It’s Time to Rethink “Higher” Education

 

Think about the last ten years as a decade of learning for the American people.  Among the things we’ve learned are the extent of the failure of our major institutions, such as government and education, to produce the results we expect from them; the extreme resistance of entities funded by hard working taxpayers to the rules of effectiveness and efficiency that are part of the real world of limited resources; the magnitude of waste, fraud, and abuse that occurs wherever the opportunity exists; and how corrupting money and power can be.

 

The University of Wisconsin System (UW), which is comprised of 13 distinct universities with branch campuses across the state, has requested a $730 million increase in funding from the State Legislature and Governor as part of the State’s 2027-2029 budget.  The Board of Regents, the governing body of the System, approved the request last week.

The request included 3 promises:

• Ensure every Wisconsinite has access to an affordable, high-quality University of Wisconsin education.

• Build Wisconsin’s workforce and next generation businesses.

• Advance life saving discoveries and improve access to health care across Wisconsin.

 

Coincidentally, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel published a guest column from Jon Shelton, the elected President of the state-wide union for higher education workers, last Sunday.  He aired the grievances the members of his union have with the Regents, most of whom have been appointed by Governor Tony Evers.  Regents are appointed by the Governor for a seven-year term. He describes the Board, particularly the Governor Scott Walker appointees, as having “an antagonistic view toward public higher education” because they “empowered chancellors as the ‘chief executive officers’ of each campus.”  Union members, he said, expect the Board to listen to those working on the ground with students. Shelton makes it clear the union is “going to put our energy into winning a Democratic trifecta this fall” so they can work with Democrats to legislate collective bargaining rights for UW faculty and staff.  He closes with “The new Democratic Governor should only appoint replacement Regents who actually understand higher education” and “only after robust consultation with faculty, staff, and students from the UW system.”  One more reason to make sure Wisconsin voters defeat as many Democrats as possible in November.

 

 Context

 

About 18% of the UW budget comes from General Purpose Revenue collected from the taxpayers and allocated by the Legislature.  This translates into about $1.33 billion per fiscal year. (The fiscal year is 12 months for the University, while the State operates on a 2-year budget.  The request for a $730 million increase in the state’s budget represents a 27% annual increase in state funding).

 

UW–Madison, considered the flagship of the system, has seen substantial enrollment growth over the past decade, from just over 43,000 to nearly 52,000. It accounts for nearly a third of the total system enrollment of 160,000.  Declines in other parts of the system resulted in reducing the number of 2-year locations from 13 to 7 and required increasing reliance on out-of-state and international students. Madison is the hardest campus to get into with a 45% acceptance rate. 

 

Value is in the Eye of the Beholder

 

There are tremendous opportunities to acquire the skills and credentials to do important work that is in high demand at the Universities. Computer science, all of the medical fields, engineering, and the business fields are examples.  There are also a vast number of degrees and certificates offered through the University System that neither prepare nor qualify an individual to do any specific work.  Taxpayers should not be burdened with funding education for education sake.

 

The request for additional money from the State is accompanied by lofty sounding but meaningless “promises.”  They lack specifics and conflict with some of what we know. Carefully worded claims create a particular impression, while avoiding the direct telling of a lie. For example, “at least 3,600 first year undergraduates must be in-state students” doesn’t mention the total class size is 8,500.  The statement that 80% of bachelor’s degree recipients remain in Wisconsin for at least 5 years doesn’t tell us if they are productive members of society or living in their parents’ basements.  The claim that a “Madison degree” will earn its holder $760,000 more over the course of a lifetime than a high school diploma loses some of its shine when the estimated average total cost of a bachelor’s degree for a Wisconsin resident at UW-Madison of $126,000 is considered. Over a lifetime that is hardly an impressive return.

 

By 2033 it is projected that there will be 1.4 – 2.1 million unfilled skilled trade jobs in the United States.  Jobs in high demand are electricians, plumbers, pipefitters, welders, aircraft mechanics, HVAC technicians, industrial mechanics, dental hygienists, construction managers and many more.  Many of these jobs command six figure incomes and there is a significant campaign underway, spearheaded by Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs” fame and others, to destroy the myth that college is the single pathway to great work.

 

Wisconsin is home to the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS), with 16 distinct local districts that have local boards, local tax levying authority, and a central Board that coordinates statewide. Funded by local property taxes, state support, and tuition, WTCS does a spectacular job of producing work-ready, highly skilled graduates in fields that are in high demand. 

 

UW – Madison is a Cesspool of Liberal Indoctrination

 

Nan Enstad is a member of the UW-Madison faculty with impressive sounding credentials.  On her webpage, she describes her “longstanding commitments to cultural, antiracist, ethnic, labor, queer, and gender studies that inform how I approach any subject.”  She goes on to say that her “research and teaching examine the history of global capitalism and how people have lived and struggled within and against it.”

