Walker urges professors to work harder

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, defending proposed budget cuts for higher education, took a swipe at university professors who he said could be “teaching more classes and doing more work.”

“Maybe it’s time for faculty and staff to start thinking about teaching more classes and doing more work and this authority frees up the [University of Wisconsin] administration to make those sorts of requests,” Walker (R) said Wednesday on Milwaukee radio station WTMJ.


Walker’s comments came as he spoke about his proposed budget, which would cut $300 million over the next two years from the University of Wisconsin system. He added the school would still receive block grants.

Walker said his proposal would hold the university accountable and “puts the ball clearly in their court.”

His proposed budget, Walker said, would free the administration “from shared governance,” which he said “kept the university from directly running things” as it needed to make decisions with faculty.

The Republican said the university’s system will “have to be more effective, more efficient.”

Walker, who does not have a college degree of his own, noted that he has a child at the University of Wisconsin.

“So, of course I have a vested interest in making sure that works well,” he said, and also pointed to his Democratic predecessor, Gov. Jim Doyle, who, he said, had made similar cuts during his first term.

This story has been updated to correct where radio station WTMJ is located.