War on higher ed continues in state budget

They sure are a sneaky bunch. Wisconsin state legislators, finally wrapping up work on the long overdue state budget, secretly tucked language into the budget bill targeting professors in the UW System. The bill would require UW schools to track the amount of time professors spend in the classroom. It is part of the Republicans ongoing war against higher education and is designed to make those professors look lazy. As UW Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank reminds us, professors do more than just teach. They also mentor students and hold office hours. Many conduct groundbreaking research and write books that help others learn. Particularly troubling is legislators who removed the idea of tracking teacher’s classroom time from the Governor’s original budget proposal because it was deemed to be a policy matter, not a spending bill have quietly reinserted the language. Because it is part of what is called the budget wrapup, whatever lawmakers inserted the language don’t even have to attach their name to it. And those who do know who did it aren’t talking. If the state is really concerned about making sure those whose salaries we pay are working hard enough, we should start with our lawmakers, not our professors.