Whither UW Milwaukee

A colleague of mine sat through the parade of UW Chancellors on Friday at the meeting of the regents. This colleague was struck by the admission of UWM Interim Chancellor Lovell that as an organization they're in a "dammed if they do, damned if they don't" situation by the proposed breakup of the UW System. UWM cannot offer compensation to match institutions below them at the moment and, compared to all UW schools, they have the lowest salaries below their peers. They cannot offer packages to graduate students because programs become noncompetitive.

Lovell outlined three possibilities.
1. Combine with UW-Madison in a shared public authority. Lovell admits that by being the weaker of the two and they won’t get resources necessary to continue meeting their mission. A UWM faculty member has been on about a joint Grad School, sharing resources, teach across the two campuses, (faculty union?), etc. This COULD be possible under this framework. I doubt that UW-Madison will permit this given a certain level of arrogance that pervades some of the faculty in Madison.
2. Combine with the other UW institutions into a public authority that lacks UW-Madison. Lovell noted that UWM doesn’t have a lot in common with others (outside of UW-Madison they are the only other UW school granting doctoral degrees) and have to scrap with the other schools for few resources.
3. Have their our own public authority. Here they have to strike out on their own, competing with UW-Madison AND the other UW schools for limited Wisconsin resources.

My colleague reminded me of one additional option to keep UWM from whithering on the vine: have one public authority for all UW schools, including UW-Madison and UWM. I agree with Chancellor Lovell that UWM has the most to lose under every proposal except one, and hope that the UW-Madison faculty will be mindful of their peers over at UWM who have a rougher future ahead of them than we do.

The latest in word formation ... news from the front

This was once, and will be again, a blog about language. Massive political upheaval tends to upset things, though, and we're rolling with it. But the two meet sometimes: The new name for what's up at the capitol and on campus:

The Wiscy Rebellion.

A response to letters of support for the New Badger Partnershpi

Below is an open letter that came to this blog from people involved in the discussions about the New Badger Partnership and the potential split of UW-Madison from System. There is a sense in some quarters that only one side of this story is getting out, and this presents another perspective, one that seems to be held by a set of people around campus.

I don't know where the current situation is headed, but I sure hope that we get there based on open and informed discussion.

Mr. Verb

Many of us have been called to publicly defend our Chancellor and the merits of the New Badger Partnership, its Public Authority model and the UW-Madison’s potential split from the UW System to the UW Board of Regents in advance of today’s Special Meeting. I have seen more than a few letters of support for the Chancellor and the current proposal in circulation. However, I cannot support the Chancellor or her vision at this time for the following reasons:

The Chancellor, only Wednesday, shared the details on the massive structural changes contained in the Summary of the Final Draft from the Legislative Reference Bureau with the UW-Madison community. Now that we know the elements of the proposed changes, at long last, we can embark on a deliberative process of assessment and analysis of the proposal based on its merits and weaknesses before we make a decision to offer our support. The budget process itself will take another 4-5 months and, in that time, I strongly encourage everyone to take the time needed to enumerate our feelings on the proposed changes and then, in unified voice, share our conclusions with the rest of the state.

There is a palpable sense of urgency from some to support both the Chancellor and the proposals in light of the Special Meeting called by the Board of Regents for Friday, February 25th, to discuss the highly controversial proposal to sever the UW-Madison from the UW System. The insufficient notice for today’s Special Meeting lies in large part with the mystification of the true extent of the proposed split to relevant stakeholders, including but not limited to, the UW Board of Regents, the UW System, or our own campus until very recently, and with the pressing demand for a transparent review of the plan’s evolution. Given that the details of the proposed split were only made public when a seven-page memo dated January 7, 2011, from Chancellor Martin to DOA Secretary Mike Huebsch, were leaked to the media just one week ago, on February 18, 2011, seems to suggest that the intricacies of the New Badger Partnership, its Public Authority model and the proposed schism of the UW-Madison from UW System were regarded by the Chancellor’s office as a private little secret rather than a shining example of transparency.

