecdotal research. Guess we can forget about all those ambitious students hoping to start their own unique business, or even venturing out into unexplored new markets. What's important is getting our students ready for jobs exclusively in Wisconsin because Walker's world is just that small.

If the Walker metric spanned a number of decades, and not just year by year placements and hot employer needs, then maybe it would be something to consider. But for now, there's no way we can trust one Walker, especially after what he's done to the state.

Walker tells nation, academic freedom and public education must end.

Scott Walker made it very clear about his plans for public education. The title of his opinion piece, in the Des Moines Register, was "We changed broken education system." It wasn't for the good, but yes, he changed it.

K-12: Walker injected private sector principles into what we decided long ago would be "public."
There was a reason we took the profit motive out of it. But that's over. Teachers can now focus on their paychecks, and not concern themselves with their community or commodified kids. There's always someone who'll pay them more, right? 

Walker wrote about all the choices parents will have from the growing number of competing businesses offering an education that's out-of-this-world...or so says the advertising brochure. Remember, parents know this stuff instinctively, and will make the right choices. We trust them, and they like it when we say that. But if they're not happy, they can always send a nasty letter to the schools CEO, via their public relations department:  

Walker: "I believe that every child deserves access to a great education — be it at a traditional public, charter, choice, private, virtual or home school environment. We need leaders who value quality choices and who trust parents to put the interests of their children first."

UW: The same is true of our great public university. Thank god Walker took care of that, before he focused all his attention the presidency. Check out the following article about Scott Walker's irrational attack on the UW system by Forbes' contributor Steve Salsberg:

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's Dual Attacks on The University of Wisconsin: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker really doesn’t like professors. He seems to have a special grudge against the University of Wisconsin, against which he has launched a two-pronged attack this year.

It’s rare for a governor to attack the flagship university in his own state. Governors usually do just the opposite, promoting their universities to the rest of the world whenever the opportunity arises. Thus it’s surprising–startling, really–to observe how Scott Walker is waging a war on academic freedom in his home state of Wisconsin. Let’s look at what he’s doing, and then ask why.

First, back in January he proposed an enormous $300 million cut to the University of Wisconsin’s budget, at a time when other state universities are finally recovering from the recession. Now he’s proposing to get rid of academic tenure, not only threatening faculty jobs but also destroying academic freedom for professors at the University of Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin faculty responded that this new policy, if implemented, will inflict lasting damage on a highly successful institution….It would be difficult to overstate how destructive and unnecessary the [legislature's] proposed changes to tenure and shared governance are.

Perhaps the reason behind Walker’s dislike of academia is that he thinks that professors are too liberal. If true, this is deeply disturbing: it means he wants to stifle speech that he disagrees with. This kind of repression of scholarship is one of the most important reasons for tenure in the first place. One doesn’t have to look far–hello, Vladimir Putin?–to find examples of how powerful politicians can suppress speech, to the detriment of their societies.

As UC Irvine’s Mark Levine wrote this week, none of academia’s core functions could occur without tenure and the assurance of academic freedom it enables.

The leaders of a national university governing board association (agreed), pointing out that under Walker’s proposed new policy, “decisions about a tenured faculty member’s service could be based less on performance and institutional finances and more on the political or personal views of board members.”

Governor Walker’s actions make even less sense when viewed from outside the state, where the University of Wisconsin is considered one of the nation’s top public universities (currently ranked 13th among public schools).

Walker is sending a message that professors at Wisconsin should sit down and shut up. It’s disturbing that Wisconsin’s governor is using his power not only to weaken one of the state’s biggest assets, but also to attack the free expression of ideas. I can’t come up with any explanation for his actions that doesn’t appear vindictive and short-sighted. This isn’t the kind of behavior I want in any politician, and certainly not in someone who wants to be the most powerful politician in the nation.

Conservative Think Tank backs Scott Walker's vision: UW Faculty all Corporate Lobbyists and Consultants.

