Scott Walker’s Mainstream Higher Ed Reform

When Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker unveiled his higher education reforms for the state university system, the reaction from that quarter was predictably negative. Yet and still, Governor Walker’s proposals are remarkably similar to several that are bandied about in the higher education establishment.

What drew the most ire from the Ivory Tower in Wisconsin was the governor’s suggestion that universities abandon the “shared governance” they have been operating under, whereby faculty members effectively have a veto over administrative decisions. It is worth noting that a former president of Princeton has endorsed such a concept and the University of Maryland Board of Regents are considering proposals remarkably similar to the Walker pronouncement. Governor Walker’s proposed reforms are simply more explicit than theirs.

“We must ask whether it is reasonable to expect a century-old structure of faculty governance to enable colleges and universities of all kinds to respond to new demands for more cost-effective student learning,” William G. Bowen and Eugene M. Tobin write in their new book Locus of Authority, published by the Princeton University Press.

Bowen is president emeritus of Princeton. Tobin is the president emeritus of Hamilton College.

Nonetheless, we should note that, despite the surprisingly widespread call for an end to this cherished faculty perk, it is not a panacea that will likely cure all the ailments that afflict the academy. Many of the most contentious policies out of academe, such as speech codes and diversity training, came not from faculty members but from administrators.

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