There is little wonder, then, to the call to rally around Chancellor Martin as a visionary leader and passionate advocate now that the Board of Regents and the UW System have learned of the proposals formulated by Chancellor Martin and Governor Walker for the future of the UW-Madison. Moreover, the attempts by the UW community to thoroughly and thoughtfully examine and interrogate the New Badger Partnership, let alone the proposed public authority or split between UW-Madison and UW System, were thwarted time and again, despite the opportunities sponsored forums provided, because information required for consent and agreement was strategically withheld.

Even if there are those of us who feel they have had the time (since Wednesday) to fully absorb the magnitude of the proposed changes and to consider all of the ramifications of the potential structural changes to take a position on the merits of the proposal, I am not one of them. The New Badger Partnership, its attendant Public Authority model, and the potential severance of UW-Madison from UW System raise serious questions and concerns. This is not the first time the UW community has been presented with specious arguments in favor of fast-tracked changes or policy decisions—the Chancellor offered similarly grave testimonials in support of the Graduate School restructuring proposal only last year. At that time, we requested caution and more information concerning alternatives to the problems laid out before us. The situation now is no different. We need to take time to reflect on the proposed changes before we take positions and to seriously investigate other solutions. The Board of Regents meeting should not force us to rush to conclusions nor rush to support the actions of the Chancellor.

I think that we can all agree that Chancellor Martin was familiar with the details of the proposals before us, and yet chose to keep that vital information away from the public and to prevent the wider UW community from engaging in honest and informed debate on the potential changes. Instead, we are left with almost no time to thoughtfully respond to the most important elements of the New Badger Partnership, the potential dismemberment of our system, and the particulars of the public authority model. Chancellor Martin has willfully ignored the most basic and prized tenets of the shared governance model we have built over generations here at our university, and that is not the kind of leadership we need at such a dark and dangerous time for the future of higher education in Wisconsin.

We cannot celebrate and rally around a Chancellor who chosen to operate behind closed doors and has chosen to ignore all of our cherished shared governance structures and principles, no matter what the political climate. She has withheld crucial information and therefore stymied democratic debate on our campus and across our system throughout this process. We have been frustrated at every public forum, advisory group, and governance committee in our earnest attempts to engage in the shared governance process over this fundamental issue. Those individuals privy to the intricacies of the plan were sworn to secrecy. The merits of the proposal may very well pass the test of clear-eyed discussion and debate, but Chancellor Martin’s machinations cannot.

It is unacceptable for Chancellor Martin to argue that today’s political realities forced her to withhold relevant information and compelled her to disregard the shared governance we cherish for our own good. The Chancellor of our university must be a trusted and trustworthy leader, one who is willing to work with all stakeholders as an honest broker. To my mind, Chancellor Martin has proven herself to be none of these things.

Colleagues, if you do, in fact, support Chancellor Martin and her actions, and if you support the massive structural changes designed and envisioned by she and Governor Walker, without meaningful input from and dialogue with the UW community, then I understand why you feel you must publicly defend the proposal as well as her leadership. However, if you are concerned about the merits and wisdom of the proposed split, the governance structure and benefits of the public authority model, and the process Chancellor Martin used to achieve these proposed changes, I urge you to reconsider throwing the full weight of your support behind any of these issues until further debate and discussion have occurred. Do not heed the call to act now, only to think of the repercussions later.

Removing protesters? You're kidding me

Check out this. A vote to not allow protesters in legislative offices and hearing rooms at night? Sorry, goons, that's the people's house. By the way, that site, DefendWisconsin.org, is now a real go-to place for info on the protests.

Big stuff breaking at the UW too. Some of it bad, very bad. More on that soon.

Help needed!

Dear Colleagues:

No part of our community has worked harder during this struggle than the members of the Teaching Assistants' Association (TAA). They have marched and protested, testified and debated; they have remained at the capitol day and night, holding down the fort while many of us were home in bed. They have been a backbone of the movement, and now they need our help to keep going. The cost of food, water, and other essentials that sustain them, along with supplies to keep their organizational and communication efforts running, have drained the TAA's resources, and they're asking us to help them out with contributions--money that will help keep their bodies strong and spirits high and their efforts to keep the capitol clean, peaceful, and democratic as we enter the second week.

To contribute, please write a check to Teaching Assistant' Association and deliver (or send) it to the TAA at 254 W. Gilman, Madison, 53703, or make an online contribution through PayPal (it's easy!) at http://www.helpdefendwisconsin.org. You can also bring food (especially of the healthy variety) around mealtimes to 300NE at the Capitol.