Local control has become a laugh line in Wisconsin since Scott Walker and his band of plundering pirates have taken the helm. The only time local control is important to these freeloading clowns is when they’re shifting the blame for tax increases to local officials via school referendums and soon, road maintenance.

Transform the UW to a Tech College Please: Scott Walker’s rewrite of the Wisconsin Idea was a gift and bold mistake we all could learn from. It was also intentional. Walker’s focus on the old economy, based on manufacturing, is not just bordering on ridiculous but it's also part of his plan to change the UW.

And now Walker is getting help from a conservative think tank. Help us all. These "institutes" are actually bill writing lobbyists, offering cover and “suggestions” that would take us back to the old economic model and cronyism that built this great country:

A report (by the) Wisconsin Policy Research Institute, on the University of Wisconsin System's four-year campuses, calls for local flexibility in setting tuition, changes to the shared governance system and a review of tenure.

That’s BS. It’s a call to turn faculty into business consultants and special interest lobbyists. Here are their suggestions:

1. Help the UW System better fulfill its mission to help produce economic development, give them the authority to eliminate programs with little market demand or academic value.

2. Give local campuses expanded latitude to attract private investment and convince local businesses and investment of the potential return on that investment.

3. Talent and those intellectual assets on those 11 campuses are badly underutilized. The campuses and their faculties could be much more involved in their local and regional economies — working with local businesses, industries and economic development specialists in tech transfer, second-stage economic development, industrial process applied research and development, and business consulting, especially in new product development, market research, export assistance and business management.

4. The campuses are perfectly positioned geographically and intellectually to work with businesses and industries in every community around the state.

Oddly the report concludes teaching + academic research doesn’t result in economic improvement. What are they on? They followed that up with examples that disprove that theory, and then made the case to turn faculty into classroom industry lobbyists…I mean “specialists:”

The reasons they are not more involved are historic and cultural. The management structure of the system combined with the faculty cultures at these institutions are in many cases rooted in their teaching and academic research mission, not the third leg of the Wisconsin Idea: working to improve Wisconsin’s economy and society. To be clear, all of the 11 four-year campuses are engaged in some forms of economic development outreach, and there are strong examples around the state of important economic and industry successes. 

Almost every campus has — or is building — a regional economic outreach and partnership effort, and many of the campuses have several. In general, faculties at those campuses face substantial obstacles and disincentives if they devote too much time to serving as industry specialists, business consultants or strong players in regional economic development. In others, the obstacles are system wide — and they’re onerous.

The “institutes” report is replete with business references downplaying a broader more diverse curriculum. You can't miss it...:

…leveraging university expertise and research to help existing area businesses and industries compete, grow and expand … involving students in developing — and implementing — solutions for industry, manufacturing and business … instructive on how universities can play a greater role in second-stage business development … the use of student fees to improve buildings or offer a new program requested by an industry partner.

The Wisconsin Idea solidly rejected, like Walker wanted:

The potential dividends for success are especially high at the state’s 11 four-year colleges that were not originally created as partners in the Wisconsin Idea. All those campuses truly require is the ability and authority to take the lead in their local regional economies with the UW System and Board of Regents as partners. Now is the time.

Wisconsin Idea still stumps Republicans hell bent on killing UW.

This morning former Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager laid out the difference between universities and tech schools. For instance, tech school train you for one job. But as we've seen over the years, occupations come and go, whether through technology or trade policies that offshore jobs. Scott Walker and his plundering Republican pirates in the legislature either don't care or don't know about the long range problem some Americans will face when their profession disappears.

In March the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report that took a look at how many jobs younger baby boomers held between ages 18 to 48. They averaged 11.7 jobs. Although the term "jobs" doesn't necessarily mean a career change, common sense and life experience shows that that's a likely possibility.

Former republican Representative Michelle Litjens' disdain for what she perceives as "liberal indoctrination" is typical of conservatives who really don't get the Wisconsin Idea at all. Thus Walker's cavalier attempt to change it:

Litjens: "The UW Oshkosh for instance, as a freshmen, you take 4 different classes on recycling, and um sensitivity and religion and women's studies. And you know, as a parent who is going to be contributing towards education, are these classes that we want to either borrow money or pay for that are going help my child get a job in the future? There are stories like that uh that you hear as parents or you know of because your children are in the system, and you wonder if you're getting the best bang for your buck as a parent."

