Scott Walker made his reputation busting unions and attacking K-12 teachers. It was only a matter of time until he turned his guns on higher education. Not only has he slashed the funding of the University of Wisconsin, but now he is going after tenure. He long ago signaled his belief that universities exist for workforce training, not to develop independent-minded citizens or creative thinkers.
If you are opposed to Scott Walker’s assault on intellectual freedom, sign this petition.
This email just arrived:
Diane,
Please help get the word out–
Tenure is literally dying as we speak. Last Friday the Wisconsin Legislature’s Joint Finance Committee passed an Omnibus Bill that creates Act 10 for Higher Education
This motion (http://budget.wisc.edu/content/uploads/2015/05/UW_omnibus_motion.pdf ) makes it possible for the University of Wisconsin administration to layoff off faculty or academic staff not only because of financial exigency but also “when such an action is deemed necessary due to a budget or program decision regarding program discontinuance, curtailment, modification, or redirection, instead of when a financial emergency exists as under current law” (Omnibus Motion #521.39)
While the Chancellor of Madison and the President of UW System both claim that the Regents can still “uphold tenure” despite this, it simply is not true. If this is passed into law— and it looks like it will be by month’s end— no Regent policy can override it.
The Regents of UW System have declined—tonight— to do anything about this. Instead they issued a carefully worded statement that still allows tenured faculty and academic staff to be laid off for non financial reasons. For more on this point see: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7f2ehslx8626nh9/Statement%20by%20David%20J%20Vanness%20Re%20Board%20of%20Regents%20Tenure%20Proposal%2020150603%20-%20Final.docx?dl=0
For more in general see:
http://www.jsonline.com/news/national-focus-on-uw-sharpening-over-tenure-governance-b99511901z1-306017731.html
We need national attention to this important issue. The national press are not here. Not even Chancellor Blank is here. Tomorrow the Regents meet and they do not appear willing to challenge the Wisconsin Legislature at all.
Scott Walker is leading the charge to end faculty tenure— in Wisconsin, and in the United States. He must be stopped.
Thanks–
Sara
********************************************
Sara Goldrick-Rab
Professor of Educational Policy Studies & Sociology
Founding Director, Wisconsin HOPE Lab
University of Wisconsin-Madison
239 Education Bldg
1000 Bascom Mall
Madison WI 53706
(608) 265-2141
srab@education.wisc.edu
http://www.wihopelab.com
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This may sound like a stupid question, but is change.org now trustworthy? (I haven’t signed any petitions on change since it was used to sign people up for Students First.) I know that was a long time ago, but haven’t seen many post their petitions on change.org since that time.
Not a stupid question at all. I wonder the same thing. I certainly haven’t heard them issue any policy changes or apologies for their previous behavior, so I don’t trust them.
I also haven’t gone there since they supported StudentsFirst. I don’t trust them.
They are a for-profit organization; avoid them.
Anti-intellectualism is not just a right-wing ploy; it comes from both parties. Some day, Democrats will regret their complicity in the dumbing down of America, through their pushing of neoliberal economic and education policies, in both lower ed and higher ed, which they have repackaged and pass off as “civil rights.” Will the right-wing that’s been dominating the Democratic party since Clinton ever learn that the ignorant masses are more likely to vote for GOP corporatists than the stealth conservative brand they promote?
Re-packaging same-o, same-o repressive policies IS the game. Why? Ka-ching … $$$$$.
Why has Obama NEVER spoken out against Walker and all of his policies? It’s unbelievable what Walker can do and not draw the ire of the national parties.
Still looking for his comfy shoes.
Walker is college dropout. Who would vote for him? Evidently in Wisconsin, even with the great state university, there are enough people who remain stuck in their regressive logic. Obama refused to take a stand when the informed mass protest took place at their Capitol. Obama is the best Repub Prez we have ever had. And Hillary, despite her polled and PR generated words, it his clone.
You all knew this was coming.
http://host.madison.com/news/state-and-regional/walker-proposes-new-teacher-licensure-plan/article_77ed56b2-ff0a-5d8c-a789-17ef6ef0b818.html#ixzz3PZU8qC2V
In Wisconsin, thanks to Scott Walker’s “budget repair” bills
and reforms in union-busting
(though not busting ALL unions, mind you… just
lazy, greedy teachers and nurses…
… as for unions for state police, local police, firefigthers, etc….
Walker left them alone, as the existence of these unions is
“vital” to the state, while those others are not.)
