What is driving Scott Walker’s war on Wisconsin universities

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.

AP Photo/Wisconsin State Journal, Steve Apps

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. When confronted, Walker claimed the changes were the result of a “drafting error” and quickly withdrew the proposal. Records later revealed that Walker’s office had directed the changes over the concerns of University of Wisconsin System administrators. In addition, Walker’s budget proposal includes unprecedented assaults on academic freedom and university governance that are already driving away professors and faculty from across Wisconsin. Walker’s crusade against higher education is not “reform,” but is actually strategic and coordinated assault on universities across this state.