Here's Peg's great response on WPR's Joy Cardin Show (audio):

The Walker Idea....

Couldn't have said it better. From the Wausau Daily Herald editorial:

In his new budget, Gov. Scott Walker envisioned a far more utilitarian role for the

university: "to meet the state's workforce needs." The result, in fewer than half as many words, was a stark, cold vision of the university as a machine, churning out skilled laborers tailored to the needs of industry. 

The Walker Idea is an ideological subversion of the university's ethos, away from service to society and toward service of the interests of the economic elite. These changes shrink the university's boundaries rather than expand them. The soul of the Wisconsin Idea — the search for truth — is jettisoned entirely. The Walker Idea is tantamount to an existential assault on the UW System, reducing it to a mere cog in the machine of unrestrained capitalism. 

UW President Ray Cross bows, grovels at the feet of Walker Authority.

An amazing thing happened just as PolitiFact gave Scott Walker a "Pants on Fire" rating for saying the changes to the Wisconsin Idea were just a "drafting error."

UW President Ray Cross shamefully said he believed Walker's side of the story. Talk about bad timing.

Republicans have their lackey: In January of 2014, it was no accident Ray Cross was overwhelmingly endorsed by Scott Walker and the Republican legislatures UW attack dogs as the UW president . It seemed odd at the time and a little foreboding:

Within minutes of the announcement that Cross got the job, state lawmakers began issuing statements praising the selection. Gov. Scott Walker said he had enjoyed working with Cross in his chancellor role.

Rep. Steve Nass (R-Whitewater), chairman of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee, said "I trust Ray Cross and believe he offers the right leadership at a critical time in the history of the UW System. 

Last week, GOP leader Rep. John Nygren (R-Marinette) endorsed Cross stating Cross would "go a long way in restoring trust and communication that has been lost between the state Legislature and the UW System."

On Upfront with Mike Gousha , Cross embarrassingly provided cover for Walker's blatant and constantly shifting lie. See if this doesn't remind you of a hostage video:



Here's PolitiFacts list of reasons and conclusion:

Our rating: Walker said fundamental changes to the language describing the Wisconsin Idea in the University of Wisconsin System's mission statement were the result of a "drafting error" in his state budget proposal.

But Walker’s administration had insisted to UW System officials on making the changes, giving detailed instructions on passages to be removed from state law. And eventually Walker himself acknowledged that the UW System had objected to the changes before his budget was put into final form.

His original claim was not only inaccurate, but ridiculous. Pants on Fire.

Expose': What Republicans are really thinking...

The surreal efforts by the right wing to play down Scott Walker's draconian cuts to the UW and ridiculous changes to Wisconsin Idea may at long last help bring more attention to what is really going on at the Capitol and in the heads of our Republican legislators.

Thanks to a former member of the state senate, Dale Schultz, we're able to get the real story behind the deceit and phony concern they have for public policy. On WPR's Joy Cardin Show, Schultz again let it all hang out.

Transportation and education disaster: Schultz gets right to the problem; the no tax pledge with Grover Norquist. Do legislators know Norquist came up with this hair brained idea when he was just 12 years old? I've got a 12 year old they can meet, if they don't mind waiting for him to get home from school. Why wait years and have to go through a think tank pledge?

"Everytime Grover Norquist writes a letter, my colleagues wet themselves."

Who can argue with that? Schultz also says we should chuck the entire voucher experience:

"I remember one time in my caucus asking my colleagues 'where are the failing schools. Which of you have them and would you be able to meet them,' and not a hand went up. I think it is time to stop this nonsense with our educational system, that we chuck the entire voucher experience, the data is in, it doesn't work as well as public education." 