Anyway, thanks to five years of Walker, we have the following
conditions in Wisconsin:
1) teachers are fleeing the state to work elsewhere;
2) teachers are staying in the state, but leaving the profession;
3) university students who otherwise would have pursued
teaching now want nothing to do with it;
4) mid-career folks who once considered switching
to teaching from whatever—accounting, engineering,
etc.—now want nothing to do with it;
5) the older “baby boomers” are retiring in massive
numbers;
6) some (but not all) newly-empowered administrators are’
making teachers lives miserable, and driving out teachers,
particulary the high-paid veterans.
As a result, there’s now a crisis-level teacher shortage that’s
only going to become more and more desperate as time goes on.
What’s Scott Walker to do? Here’s what:
(To read and access this article, I had to answer question
on whether or not I ran a credit report on myself
in the last six months… no big deal… just CLICK “NO” and
you have access to the article)
Walker proposes new teacher licensure plan to wide criticism :
Madisondotcom
http://host.madison.com/news/state-and-regional/walker-proposes-new-teacher-licensure-plan/article_77ed56b2-ff0a-5d8c-a789-17ef6ef0b818.html#ixzz3PZU8qC2V
Walker proposes new teacher licensure plan to wide criticism
———————
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker wants to create a new pathway for people with “real-life experience” to get licensed to teach in Wisconsin, but his proposal …
View on host.madison.com
—————–
I’m wondering exactly WHICH Wisconsin parents—i.e. parents who
voted for Walker?—relish the idea of having their children
taught by people who:
1) have ZERO training in teaching: no degree, no alternate training
(Jeez! Even TFA demands 5 weeks of training plus a Bachelors!!);
2) have only passed a brand new, untested, and unproven
competency test designed, naturally, by Walker’s people—
no educators involved;
3) have a required threshold of relevant “life experience”—
with that “life experience” again, defined by Walker’s people.
A teacher / blogger hit the nail on the head:
Scott Walker for Social Studies Teacher. | BustED Pencils
http://bustedpencils.com/2015/01/scott-walker-for-social-studies-teacher/
————————————————
Tom Slekar:
“It’s obvious this group of Republicans has done their reading on ‘disruption’ theory.
“Oh, let me count the ways that this silly proposal can be dismantled.
“1,2,3,… What? I’m counting. You don’t really want me to waste your time do you? You know like pointing out that if it’s a good idea for people with ‘real life experience’ to become a teacher simply by taking a test then surely it must also be a good idea to apply the same standard to a host of other professions.
“Real Life Experiences:
“ ‘Hey, I like going to the airport, and I have even been on a plane 10 different times. I want to be a pilot!’
” ‘OK. Just take this test.’
“ ‘I ate nothing but fat and sugar during my adult life, and had to have open heart surgery and during recovery I watched Dr. Oz for 3 weeks. I want to be a surgeon!” …………….
” ‘OK. Just take this test.’
“When I was little I made really cool Lego structures, and I made my cat walk across them. I want to build bridges.”
” ‘OK. Just take this test.’
“Sorry. I said I wasn’t going to do that. But hopefully you get my point.”
If you psychoanalyze Walker, you can see that his
intense hostility towards college and college graduates
stems from his own insecurity about dropping
out of college.
In the piece below, The writer compares his
own compelling life story (including military service)
and parallels that with Walker’s…
…the sacrifices both financial and personal that the writer
endured to attain his degree—the sacrifices that Walker
eschewed in favor Walker’s cushy ride while right-wing
politicos groomed him to be the Wisconsin Republican
Party’s and the Koch brothers’ new water boy…
The writer also pointing out the value of a university education,
and the downsides to lacking one:
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker claims to have a master’s degree
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/18/1357280/-Wisconsin-Gov-Scott-Walker-claims-to-have-a-master-s-degree
Here’s the text:
—————————————————
Everyone is almost certainly aware by now that Republican Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin does not have a bachelor’s degree. He left the University of Marquette, and in his words,
“I’m someone who went to college, had the opportunity in my senior year to go and take a job full-time job (… )like a lot of folks in America, you know, your family and your job take the time away from you finishing it up.”
In that same recent interview, Walker stated, “I’ve got a ‘Master’s Degree’ in taking on the big government special interests, and I think that is worth more than anything else that anybody can point to.”
Gov. Walker was unable to finish college. There are plenty of websites and blogs out there full of accusations about why he left Marquette, but we’re not exploring that today. This is about how he has the audacity to suggest that he has “a master’s degree” when he does not even have a bachelor’s degree.
While Walker was at Marquette, I was serving my country, hoping to come out after four years with enough money to put myself through college. After four years of being a U.S. Army Combat Engineer, I left the service. I got out a little too late to start classes that fall. So I would start school the following semester.