Please feel free to pass this email on to others who might be inclined to help sustain the TAA's efforts. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Anna Enke, Gender and Women's Studies and History
Nan Enstad, History
Christine Ewig, Gender and Women's Studies and Political Science
Camille Guerin-Gonzales, History and Chica@ and Latin@ Studies
Susan Johnson, History
William P. Jones, History
Stephen Kantrowitz, History
Tony Michels, History and Jewish Studies
Gregg Mitman, Medical History and Bioethics and History of Science
Brenda Gayle Plummer, History and Afro American Studies
Mary Louise Roberts, History

On Wisconsin!

10:30 a.m.: Faculty gather on Bascom Hill, by Abraham Lincoln
11:00 a.m.: Join students on Library Mall

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!

Stand up for your rights!

Don't give in to tyranny,
Show the people's might.

(you rah rah)

On, Wisconsin! On, Wisconsin!

Do your children proud!

Tunis, Cairo, Madison, We're all one now!

Important updates

(1) Financial contributions for supplies and/or Capitol clean-up can be made here.

(2) Tuesday is going to be a big day. Faculty and others are going to support students.

Stay tuned.

Help needed!

The message below comes from someone in the Teaching Assistants' Association, about the efforts going on in the Capitol. You can call the TAA Office at (608) 256-4375.

Please post the following wherever would be appropriate. Edit/reword to make it sound better/appropriate for site on which it’s being posted:

Thanks so much for all of your support! Help is still needed!

There are letters of support here. It is very important that everyone encourage their departments and professional associations to write letters of support.

We need to keep up the marshaling effort overnight as well. The AFSCME organized marshals are only working during the day, however, we (the TAA) are here all night. The only way we can stay in the building is to keep everything peaceful/in line. All has gone well so far, but let’s help keep it that way! If you are looking for a way to contribute outside of regularly working hours, please come to 300 NE and say that you want to help out!

Reading list:
The Assault on Unions in Wisconsin
February 18, 2011, 3:29 pm
By Richard Kahlenberg
http://chronicle.com/blogs/innovations/the-assault-on-unions-in-wisconsin/28647

February 17, 2011
Fight Over Faculty Collective Bargaining Gathers Steam in Wisconsin
By Jack Stripling
Madison, Wis.
http://chronicle.com/article/Fight-Over-Union-Rights-in/126435/

February 15, 2011
With Unions Under Threat, Academics Join Huge Rally in Wisconsin
By Jack Stripling
Madison, Wis.
http://chronicle.com/article/With-Unions-Under-Threat/126379/

February 13, 2011
U. of Wisconsin Faculty Would Lose Collective-Bargaining Rights Under Governor's Proposal
By Jeffrey J. Selingo
http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Wisconsin-Faculty-Would/126354/

There is always the need for phone banking. Please contact Ben Young. There will be phone-banking today (February 20th) until 9pm at the TAA office. Please show up, and bring a cell phone! Food is being provided.

Please vote in online polls related to the budget bills.

We could use a toner cartridge for a Samsung ML-2851SD printer.

Update

Below is our morning update from our voice inside the Capitol (more or less). I have just heard that the paragraph about the Milwaukee paper's article on the potential split of Madison from System requires some expansion and clarification. That is likely to appear on the PROFS website this afternoon.

My eyes are really bad, especially adjusting to distance. So, every time I see the front page of a newspaper now, the first thing I'm trying to figure out is whether the picture is from the Middle East or Madison. If there's no smoke plume, I have to look for the colors of the relevant national flag or something. Yesterday, as you've seen in the media, crowds were getting up to those international stage numbers.

Just one point now for now: We all worry about the lack of good media analysis of anything we know about, and probably especially the highly paid screaming heads. I'd like to call your attention to two examples where the lack of good analysis hurts us badly here, one from the fringe and one from an utterly mainstream source.