WEAC: Schultz said,“There is no evidence that this (voucher system) works better than public education,”  

“After 25 years why do we insist on expanding and duplicating what our public schools are doing and don’t even do it as well … and yet with the evidence in, it’s time to say this (voucher system) doesn’t work. We need to recognize that the best chance of getting the most out of our dollars for Wisconsin’s children now and in the future lies with public schools.”

Schultz: "This is nothing more than the wholesale destruction of the University of Wisconsin system. The greatest economic driver that we have in the state of Wisconsin...and for what?" For a $5 property tax cut a year.



And on Walker's attempt to shred the Wisconsin Idea, the UW's mission statement:

"The whole tawdry affair...it sickens me because this is a sophomoric sideshow that is incredibly hurtful and not productive."

Schultz said “a number of people around the governor” are attacking education and educators “in a very mean-spirited way” for political purposes. “The bottom line for K-12 education is we cut, again, $135 million over the biennium to get a $5 per house tax cut, and I am just thinking whose idea of a priority is that?” It might be great for Governor Walker’s political ambitions, he said, but “What does it do for the people of Wisconsin?”

“This is nothing more than the wholesale destruction of the University of Wisconsin System, the greatest economic driver that we have in the state of Wisconsin.” Schultz said Walker’s rewriting of the UW mission statement and deletion of the Wisconsin Idea was a “sophomoric sideshow that is just incredibly hurtful and not productive.” It will make people wonder whether people are serious about education’s role in Wisconsin. “We can’t afford this kind of mean-spirited nonsense,” he said.

“This will continue unless every single person in Wisconsin takes this as a wake-up call and engages as every citizen ought to and speaks to their Legislature and responds to the governor’s proposal in a way that makes it clear that this is unacceptable. If we don’t do that, then I think the Wisconsin that many of us know and love will be a thing that will be a part of history.”

WIBA's McKenna: Walker's change to Wisconsin Idea a "small story," making him the great defender of Academic Freedom.

I listened to a few minutes of Vicki McKenna's radio show the other day, and not surprisingly, her rap on Scott Walker's trashing of the Wisconsin Idea was front and center. Oddly, I also didn't hear anything that was true or made any sense. She jumped from one unrelated outrage to another.

In the tank for Walker, and why Republicans hate the UW: It's a lot of the same old conservatives stuff about the UW; victimized conservatives on campus are not allowed to speak out, they're not allowed to disagree, they're not allowed to defend traditional marriage, they're not allowed to defend the free market, they're not allowed to say they're Republicans. Who knew they were so afraid of liberals. Not exactly the strong and courageous leadership qualities we hear so much about;  standing buy their principles and fighting against their liberal oppressors. They're still a bunch of sad pathetic whiny victims in total control of the state.

What was McKenna's ironic defense of free speech? "With all due respect, shut up liberals."  

Anecdotal Outrage: Conservatives love to tell stories, fact free whoppers of opinion. McKenna said a listener wrote to her about a Black History month event at the UW that served "smoked salmon-at 11 bucks a pound, vegetable egg rolls...all paid for by taxpayers!" Really? The source of these anecdotal "facts?" As McKenna explains; "The very last thing he writes is, 'please keep me anonymous, as I don't want to lose my job.'" Another courageous conservative whistle blower...and coward.  

McKenna somehow tied Scott Walker's flippant anti-intellectual rewriting of the Wisconsin Idea into free speech outrage. Even though it was Walker who scratched out the line ("basic to every purpose of the system is the search for truth"), and tossing it off as unimportant, McKenna accused liberals of doing what Walker did, saying "you're not allowed to search for the truth." My head hurts.

McKenna mixes up public with private university: Laughably, Vicki thinks liberals should defend the free speech rights of a professor at Marquette, a private religious university. Private colleges can do pretty much anything they want, without government interference. That should make Republicans very happy. But public colleges can't. They have to answer to the taxpayers. McKenna doesn't get it. It's one of the many downsides to privatized education.

As a former talk show host who sat across from McKenna for one long nightmarish year trying to get a word in edgewise, the example below is an embarrassing content free low for the profession.

