Scott Walker’s Austerity Agenda Brings the Shock Doctrine to Wisconsin Universities

By Eleni Schirmer and Lenora Hanson
As the recall election looms over Wisconsin, UW-Madison struggles under the weight of Scott Walker’s free-market “reforms.”

This story originally appeared at Labor Notes.

Wisconsin’s historic recall election has taken center stage in the state’s politics. Yet behind the recall curtain, the state struggles to manage damaging budget cuts enacted by Governor Scott Walker.

One key issue is the state-mandated redesign of the University of Wisconsin’s human resources system. This plan threatens how the university instructs its students, supports its faculty, and protects the rights of its employees.

Responding to the growing culture of austerity, UW-Madison has turned toward “efficiency” measures to restructure university jobs in accordance with market-based ideas.

The shift contradicts the historical mission of the state’s university system, which is grounded in service to the public good, a philosophy coined “The Wisconsin Idea.” Established in the early 1900s by Wisconsin Governor Bob La Follette, the Wisconsin Idea espouses affordable and accessible education, research that meets the state’s social and industrial needs, and progressive reforms such as corporate taxation, protection of workers’ rights, and government regulation of finance.

But Wisconsin’s current leaders have new ideas for the state and its universities.

When Walker entered office in January 2011, the state had a budget surplus of more than $120 million. Walker made quick work of creating a budget crisis, allocating $140 million in corporate tax write-offs and giveaways during his first weeks in office.

Under cover of the manufactured budget deficit, Walker passed legislation that eliminated collective bargaining rights for public sector employees and cut the state’s social services drastically, including all levels of the education system and the state health care program.

More>>