I made it through three semesters of school and then the Gulf War started. Unsure if I would have to go back on active duty or not, I dropped out of school and went to work full time waiting to be called up for duty.
It would be over 10 years before I would return to a classroom as a non-traditional student, and after my GI Bill expired. I was a 40-year-old single father when I received my bachelor’s degree. I sacrificed a lot to earn that degree to give my family a better life. I worked full time and went to school full time. I gave up time with my then-wife and son to complete assignments. I had a lot of sleepless nights and missed weekends. I had to write papers while on the phone with a divorce attorney. (Want a challenge? Take a course on wealth and power in America while in the middle of a divorce.)
Three years later, I decided to work towards a master’s degree in communications to fulfill a lifelong dream of becoming a writer. I worked a full-time job, coached my son’s football team and went to school full time. I busted my ass to get my master’s. Writing my thesis was one of the most difficult things I have ever done and it cost me the love of my life—she could not take coming in third after my son, and after my thesis. I cannot blame her, she did not sign up for the sacrifices—I did that.
When I look back at what my education cost me, precious time with my son, and a relationship with a woman I loved deeply, I am filled with rage when I hear that Walker claims to have a non-existent “Master’s Degree.” He is no better than wannabe soldiers who parade around in military uniforms, claiming to be something they are not.
He has no idea of the sacrifices that a non-traditional student has to make to attain a degree, a degree that they hope will lead to a better life for their families. That was my hope, for a better life for me and my son. In the end I found that my education gave me far more than what I put into it—and I am not talking about a great job with high pay and amazing benefits (graduating in the middle of a recession did not help). It made me a better person; it taught me how to think, and how to express myself.
Walker has only briefly worked in the private sector. For most of his life he has been in public service while railing against the very government that provides for him and his family.
He chose that life, he chose to attend fundraisers instead of classrooms, and he chose to spend his time campaigning instead of learning, instead of growing as a person.
He does not get to say he has a non-existent “Master’s Degree.” He has not earned one—he does not know what non-traditional students have to sacrifice for their education. He has never wondered if he will have enough money for food after he pays his tuition bill, or if he can afford diapers after purchasing a textbook. He has never slaved away for months on something, putting heart and soul into it, only to have a professor rip it to shreds in less than five minutes, and to have loved ones walk out of your life.
No, Walker does NOT have “a Master’s Degree in taking on the big government special interests. ”
He is a college dropout.
Originally posted to Daily Kos on Sun Jan 18, 2015 at 12:00 PM PST.
excellent info, jack! i like to say walker is just a high school graduate…
Saddened by not surprised. First they came for the school teachers…then …. where were they when we were attached?
Seriously. Scot Walker?
Here is the book by Joel Shatzky, a satire he wrote about the destruction going on in ‘HIGHER ” education. “Option Three,”
http://hnn.us/article/152362
nails the atmosphere and the charlatans.
Shatzky, a professor, wrote (for years) a column at the Huffington Post describing the destruction in education.
Walker is just the latest. Already, here in NY, and in universities across the nation, the professional is being neglected and harassed. “ADJUNCTS” are the new college teacher, with no contracts or benefits. Too many colleges are all about PROFIT, and education is the last goal.
Thanks Susan for reminding us about the use of adjuncts. As an adjunct professor in higher ed, I see the younger ‘freeway flyers” zipping from city college to city college in their rattle trap cars trying to earm a modest day’s pay, and as you say, with zero benefits. This, after at least 6 – 8 years getting their own advanced degrees…it is a tragic situation. The lack of respect for education in the US is staggering, These Luddites who work toward the demise of all but the wealthy being educated are inhuman and two faced in supporting
‘their’ president’s RttT.
FYI…I chose adjunct so I could expand my own interests in public policy by functioning also as an freelance educational researcher/writer…so cannot blame it on anyone but myself. And I have had much personal satisfaction doing this for over 45 years.
Very few college professors have come out in support of elementary and secondary teachers. The chickens are coming home to roost. My colleagues at the community college where I moonlight find my tales of woe hard to believe. Sorry! I am not feeling their pain.
NJ Teacher writes “Sorry! I am not feeling their pain.”
Now that’s not exactly wise, is it? 🙂 Just think about the fact that teachers are made at universities. It’s like defensive driving: forget about revenge, your and your children’s life are at stake.
Darwin says: “… for those communities, which included the greatest number of the most sympathetic members, would flourish best, and rear the greatest number of offspring.”
That’s our biggest weapon: empathy.