UW-FDL Dean On Govenor’s Proposal For UW System

UW-Fond du Lac Dean John Short says more autonomy would be good for the UW-System schools, but a $300 million cut in funding for two years would be hard to bear. That’s what the Governor is proposing as part of the two-year state budget. Short says it would be a good thing if the UW-System is allowed to become a public authority something he’s seen work in other states. He says it would help with recruiting the best talent. He says in addition to helping out in human resource decisions it would help out in other ways such as purchasing and procurement. He says on the other hand a 13 percent cut in funding would be hard to bear especially for a school like the UW-Fond du Lac, which is already operating very lean. He says in the last cuts they cut several positions and did some consolidations that would make it difficult to cut again. The Governor’s proposal includes keeping the current tuition freeze in place for another two years.