Category Archives: UW Politics

UWM stiffed (again) in governor’s budget

How can it be that Milwaukee and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee (UWM) are chopped liver in Gov. Ever’s massive building budget for 2023-25? In late February Democratic Gov. Tony Evers rolled out his ambitious budget proposal for $3.8 billion … Read the rest

Will Rothman clean up UW conglomerate?

Jay Rothman may be just the right choice to deal with UW Madison that has become a conglomerate. The newly selected UW System president spent his career at Foley and Lardner, the state’s largest law firm, where he dealt with … Read the rest

What happened to the Blue Cross money?

One astute Wisconsin politician asked this question when the subject of the UW $450 million Blue Cross endowment for public health came up: “What happened to all the money?” When Blue Cross went public 20 years ago, the Blue Cross … Read the rest

Thompson Right on Need for UW Commission

The Grand Old Man of the Wisconsin Grand Old Party in Wisconsin, Tommy Thompson, never lacks for ideas to move the state forward. But maybe because he is a short-timer as interim UW System president, his good ideas don’t automatically … Read the rest

Whither go the 13 UW Colleges across the state?

A recent commentary in the Daily News reported that I implied in a recent column “that, perhaps the two-year colleges were no longer a necessary part of the University System.” I must have been unclear in what I wrote because … Read the rest

R&D spending, startup funding surge in Wisconsin

I made a mistake in a recent column on our university system, and I’m glad I was wrong. In one bullet point, I reported that research and development dollars had fallen off at our state’s research powerhouse, the University of … Read the rest

Manydeeds will walk UW high wire balancing act

With a changing of the guard in key positions at the University of Wisconsin, there is shaking and baking going on in favor of a system-wide strategic plan. There has been plenty of conversation over the years about the need … Read the rest

Amidst double-barreled crisis, give Tommy an extension

When Tommy Thompson was named interim president of the University of Wisconsin System eight months ago, there were a lot of people who guessed that he would prove to be such a good fit that his tenure would prove longer … Read the rest