--From the right, there's an effort to paint the people at the Capitol as chaotic, with the implication that it's somehow dangerous or out of control. I worked yesterday as a marshal for several hours. That involved doing two simple things, for the most part. First, police told us that there were too many people standing on the bridges of the third floor near the Rotunda. We made and posted signs saying 'please avoid congregating on bridges' and people stayed clear enough that there was surely no more concern. That is, the people in the Capitol are actively working with security to keep order. The busiest sign-up sheet in the TAA (etc.) room looked like it was the trash duty list. Considering how many people have been there for how long, the place is remarkably clean. This is not an accident. Second, I spent an hour or so walking along the seam between the demonstrators and the Tea Party people, with the aim of helping avoid any confrontation. What I saw was some discussion between the groups, basically banter that wasn't always cheerful, but nothing out of line and everything was trivial compared to the interactions at any Badger football game. And note that there haven't been arrests so far. (Let's hope that continues.)

--From the mainstream, check out this article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/116515833.html . The headline, "Faculty, alumni group divide on splitting UW", makes a claim that's not directly backed up in the article itself: I don't see where an actual disagreement is made explicit. Our University Committee and our deans (in ads in both student papers on Friday) have repeatedly and clearly endorsed the effort to get budget flexibilities. None of them, to my knowledge, have taken a public stand on possible separation from the System yet. As far as I can tell, this is claiming a 'divide' that does not exist. Politically, this is extremely dangerous.

My next message is likely to be passing along plans for Monday. There are meetings today to discuss this and get input -- meetings of union people, meetings of faculty, etc. Again, the lines of communication look very open and clear to me, if not yet perfect. And there's remarkably broad consensus here, which I understand as solid evidence that people realize just how profound this crisis is and how poisonous the budget repair bill would be for our state and university.

On Tuesday, there is almost certainly going to be action from campus, and across the UW System, probably with strong support from the faculty and faculty leaders. This should show the breadth of depth of support from people in public higher education in the state.

I have little idea of things beyond that, in part because we don't know what will happen politically -- e.g. when the D senators will return and what kind of deal might be reached on this bill, leaving aside the devastating NEW budget that is coming. For the moment, just keep that last point in mind: The actual budget for the next two years, as opposed to this 'adjustment' to the existing budget, could include things that damage EVERY person on campus directly, such as potentially far-reaching changes to the retirement system. Faculty not on board with the current activities may be the most vocal when that news breaks.

By the way, this is going to the list of addresses passed along to Mr. Verb and people who expressed interest after getting a forward of yesterday's message. I'll try to write a daily update but can't promise anything at all. People are welcome to pass me stuff to circulate and there are far better outlets -- Sifting and Winnowing, the PROFS website, TAA emails, etc. -- depending on the message and audience. Most importantly, this is a purely personal perspective and from my very limited knowledge of what's happening. Better updates are available from journalists, like here: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/02/whats-happening-wisconsin-explained .

On Wisconsin!

Today and beyond

I was starting to write an update about developments here when I got a message from a faculty member, I think we could say activist, to a (bcc) list of other faculty about where things stand. It's pasted in below, slightly edited(to remove potentially sensitive information. If any readers want to be added to the list, send an email to misterverb@gmail.com providing a non-UW address.

Oh, and in the image, that's me off to the left there.

I sure hope Steve Nass appreciates that so many UW faculty have been holding so many office hours, up to 20 just since Tuesday and right there at the Capitol. No charge, Steve, no charge. (Haven't laid eyes on him, though.)

A number of people have asked for various updates, so here goes, just from my perspective and what I know or have heard:

TODAY: Major rally at 10:30. Tea Party and open carry (i.e. gun) people at noon. TAA and other unions have organized sets of marshals, people to do what we can to keep things calm, avoid conflict, and keep the tone positive. One D from the Assembly told a group of us last night that most of the counter-protesters are being bussed in with money from FreedomWorks (Dick Armey's group) and the Koch Brothers. Security, based on a set of reports from all sorts of people, will be very heavy. There's been talk about Sarah Palin showing, but that feels like a rumor to me at this point.

Saturday afternoon, when most of the counter-protesters are on the bus home, people want to make sure there remains a strong and steady presence over the weekend.

MONDAY: State workers are furloughed, and are expected to turn out in large numbers. This means ...

TUESDAY: Current talk is about making the next really huge push from campus on Tuesday. I haven't heard anything official yet, but I believe that people are going to ask again for a teach-out and rally on that day. Stay tuned.

