Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Walker Budget, With A Single Clause, Sets UW-Milwaukee On Privatization Course

Page 13: In a budget section with the Orwellian title, "Enhance Higher Education," Scott Walker springs this modest little surprise:

"Directs the UW System to develop plan to transition UW Milwaukee into a private authority."

And there's no policy in the state budget?

Sidebar: One student website has a discussion about whether the word "private" is a mistake, or a Freudian slip.

I'd add another option: a Koch-inspired fantasy.

Priiiiiiiiivatize!

Only the Walker people know.

If it's an error, I'd say it's a rather huge one.

If it isn't, it's a rather huge policy shift.

3 comments:

enoughalready said...

James, I believe I heard that the UWM chancellor is on board with this. May be worth checking out.

James Rowen said...

Few things:

What is the "it?" Private or public?

And with what resources, tools, etc?

The new chancellor was brought in to get the engineering campus and innovation center built for the private sector on the county grounds - - and making UWM a creator of sprawl and a bigger carbon footprint, with cross-county driving, commuting, etc.

enoughalready said...

James, I believe the comment I heard (on public radio) was someone saying that the UWM chancellor was in favor of his Milwaukee university being split off from the rest of the system. Might that require UWM to become a "private authority?" And could not UWM be set up under a private authority yet still remain a public school? I see now that I am more confused about this than I realized. Sorry.