Things to Come for UC?: Wisconsin Debates Separating Madison Campus from Others in System

Inside Higher Ed today carries a story on the request in Wisconsin for emails of a history professor by the state’s GOP in relation to the passage of anti-union legislation in that state. Wisconsin has a state equivalent of the federal Freedom of Information Act – as does California. One take-away from this episode is that faculty should not assume emails are private communications. Even if you use an outside service such as gmail, your communications can be forwarded around and wind up on services which are subject to outside scrutiny. Undoubtedly, UCLA would take a position similar to the…

Inside Higher Ed has been tracking the story of the pursuit by the University of Wisconsin-Madison for more autonomy from the larger U of Wisconsin system. That story has been submerged due to the controversy over the collective bargaining issue. As prior posts on this blog have noted, this effort has the support of Governor Walker but has not been cheered by the system’s regents. In fact, they were opposed. However, today’s Inside Higher Ed notes that the system’s regents have now come up with their own plan for more autonomy of the campuses, reproduced below. But, as the bold…