Posted on 06/23/2015 2:58:59 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
".......Today, the so-called Wisconsin Magna Carta is being tested, as Gov. Scott Walker and the legislature move to change the system of tenure. Fortunately, earlier efforts to alter the mission statement of the University of Wisconsin system by deleting references to the search for truth and the creation of knowledge were retracted as “drafting errors.” Still, the symbolism of such proposed changes is having a chilling effect on the flagship campus at Madison and across the university system.
This concept of a social contract between the people of a state and their university system is not unique to Wisconsin. America’s public universities were created in general to serve as a great equalizer in an upwardly mobile society and to benefit people’s lives beyond the boundaries of the classroom. Precisely because of their social, cultural and economic role and their preservation of free and open inquiry, our public universities have also been subject to periodic political challenges, as is now happening in Wisconsin.
At stake is the venerable Wisconsin Idea: the belief articulated by early 20th century Republican Gov. Robert M.(“Fighting Bob”)La Follette that the state should be a laboratory for democracy,and that university faculty should use their knowledge and research to solve problems and improve people’s lives.
Wisconsin maintains one of the nation’s largest public university systems,whose 13 four-year universities, including its outstanding flagship campus at Madison,and 13 two-year college campuses educate more than 180,000 students,employ 39,000 faculty and staff, and provide valuable outreach services for business and community development. The fact that tenure, academic freedom and the faculty’s influence over curriculum and hiring may be affected by the legislative changes championed by Walker and by proposed systemwide spending reductions of some $250 million raises fundamental questions about the relationship of the university system to the state of Wisconsin and its people...........
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Go to this link about the Wisconsin Idea and you'll immediately understand why.
And this isn't just about the UW - they're alarmed that this is being watched by other university systems.
Wisconsin Idea - in education, in politics, in media ~~Part of the Politics series on Progressivism~~
Then go back and read the entire (not lengthy) OpEd linked in this thread.
They don't want separation of powers, they want a progressive Borg.
The idea that employees can have a say in the hiring new employees always seemed a little odd to me.
That faculty can have a veto power over the hiring of new members of the faculty is a guarantee of group think.
It is about time that somebody starts cutting higher education budgets. Economic reality will eventually raise its ugly head, It is better to make the cuts at a time of your choosing than when necessity dictates.
The whole university system is out of control. We PAY for these parasites to sit around and bash the rest of us. It is time for it to be overhauled.
The “social sciences” are the heart of the problem. Well that and the Humanities. They are pretty much useless. But what they produce are all these Social Justice Warriors who sit around and dream up new ways to run our lives.
They need to eliminate two things: tenure and student loans. Let the faculty compete for paying students and just watch the quality of education go up.
Both our elected officials and academics were supposed to come from the private sector, serve & teach for a period of time, then return.
But both political office and higher education have been mutated into jobs for life by people with no real world experience in anything.
If Wisconsin wants to lead in higher education, get educators who have worked in the real world.
But, that would mean that liberals could not keep the conservatives out of higher education.
Each happy leftist leans more left than the one before..............................
The tenure systems is one of the most corrupt, inefficient and expensive scams in the big big scam of big education. Good for Walker for fighting this battle. It’s the right thing to do, and it’s a political winner as well.
Absolutely correct.
Well! Doesn’t Walker have a novel idea?
Imagine this: Making professors actual employees of the college they work for and being responsible for their performance and actions and adherence to the rules of management.
What is this fable we hear from time to time...”all people are created equal?” Well tenured professors are exempt from that rule and “lord” over the serfs who attend their sacred (and normally unimportant) lectures.
With the removal of tenure professors will be graded, paid and retained based upon quality of education like the rest of the teaching staff. Better yet, our colleges will cease being “hotbeds” of socialist and communist indoctrination and turn back to actual education in fields that will actually make something or improve our lives.
Go “sic” them attack dog Walker. Bite them where it hurts!
I absolutely love that Walker has picked this fight. Cut the university budget and get rid of tenure. Make the pompous, liberal professors scream. Perfect target, perfect issue and so enjoyable to watch. And if he wins, WI universities will gradually become less of Communist PC cesspools.
“...once again we see the ability of the left to fund their ideology with our money.”
They have their tactics of intimidation, harassment,
behind-the-back shenanigans, arrogance, Alinsky tactics in place and if you call them on it they either deny it or accuse you of racism or some sort of anti-something-or-other.
Absolutely amazing.
IMHO
Yes - universities, where socialist thought and techniques are incubated, where students are easily indoctrinated guinea pigs, where grant money pays for “studies” that are used to push legislation to advance the progressive agenda, all circulated by their lock-step media arm.
Schools of education.
Schools of government.
Schools of journalism.
And this progressive ideology is fused into all academic disciplines.
The education establishment is set up to make them stupid and the media establishment is structured to keep them stupid.
Stupid is as stupid does.
Therefore: President Obama.
It’s more than keeping them ignorant, it’s twisting the truth and radicalizing them to the progressive cause.
The fact that we keep seeing hit pieces like this shows how absolutely panicked The Left is over Scott Walker.
I don’t see Leftist Media doing any critical articles on Heb. Gee, why is that??
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