The reason behind Walker's methodical attack on all things Liberal, from Unions to the UW.

The latest news about Scott Walker's big UW defunding debacle now contradicts what he said earlier that it was just a blunder. It wasn't, his office requested the UW mission statement changes.

Walker proposed removing the Wisconsin Idea from UW's mission statement, then backtracked and said Thursday that it was a simple mistake that's being blown out of proportion. 

MSNBC's Chris Hayes added his insights, noting Walker's strategy to go after and weaken his opponents; first attacking Democratic supporting public unions, and now that bastion of liberalism, the UW.  Joining Hayes was PR Watch's Lisa Graves, who fleshed out the details and added so much more for curious voters across the country:



Walker caught in another big lie: Here's the latest from the jsonline:

Gov. Scott Walker and aides scrambled Thursday to respond to revelations that his administration had insisted to University of Wisconsin officials on scrapping the Wisconsin Idea, the guiding principle for the state's universities for more than a century.

In a rapid revision to his own comments on Wednesday, the Republican governor acknowledged that UW System officials had raised objections about the proposal.

They had been told the changes were not open to debate.

Students Protest Walker cuts to UW!!!

Stunned UW students are now deciding to take action against Americas anti-education Governor, Scott Walker. And it may just turn into a wave of statewide protests. CBS 15:

Milwaukee: More than a hundred UW Milwaukee students marched against a $300 Million cut for the University of Wisconsin system.

Jill Hoffman is a junior at UWM who helped organize the demonstration. "I didn't know how large it was going to grow," said Hoffman, "but I knew, I couldn't sit around and do nothing about these devastating cuts." "I shouldn't have to worry about my education, and becoming the change maker that I know I can be and that I know I need to be, because of the proposed cut," said Hoffman. "UW System is an economy booster, it is essential to Wisconsin's economy," said Hoffman.

"There's so many of us here who are paying out of pocket, that you know, working multiple jobs, taking 18 credits," said Charlie Shanaver, a student with UWM College Democrats.

They say the budget shouldn't come at the cost of college students who will ultimately contribute to the state's work force.

Oh sure, Walker claimed "drafting error" striking "educate people and improve human condition" and "search for truth" from "Wisconsin Idea," the UW mission statement.

A Republican target for years, the University of Wisconsin got its walking papers from the nations anti-education leader Scott Walker.

Just to make sure the UW didn't try any funny stuff or take itself to seriously, Walker made this treasured state institution sound like a motivational seminar:

Walker tried to back away from his untimely blunder by claiming it was a "drafting error"...really, that oddly selected just the right grouping of words gutting the "Wisconsin Idea." According Fox 6, earlier in the day, Walker had no problem with the "drafting error." Gee, what changed?

PRWatch: Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker struck "the search for truth" and the Wisconsin Idea from the university's mission in his executive budget bill unveiled last night.

First summed up by UW President Charles Van Hise in 1904, the Wisconsin Idea means that "the borders of the University are the borders of the state." Van Hise declared that he would “never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family in the state” and this has long been the core philosophy of the UW System, which has worked hard over the decades to generate programs that serve people and communities all over the state.

Walker is on tape endorsing the change on a Wednesday stop in DePere:

Update from jsonline: I came across one of Walker's clueless comments, along with important UW faculty reactions:

Walker said: "Learning's important, but ultimately it's most important for people to get the chance to get the education that they need to succeed in the workforce and in life."

"I'm nearly speechless," said Mark Schwartz, a UW-Milwaukee distinguished professor geography and chairman of the faculty University Committee. "The budget cuts are one thing. This aims at the heart of the Wisconsin Idea and smashes it."

"It's a very materialistic definition of knowledge that's very off-putting to me," said James Baughman, a historian and Fetzer-Bascom professor at UW-Madison's School of Journalism and Mass Communication. "We aren't just training people to be workers," Baughman said. "We're training them to be citizens, to be leaders. It's not that we don't have a responsibility to serve people to get training, but it's a lot more than that."