MORE GENERALLY:

First, TAA and other union people and activists are staying in the Capitol around the clock. If you go to the Capitol, please say a word of support to them. At least one faculty member dropped by with a donation of money. Others have sent pizzas (Ian's is close and seems popular) and others are coming by and just asking 'what can I do?'. These people are literally staying there around the clock. (I walked in yesterday on a conversation among a whole set of TAs where the theme was how many straight nights they could comfortably stay without going home -- folks seemed good with a couple nights in a row, but wanted to go home to bed every third night.) They are really committed and well organized and are tremendously appreciative for any sign of support. (The room IS an absolute zoo, as you might imagine.)

By the way, testimony is STILL going on about the budget bill, to a group of D assembly people. (Well, that's obvious. The Rs don't want to hear it and the D senators aren't around.)

Second, if you know people who would like to be included on these emails, please send me their *non-UW* addresses and I'll add them. In the meantime, feel free to pass this on. I'm using non-UW emails only, and urge you to as well. But once I hit 'send', that's no longer my call.

OVERALL, the stakes are now extremely high for us and for the future of our University. As the NYT and other papers are pointing out, this is a national debate now. Simply turning a few vulnerable Rs could remove some of the most damaging parts of the bill. If we are able to keep bargaining rights for people on campus and throughout the state, that would be huge.

People are obviously also talking about the situation with regard to the New Badger Partnership, which obviously fits with this situation. Probably more on that in the coming days.

One of the most respected and trusted faculty leaders on campus has been saying something to this effect: "Today, this is the greatest land grant university in the world, but the odds are good that it won't be in six months." That is a dead serious assessment from one of the people best positioned to know. Our obligation is to beat those odds.

Onward!

Morning update

Teamsters president Rich Trumpka will be speaking today and the TAA and others have called on the chancellor to cancel classes. (No action or response on that as far as I know.) But crowds will be big.

And there are reports that the Tea Party has a permit to bring in 10,000 people. (See here for one report.)

Big day coming

A link to the Public Representation Organization of the Faculty Senate's post about tomorrow is here, and the Teaching Assistants Association here.

Wow.

Walk like an Egyptian!

OK, a lot of readers are too young to remember that great Bangles song. (Lyrics here.) That's one of the great signs around here. (More on that below.)

But this, believe me I beg you, matters. Press estimates are that there were 25,000 people at Capitol today, vastly more than the last days. This thing is GROWING. The unions are making a big push for tomorrow, should be the biggest yet.

Be there or be square.

Back to the signs. My favorite signs so far, mostly funny ones:

• Kids, don’t be like Scotty: Stay in school.
• I blame Favre.
• Aaron Rodgers is a union worker.
• This Walker’s made for booting.
• Scotty go time-out now. (Worn by a toddler walking around.)
• Without teachers, who'll teach me how to Bucky?
  
• Teach me how to budget!
  
• Madison, WI: Class warfare’s ground zero.

fb group

UW Madison Faculty Organizing for Change. Here.

What's going down in Madison?

This is a guest post from a UW teaching assistant about trying to testify on the budget bill on Tuesday.

After first preparing the materials which I would use to teach with the next day, I headed to the Wisconsin State Capitol building to get in line to speak at the Joint Finance Committee hearing, which had been going on for eight hours. The time was 6:27 p.m. when I turned in the yellow slip expressing my desire to speak to the committee. For the next few hours, I waited in the Rotunda, on the stairwells, and outside of room 412E. I was in the group of people begging to be let in when committee members closed the hearing doors, refused to let the public in, and considered adjourning the meeting around 9:00 p.m.

Senator Taylor (D-Milwaukee) negotiated with the committee members and the distressed people outside of the hearing room doors, and eventually the hearing began again – but this time, only people who were being called to testify were allowed in the hearing room – and only calling 10-15 people at a time were being called to testify. So the hearing room visibly contained dozens of empty seats as people continued to deliver two minute testimonies into the night. I waited in the “overflow room” (411E) for my name to be called.

The people who I met in the overflow room, and the people whose testimonies I listened to until 3:00 a.m., are people who (like me) just want their voices to be heard. They want the right to speak — not just with the members of the Joint Finance Committee, but also with their fellow workers and their employers. They want a say in what is going to happen to them, to their families and friends, and to the state of Wisconsin. The testimonies I heard were full of fear, uncertainty, and anger, but also of purpose, power, and love. These are people who love their jobs, their homes, their families, their communities, and their state. And listening to their testimonies has been the most inspiring event in my life thus far.

