“I was heartened tonight to hear Governor Doyle’s intention to reinvest in the University of Wisconsin System. His willingness to reverse the funding trends of recent years can help the university begin to recover from years of severe budget cuts. In addition, I appreciate his plans to increase financial aid for our neediest students, and to provide tuition-related tax credits for Wisconsin families. These initiatives will be essential to protecting student access, and, ultimately, ensuring Wisconsin’s success.
“The Governor recognizes the UW System’s unique capacity to further the state’s economic development and job creation efforts. With state reinvestment, we can increase the number of Wisconsin residents with four-year college degrees, and provide talent, expertise and ideas to businesses around the state.
“I’m pleased that Governor Doyle highlighted the groundbreaking research on Alzheimer’s disease led by UW-Madison Professor Jeff Johnson and his colleagues. Their work is an extraordinary example of the kinds of discoveries being made by enterprising researchers across the UW System. I know, too, that many patients and families in the state, and across the nation, are encouraged by the Governor’s support for biosciences research through the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery.
“While the Governor did not reveal all his budget details for the university, he seems committed to reinvestment. I hope he and the Legislature will work together to sustain the UW System, and that they will be attentive to our other priorities, including efforts to rebuild quality in our classrooms, restore faculty positions across the system, and to competitively compensate our faculty and staff, who teach and support our 160,000 students. The state must reinvest in the people and ideas of this university for Wisconsin’s success.”