<p>Chancellor Wiley has expanded the concept of the Wisconsin Idea to mean that the boundaries of the university are no longer just the boundaries of the state. They are the boundaries of the world. </p>
<p>To acknowledge another point made by Barrons: Chancellor Wiley also pointed out, proudly, several years ago that UW-Madison was taking in Jewish students in the early part of the 20th Century when other schools were not. </p>
<p>It's a big world out there OP. One of the purposes of college is to get you out of your comfort zone.</p>
<p>My point was that the whole state, not just the Madison campus, is served. This means that people in all parts of the state expect services- ag extension for one example. Not trying to limit the institution, but no obligations to people beyond the borders on an individual basis. The reason instate students have a dorm guarantee if they apply by a deadline is that those parents are the taxpayers and there must have been a time when they couldn't get in the dorms, resulting in the legislation. Remember, the dorm lottery to assign rooms does not utilize any student origin or application data. Once your contract is accepted you are on equal footing with everone else, regardless of where you come from or when the contract was signed. Even though less money comes from state taxes now, the taxpayers still are using their tax dollars to support UW. There have been other threads suggesting some state schools be privatized, but that defeats the primary purpose of having a state school- that of educating its residents. Having a great, world class institution is a bonus, one that benefits the state students as well as the larger world. Pointing out the primary purpose does not lessen the other roles, I'm trying to remind people that ownership is the state, not the alumni or a private organization.</p>
<p>If the UW were a corporation the state would now have a minority interest. They are a stakeholder but so are the alums who fund much of those new buildings, scholarships and even salaries now to the tune of an amount equal to state support. So is the Federal Government and the taxpayers of the nation who provide far more to the UW than the state does now. So are the OOS and instate students who provide more in tuition and dorm revenue than the state provides in support. Overall the state is a 20% or less partner and they should start acting like it. A prime example of state govt micromanaging the UW is the entire benefits for domestic partners issue. The UW can fund them out of non state sources but the state refuses to even allow that. Stupid and tragic.</p>
<p>Aha- the university is NOT a corporation. It is an academic institution, not everything in this world runs according to the business, corporate logic (thank goodness). Remember the ivory tower concept and remember there are plenty of people who have other criteria for how the world should be. Business logic isn't always the way to go. Live here and then vote on the issues you consider important - you have to consider the whole picture and realize the mores of the whole state, not just Madison, play a role in how things are done.</p>
<p>The facts remain the state in no longer paying the piper so it should not be calling the tune down to the micro level. It's not a corporate model--it's fairness and equity. Other states have already recognized this reality and made adjustments to university governance to reflect that.</p>
<p>I just wanted to bump this thread to make something very clear: Coasties are, by definition not "classy." It's becoming warmer now in Madison, and coasties are no longer buried under heaps of north face apparel, so their true colors can show. I don't know who got the notion that coasties are classy. They are all a bunch of classless wiggers.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reference, tsdad. Fortunately we can count on the whole state as stockholders, if we thought the corporate model should be used, and equity and fairness demand that those stockholders' voices are heard... not just some outsiders with money. I know I just twisted some phrases, but anyone attending a public institution needs to realize a different set of rules apply than to private institutions, we people of Wisconsin consider it our institution and expect our elected representatives to keep an eye on it for us- not that we always agree with them...</p>
<p>Getting back to "coasties", just proves there is a diverse student body. It could be an interesting experience to live with them. Let us know what happens.</p>
<p>That might have been true 30 years ago but it no longer fits with current facts. Alumni, the Federal Government, and OOS tuition are keeping this place afloat. Other schools have realized this and changed their governance rules to match reality. It is time Wisconsin did the same.
And boy who was that team out there tonight. Maybe they need more Coasties with some athletic ability.</p>
<p>No, but it counts. Having a bunch of negative crazy people in the state constantly running down the UW to me means they do not deserve a voice anymore. They have given up that right.</p>