Ward: UW must return to budget radar

Attendees of the May 4 Faculty Senate meeting got a peek at the upcoming debate over the 1999-2001 state budget.

The senate passed a resolution in support of making library funding a “critical budget priority,” in response to a Library Committee report outlining increasing acquisition and journal costs and declining resources. And in the midst of that discussion, Chancellor David Ward expressed his sentiment concerning the next two-year state spending plan.

“We have to get the entire university on the radar screen as well,” he said.

State funding for the university has dropped $20 million in the last six years, Ward said. And as a percentage of the UW–Madison budget, state support is 26.9 percent this year, down from 36.3 percent in 1986-87 and 44 percent in 1973-74.

This has forced the university to rely more on federal funds and gifts and grants to supplement its operating budget and capital projects, such as new construction and building renovation. The federal government is providing the university with $305 million this year, just shy of the $337 million from the state, and private giving now exceeds tuition revenue.

Ward’s comments elicited support from several senators, who spoke out in favor of both increased library and overall university funding.

“We need to demonstrate we have a real problem here,” said James Pawley, professor of zoology.

In other action, senators again took up the thorny issue of faculty discipline. They adopted revised rules concerning the handling of faculty misconduct cases to clarify the role of the chancellor; provide more information to professors under investigation; and include more faculty participation in the investigation process.

As part of the revised guidelines, the senate approved an amendment from math Professor Anatole Beck stating that faculty can “refrain from testifying without such omission being taken as formal evidence of guilt.” The University Committee opposed the amendment, saying a lack of response from a professor accused of misconduct could limit internal investigations.

Another Beck amendment included in the approved revision encourages the chancellor not to mete out stricter punishment than that recommended by the Committee on Faculty Rights and Responsibilities.

Faculty guidelines concerning personal gain from university employment were updated by the senate as well. Following a recommendation from the University Committee, senators approved language emphasizing the need for faculty to avoid unwarranted gain from their jobs for themselves or someone else on whose behalf they have acted.

In other business, journalism Professor Robert Drechsel briefed the senate on the updating of the faculty speech code. Drechsel, who chairs the 19- member committee examining the speech code, said a draft should be finished this month. The committee will present its report to the senate in the fall, he said.

The senate concluded its business for the academic year and will meet again next October.