Council of Trustees urges flexibility for UW-Green Bay, all state universities

At their most recent meeting, on April 19, the nearly two dozen business and civic leaders who make up the Chancellor’s Council of Trustees at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay endorsed a resolution in support of the Wisconsin Idea Partnership.

Lou LeCalsey, chairman of the Council and CEO of Tufco Technologies, Inc., said he is forwarding copies of the resolution to UW System officials and Wisconsin state legislators.

“Given the current discussions about this important subject we wanted to a make our Council of Trustees’ position of support for the Wisconsin Idea Partnership perfectly clear,” LeCalsey says.

The Partnership is a plan advanced by the Board of Regents and UW System President Kevin Reilly to grant new administrative flexibilities to all public universities in Wisconsin. Such a proposal was part of Gov. Scott Walker’s biennial budget plan, but the flexibilities would initially be available only to UW-Madison.

Chancellors including UW-Green Bay’s Thomas Harden say proposed double-digit decreases in Walker’s budget only continue an ongoing erosion of state support for public higher education. Given that reality, they argue, each of their universities should be freed from rigid regulation and allowed more control over their finances. The Partnership also calls for a “block grant” approach to let individual universities more efficiently manage their budget priorities.

The text of the resolution is as follows:

Resolution of Support

The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Council of Trustees hereby endorses the Wisconsin Idea Partnership that has been proposed by the UW System Board of Regents.

Under the Wisconsin Idea Partnership UW-Madison will remain a part of the UW System, which we believe is beneficial to the prestige and operation of other campuses in the System and to Madison as well. This proposal will also benefit UW-Green Bay and all universities in the UW System by providing the management flexibilities necessary to ensure the most efficient operation of our institutions and better serve the citizens and students of Wisconsin.

It is our position that UW-Green Bay has clearly demonstrated the administrative capacity and technical expertise necessary to thrive given more operational freedom. Our community and campus have partnered repeatedly, in entrepreneurial fashion, to enhance facilities, extend services and do more with less.

We believe all UW System institutions deserve the new opportunities afforded them by the Wisconsin Idea Partnership.

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