 

When I turned 65, I became aware of the UW’s Senior Auditor Program which allows senior residents to sit in on any class at no charge.  I signed up for a course on history taught by Professor Enstad, and a women and religion course taught by a faculty member whose name I don’t remember.

 

Professor Enstad’s course focused on oppression in America, including the exploitation of garment workers in New York, police brutality and Black Lives Matter in recent years, and a detailed overview of “redlining” in Madison in the 1950’s, which denied minorities the opportunity to buy homes in white neighborhoods.

 

A rule of senior auditing is listen but do not participate.  The professors vary in adhering to this rule and Professor Enstad had invited comment from the seniors on a number of occasions, leading me to believe limited participation was welcome.  When a student incorrectly described the shooting death of Trayvon Martin as another unjustified killing by police in Florida during a broader discussion on police brutality, I clarified the facts by explaining Trayvon Martin was a Black teen confronted and shot in a gated community by a local neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman who happened to be Hispanic. Zimmerman had called the police when he first spotted Martin and was instructed not to follow him.

 

The next time the class met, Professor Enstad was waiting for me.  She informed me she does not correct students, even if they are factually wrong, because it would discourage them from participating. 

 

In my women and religion class, the professor told the class she had an adopted Chinese daughter who “came out” to her as a lesbian.  She seemed very pleased with herself as she described how supportively she received the news and how her relieved daughter asked her what she could possibly do that would cause her mother to reject her.  The professor told us her answer was to vote for a Republican.

 

These experiences put an end to my short stint as an auditor at UW.  I witnessed firsthand an environment that is extremely hostile to all but the most liberal points of view, but you don’t have to take my word for it.

 

In March of this year, the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership, housed at UW Madison, conducted a survey of 2,388 faculty members at UW Madison to measure faculty perspectives on academic freedom, free expression, and campus climate.  600 responded.  70% identified as liberal and 3% as conservative.  Conservative faculty reported feeling less welcome and less comfortable expressing their views than liberals.  The survey included a number of scenarios to test how faculty members would deal with conservative views in the hiring process. On abortion, immigration, affirmative action, and transgender sports participation the survey found a significant number of faculty would penalize conservative viewpoints in the hiring process.

 

In 2021, the same Center on Public Leadership found that students misunderstood the meaning of First Amendment protections in a survey on the topic.  63% of those surveyed agreed the government should punish “hate speech.” 40% believed speech by “climate change deniers” should be restricted, and 50% favored restricting other controversial viewpoints.  Subsequent data updates have shown that many students self-censor on controversial viewpoints due to social peer pressure. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), a college campus watchdog, gave UW a grade of “F” on “speech climate.”

 

It’s Time

 

UW has become much bigger over the years but, in important ways, not better. Its flagship makes a mockery of the plaque, gifted by the class of 1910 and displayed on the wall of Bascom Hall, “Whatever may be the limitations which trammel inquiry elsewhere, we believe that the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”

 

The UW System belongs to the people of Wisconsin, and it is time to restore what has become a breeding ground for Anti-American thought and the suppression of real learning to the ideals embraced by the class of 1910. The union leader’s letter to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel confirms that those who are insulated inside of the education bubble think that the “problem” is those on the outside do not understand how things work in higher education. It will take the power of the purse to convince the academic elites that things do not “work” the way the people expect them to, and they are the problem.

 

NO to ANY additional state money to UW in the 2027–2029 budget. The University proposed a two-year tuition freeze followed by lower increases in subsequent years as a bargaining chip if the Legislature will approve the increase to cover their “losses.”  The comparisons they make with “peer” colleges to demonstrate their “affordability” are meaningless. Education is broken. The taxpayers of Wisconsin expect to see cost lowered by separating the wheat from the excessive chaff through restructuring and making choices.  System offerings should be driven by a mission that, at its core, prepares young adults for productive lives.  Those who want to contemplate their navels can do it on their own dime.

 

Going forward, allocate only specific targeted investments to programs that will produce workers that are in short supply in Wisconsin.  Provide tuition relief in exchange for commitments from graduates to practice their professions in underserved parts of the state. 

 

Balanced, unbiased faculty who promote discovery and free expression of all ideas is the most urgent and essential change. The deeply entrenched culture will be extremely difficult to disrupt.  Rid the system of faculty who refuse to keep their political biases out of the classroom. Rid the system of the archaic concept of tenure (lifelong employment for professors). This concept was devised in the early 1900’s to protect academic freedom because professors were fired for expressing controversial or political views. The tables have turned and the protections of tenure have become one of the greatest threats to academic freedom.  There are 2,124 tenured and tenure track professors at UW Madison.

 

A greater outrage than this brazen ask from the UW System for a huge increase in state funding would be an inept Legislature and Governor that go along with it.  It is time to rethink “higher” education.