We did not get the opportunity for our voices to be heard. We did not get the opportunity to have a say in what’s going to happen to us, our friends and families, and our state. Shortly after 3:00 a.m., I heard my name called to testify. I ran. I ran as fast as I could down the hall, and when the man at the door (who was the same man who took my yellow slip at 6:27 p.m.) looked at me, I said “I’ve been called to testify.” He nodded, and I entered. A Senator was speaking so I quickly sat down among the rows of empty seats in the hearing room. The Senator was discussing that although the hearing was going to be adjourned soon, those Senators and Assembly members that wanted to stay and continuing listening could do so in room 411E. A woman then began to testify.

I read over my notes one last time, shaking with anticipation, tiredness, and sadness. When the woman finished her testimony, the Chair announced that the hearing was adjourned, and I watched her swing the gavel. Twice. And then I sat there. I sat there holding my 3×5 note-card until the state employee worker collecting the committee members’ water cups and water pitchers rolled the cart out of the room. I and one other concerned citizen still sat, stunned. He turned to me and asked if he thought our names would be read again, or if we had just lost our spot in line to testify. I had no answer.

I went home to sleep. And I still don’t have any answers. Will I get to speak today, perhaps? Will I get to speak tomorrow? The fact that I am asking, begging for the right to speak is what troubles me most. I don’t even have something great to say. Simply that taking away rights does not repair anything. It only hurts. And the mere proposal to take away my rights, and the rights of my fellow workers, is hurtful. And since I still have the right to free speech, I just wanted to say that. However, it seems my right to free speech, just as my right to have a say in the terms of my employment and to shape my working environment, is contingent upon the desires of a select few, who at 3:00 a.m. wanted to go to sleep.

I had planned to end my testimony with the following quote from Abraham Lincoln:

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.

The University of Wisconsin – Madison

Local folks knows that we've been dealing with two very different issues lately, obviously the budget battle that's now a major national story but also the efforts of our chancellor to negotiate increased 'flexibilities' from the state. According to this story (and read the linked, scanned document from the chancellor while noting the dates), the chancellor was working on a vastly more extreme degree of flexibility than we knew.

Tomorrow: 10:30

FYI, Wisconsin:

A group of faculty is planning to march in solidarity with the TAA and the students tomorrow. We will gather at 10:30 a.m. outside the Humanities Building, then go to the demonstration together. Our desire is not only to show our solidarity with our students, but also to emphasize that our jobs are not tenable without the teaching assistants, who must be able to negotiate the terms of their employment. Those of us contacting our colleagues about this event also strongly support the collective bargaining rights of all workers.

UW-Madison update

The message below (click to enlarge of course) went to all UW-Madison faculty an hour ago. It may suggest just how serious the situation here has gotten.


On Wisconsin!

Emergency

Word is, the Republicans are going to ram through their vote on destroying public worker unions and a whole lot of other things tonight. People are heading to the Capitol. Reports were of 30,000 out today and we need a bunch tonight to keep up the pressure.

TAs are calling for a 'teach out' tomorrow and it sounds like various faculty are going with them. News broke today that the Governor and Madison Chancellor apparently have a deal to split Madison from the System, which is not going over well.

We are in deep kimchi, as they say. Extra spicy.

Good pics here. I'm the one in red.

Quick update

People here in Madison already know that public schools are closed tomorrow -- 40% of Madison School District teachers had already indicated that they weren't coming. There are strong indications that the University community will be out again in force at the Capitol.

And check out this link. The image below is a screen shot from there now. Note the use of 'a wisco', presumably for Wisconsinite in the first comment on the left.


And here's the latest from the national press, Harold Meyerson's piece, "Workers toppled a dictator in Egypt, but might be silenced in Wisconsin". That contains this great turn of phrase:

To underscore just how accompli he [Walker] considered his fait, he vowed to call in the National Guard if protesting workers walked off the job or disrupted state services.

News from Wisconsin

Pic below from someone who spent time today at the Capitol. Sounds like it was amazing.


