Retiring Guy's Digest: Scott Walker's legacy: Dismantling of higher education

Monday, February 12, 2024

Scott Walker's legacy: Dismantling of higher education

Photos by Retiring Guy

The Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/18/2022

Scott Walker, however, was the anti-education governor. Time and again during his two terms, the Wisconsin Republican made the state’s colleges, and those who work at them, political foils, criticizing them as wasteful and out of touch, challenging what was taught in their classrooms, and questioning their value. By the time he left office, in 2019, Walker had slashed college budgets, stripped tenure protections and university autonomy, and proposed to gut the Wisconsin Idea, enshrined in state law, that stresses higher education’s importance to the state and society.

WLUK, 2/8/2024

After a six-day auction, about 13,000 books from the Manitowoc campus library have been sold for $680.
It means the books won't be going to ESTHER, an interfaith social-justice group in Neenah that donates books to prisons. The group told FOX 11 last month it had an agreement in place with the school to take any unsold books to donate to state prisons.
“I knew we would not be able to handle 13,000 books, so I had a little relief that it didn't work out, but on the other hand, I'm not at all confident that those books will end up in any place where they will be available to readers,” said Fran Nelson, a member of ESTHER.
UW-Green Bay declined an interview request for this story.
In a email to ESTHER, UW-Green Bay Vice Chancellor Christopher Paquet explained the Wisconsin Department of Administration did not agree the deal met the requirements outlined in the State Procurement Manual for getting rid of taxpayer-funded state property. Paquet also says the DOA required the school to post the materials and engage in a competitive process.