Posted on 06/10/2015 1:25:23 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Scott Walker’s war on Wisconsin’s public colleges will result in lower quality and higher debt for students and families, which is precisely what his right wing political patrons at the Bradley Foundation have been planning for decades.
Wisconsin students have experienced first hand Scott Walker’s assault on public higher education over the last four years. Double-digit tuition increases and historic, unprecedented budget cuts have resulted in declining enrollment, rising costs, and exploding student loan debt for millions of Wisconsin families. The groundwork for Walker’s crusade against public higher education in Wisconsin was first being laid as Walker began his political career over two decades ago by the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a well funded far right wing organization that today has been behind every facet of Walker’s political rise, as well as the ideological and financial source of his failed agenda.
Under Scott Walker, Wisconsin’s colleges have been the targets of an ideologically motivated attack to undermine and dismantle higher education in this state. In his first term, Walker slashed funding for Wisconsin universities and technical colleges by nearly $400 million while in-state tuition rose by double digits. As tuition increased Walker froze funding for financial aid programs and cut tuition assistance by nearly $40 million, forcing college students to carry the weight of his extreme budget cuts. Earlier this year, Scott Walker defied the national trend and intensified his war on the on the University of Wisconsin System by proposing a massive budget cut of $300 million, the largest funding cut in University of Wisconsin history. He also included a proposal in the budget to eliminate portions of the Wisconsin Idea, the University of Wisconsin’s mission statement that codifies that the purpose of the University of Wisconsin System is to improve people’s lives outside the classroom.............
(Excerpt) Read more at jsonline.com ...
NYT: Behind Scott Walker, a Longstanding Conservative Alliance Against Unions
Nov 19, 2011 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
“............Michael W. Grebe, president and chief executive of the foundation, said there’s nothing secretive about his organization. Rather, Grebe likened the Bradley Foundation to the 1960s Green Bay Packers, who ruled the football world with a fearsome ground game and a deceptively simple running play, the sweep.
“We’re going to run off tackle, right over there, and we’re telling you we’re going to run there and we’re going to knock you on your butt and carry the ball down the field,” Grebe said during an interview inside the foundation’s headquarters near downtown. “There are no surprises.”
Acting like a venture capital firm for ideas, the Bradley Foundation funds thinkers, doers and organizations tethered to conservative ideals of “limited, competent government,” free markets and a “vigorous national defense,” faithfully executing the will of the late manufacturing titans and brothers Lynde and Harry Bradley.
And make no mistake: Bradley Foundation-funded ideas, as well as political leaders who turn those ideas into action, have helped drive America’s conservative revolution over the past quarter-century.
All told, the Bradley Foundation dispersed more than $350 million in grants from 2001 to 2010 to hundreds of institutions, ranging from arts organizations and school choice groups in Wisconsin to prominent national policy organizations, a Journal Sentinel review shows.
“I think there is some level of understanding of the breadth of organizations and causes they’re involved in,” said Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha). “But I doubt many people would have any idea that they spent $350 million over the last 10 years.”
Aaron Dorfman, the executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, said the Bradley Foundation supplies “the intellectual justification for conservative causes.”
“They have been particularly skillful at funding the think tanks and university programs that provide this intellectual foundation for their policy positions.”
The list of major recipients reads like an all-star roster of conservative think tanks: millions of dollars directed to well-known groups such as the Hudson Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the American Enterprise Institute, the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace, and the Federalist Society - all trying to put their stamp on three branches of government........
[HUGE SNIP]
.....Having spent decades in the often rough-and-tumble world of politics, Grebe is accustomed to dealing with and overcoming criticism.
That’s because, Grebe said, the foundation is focused on the long term.
“We tend to have a thick skin here,” he said.”
*ping*
I love this.
Not giving the hard left everything it wants is “waging war” on them.
Either Scott walker and other Republicans are evil incarnate or the author this is full of BS ....I wonder which one it is......
Governor Walker: “No reason” changes he’s championed to public education can’t be pushed nationwide
"MADISON — Governor Scott Walker says in an opinion column that there’s “no reason” changes he championed to public education in Wisconsin can’t be pushed nationwide....."
LOL. Walker cuts the education budget so to the hardcore Left, it has to be because he is a tool of a powerful, shadowy conservative conspiracy.
Maybe, just maybe, the reason is that the state doesn’t have money to pay ever-increasing salaries to a bunch of elitist, prima donna professors to teach useless subjects.
Just as Republicans want dirty air and dirty water, they want to destroy education (especially SCIENCE education). /s
What else is new?
Uh... no. That's what LEFTIES running the universities has resulted in.
I support Gov. Walker’s efforts. Don’t think it will do a bit of good, but I support him.
I do believe that you’ve spotted the silver lining in their “evil” plan.
: )
In Texas, when Rick Perry cut the budget of the "Public Integrity Unit," they got the grand jury to indict him for "obstructing justice."
The University of Wisconsin currently has an endowment of $2,332,000,000.00. It keeps raising tuition. Scott Walker NEVER raised the cost of tuition. The education crime syndicate better know as America’s University and College systems raise tuitions. The real enemy of students are the institutions themselves. They are enslaving a generation in debt because of their rampant greed.
Another "conversation" everyone has been avoiding for years.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder should be pleased.
UW System Regents committee rejects proposal to fight controversial tenure changes by Legislature
"MILWAUKEE — Facing national attention and an onslaught of petitions and lobbying by University of Wisconsin professors, a Board of Regents committee on Thursday voted against formally opposing controversial changes to faculty tenure proposed by Republicans in the state Legislature, neglecting another motion asking lawmakers to strip the tenure changes from law.
The vote came after a sometimes contentious debate in a large UW-Milwaukee meeting room filled with faculty and others who oppose the tenure changes. Ultimately, a group of four Regents, all appointed by Gov. Scott Walker, voted against pressuring the Legislature to change course and instead directed a Regents task force on tenure to include a discussion of when and how tenured professors can be fired or laid off....."
And heaven forbid that the universities get rid of those worthless degrees and overpaid liberal professors.
Saul is full of bs. See former gov Jim Doyle (D) slashing the UW budget
“Remaining vague on the issue during the campaign may have been good for the governor. Since taking office, Doyle has refused to ignore the idea of allowing for UW System tuition increases over 10 percent. Such spikes would mean an increase in tuition of more than $150 per semester at UW-Eau Claire.
The governor’s official stance on tuition caps and overall funding cuts to the System will be presented Tuesday to the Legislature along with the rest of his 2003-05 state biennium budget.
“Doyle’s plan will start the difficult process of solving the state’s estimated $3.2 billion budget deficit, which has floated predictions of more than $100 million in cuts System-wide.
Vice Chancellor Andy Soll said he expects Doyle to propose System cuts of around $200 million or more.”
- See more at: http://www.spectatornews.com/campus-news/2003/02/17/doyle-expected-to-announce-uw-system-cuts/#sthash.S2gCUJp3.dpuf
Just a way to curb runaway college costs and stopping the stupid ideas coming from liberal-progressive-lame-brained professors.
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