Democratic Senators Request Public Hearing on UW System Budget Cuts Print
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Written by GBP Staff   
Monday, 11 April 2016 18:26

uwgb-studentsNorthern Wisconsin Senators Dave Hansen and Janet Bewley say public has a right to hear how $250 million in budget cuts will impact their local campuses.


MADISON - State Senators Dave Hansen (D-Green Bay) and Janet Bewley (D-Ashland) have requested that the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges hold a public hearing to allow the chancellors of the UW System campuses to explain how their campuses are coping with the $250 million in budget cuts over the biennium.

dave-hansen“Governor Walker has repeatedly slashed the budget of the UW System over the last several years,” said Hansen. “It defies common sense to suggest that these cuts won’t result in damaging the quality of education and endanger the hard earned good reputation of the UW System.”

At last week’s meeting of the UW Board of Regents in Green Bay, UW System Chancellors were scheduled to give five minute presentations, campus by campus, describing how they would be dealing with the $250 million in cuts imposed by Governor Walker and the Republican-led legislature.

Unfortunately, those presentations were cancelled. Inviting the Chancellors to make those presentations to the Universities and Technical Colleges Committee would provide the public and the Legislature with much needed information on the consequences of those cuts.

“The public needs to hear of the real impact of these budget cuts on students, their families, and on communities across the state," said Hansen.  "Our University System is losing some of its most talented people to universities from states which are investing in higher education.”

The letter was sent to Senator Sheila Harsdorf (R-River Falls), the chair of the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges Committee.

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Legislative writer Jay Wadd contributed to this story.