But I digress. There's massive response to Mubarak's, I mean Walker's, efforts to strip people of pretty basic rights, with apparently up around 15,000 people in and around the Capitol today. That's an estimate from the AFL-CIO; the one I heard from early afternoon was 13,000.

At 7:00, I myself saw that there were large numbers of people coming INTO the building and a really large rally going on outside, bigger than many rallies in recent years. That's eight hours after this started. Some unions are calling for basically a sleep over. My god, that's inspiring.

Things continue tomorrow and it's important that people turn out in big numbers. It's a hard fight and as far as I can tell, it's just barely beginning.

PS: If you don't know, the particular shape of the 'W' is the University of Wisconsin sports logo and the statue, if you can't read it, is "Fightin' Bob" La Follette.

The budget

Here's a link with good info on the state budget bill.

There are rumors that the budget for UW in particular is about to get vastly worse.

Stay tuned.

Dangerous extremism: Governor Walker

This morning's piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education (sorry, pay wall) by Jeffrey J. Selingo includes this:

Prepared for Opposition
Opponents are planning rallies for Tuesday at the State Capitol in Madison. Mr. Walker is prepared for the worst. He said on Friday that the Wisconsin National Guard will provide state services if necessary.

Unclear is the impact of the governor's proposal on the union of graduate students on the Madison campus. If they are considered academic employees, they would no longer be allowed to organize under Mr. Walker's plan. If they are considered state employees, the union could remain, but it would be severely limited in what it could bargain for. At most risk could be tuition remission.

Walker is so dedicated to union busting that everyone is assuming that he'll try to take away the rights of graduate student workers to bargain collectively, even in the wretchedly weakened ways that his proposals would allow. To stay up on this issue, go here.

If that happens, I predict, and do it with some confidence, that the University of Wisconsin – Madison will be shut down by strikes.

Stand up, UW! Days of Action, Tuesday and Wednesday

What follows is one of many calls to action being issued right now on the University of Wisconsin – Madison campus. I'm passing it on by request.

You have seen the news. We as a university community are under attack on every front that matters, such as:

• After years of no raises, we now face an instant pay cut close to double digits, maybe higher.
• The UW Faculty Senate just voted for core principles to guide negotiations between the State and UW. One of those, the right to collective bargaining, would now be violated.

But that’s the tip of an iceberg. Here’s an aspect of the budget plan you may not have considered: By stripping union employees of the right to bargain for anything beyond salary, the budget plan could very easily nullify the tuition remission agreement in the Teaching Assistants Association contract with the potential to disrupt graduate student workers and grant work.

Worse, you know that the justifications for these attacks are not true: The claim that public employees as overpaid is directly at odds with available data and analysis showing that we’re rewarded worse than comparable private sector employees.

We need to act. A broad coalition of groups is organizing days or action this week at the Capitol:

11:00 a.m. Tuesday, and Wednesday, Feb. 15-16

A strong show of public support is our first step.

Please come and please encourage others to come. The future of our University may hang in the balance.

Update, 12:05: Just got the University guidelines on holding classes off-campus, since there's been a call to hold classes at the Capitol on Tuesday and Wednesday. See here.

Tracking linguistic and cultural change

This is kinda how you figure it really goes ...



Yeah, why don't we just crack up the Chablis …

Fun with Wisconsin placenames

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel did what's probably an obligatory SuperBowl piece: They interviewed people in Dallas, asking them to pronounce Wisconsin placenames, pretty much all ones of Alongonquian origin, I think. Here's the link.

If you need help with Wisconsin names of any sort, you can go to Mispronouncer. It's especially useful for people, since the site tends to have public figures saying their own names. So, you'll hear for example that State Rep. (and bane of UW's existence) Steve Nass uses the German-like vowel [a], not the [æ] people often use for his name.

Faculty Under Fire

Inside Higher Ed recently featured this interesting article on popular sentiments toward faculty at public institutions in these hard economic times.

Season's greetings

Half the email messages I've gotten today have opened or ended with "Happy snow day!" I predict this will not result in actual change to the local varieties of English.

And see here for photos of the storm that shut down Madison pretty thoroughly.

Fate of the State

WISCONSIN IS OPEN FOR PILLAGE!!!

How language changes

Fail? Maybe. Language change? You betcha.



The link was passed along by a colleague, who said a student put it on their course website, writing "maybe this is how language change works".