UW System Under Scrutiny

Republican lawmakers want to know what taxpayers are getting for the billion-dollars-plus that they are spending on the University of Wisconsin.

State Rep. Amanda Nedweski led the grilling that UW President Jay Rothman got yesterday at a hearing on the future of the UW System. She pressed Rothman about why the university needs more money from the state when there are fewer students and fewer campuses. Nedweski also pushed-back on the idea that the jobs of the future will require a college degree. Rothman said the University of Wisconsin is at the bottom of the list when it comes to the percent of money it gets from the state. Nedweski said Wisconsin taxpayers sent the UW one-point-three billion last year.

Showing you different sides so you can decide:

Continuing on the campuses, one of the UW’s former regents wants to pause closing more branch campuses. The Legislative Study Committee on the Future of the University of Wisconsin met at the Capitol yesterday, and former Regent Bob Atwell suggested that the university not close any more campuses until they can determine if the closings are actually saving the university money.

The University of Wisconsin has closed, or announced plans to close a handful of branch campuses as a way to bring the university’s deficit into line. Atwell said he wants to make sure that the cuts actually save the kind of dollars that the UW needs to save. University President Jay Rothman has said in the past that there simply aren’t enough students at the branch campuses to keep many of them open.