".............Many conservatives talk about reining in unions, but few actually change laws affecting public-sector unions. Walker mounted a campaign that did just that, and he survived a resulting recall election. His boldness and surprising political success make him the darling of big-time conservative financiers such as the Koch brothers, who promise gushers of money in Walker’s behalf.
Now he turns to higher education, promising to end tenure for professors in state law and also to strip from professors and staff decision-making power over curriculum, research and faculty status. This dramatic legislation would be the most restrictive in the land, targeting one of the most highly regarded state university systems anywhere.
As one worried observer said, if he can do this here, he can do it anywhere.
Thus, Scott Walker’s presidential bid will evoke the strongest reaction, pro and con. He has tapped a significant strain of conservative thinking that extends farther toward the center than many would like.
The Wisconsin legislative committee working on new rules proposes that university regents — “curators,” we call them here — be empowered to fire tenured faculty members “when such an action is deemed necessary due to a budget or program decision requiring program discontinuance, curtailment, modification or redirection.” This would remove legal protection for tenure, dramatically accelerating a trend already underway. That such a leap forward, at least on paper, might occur at the University of Wisconsin is remarkable......................"
Highly regarded by whom?