Alumni for Wisconsin Advocacy Forum 2009

September 26, 2009

When Gov. Jim Doyle announced earlier this fall that he will not run for re-election, political leaders and the voting public began looking ahead to the first Wisconsin governor’s race in decades that will not include an incumbent candidate.

And as the state prepares to hear from candidates for the state’s highest office, UW-Madison alumni from all over the state who gathered for this year’s Alumni for Wisconsin Advocacy Forum talked with university leaders, elected officials and faculty experts about the issues that matter most for the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s future and what the university’s success means for the health and vitality of the state of Wisconsin.

Since taking on the role of the university’s chief executive officer last fall, Chancellor Biddy Martin PhD’85 has made it a priority to regularly communicate with elected officials at the State Capitol, as well convening small groups that allow legislators to engage in dialogue with UW faculty and staff experts.

“The legislators take a lot of pride in the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the university system whether they represent a campus in their district or not,” Martin said. “It’s incumbent on us to be better communicators. Given the upcoming governor’s race, I think it will be critical to devote more and more time to activities like these.”

Martin said she’s placing a lot of emphasis on university relations, communications and community relations.

“We need a governor who cares about higher education and understands the impact of the UW on the state," she said. "The state, whether they know it or not, wants the university to succeed as a research institution, open to students regardless of their economic circumstance. The impact of having this university deteriorate would be devastating.”

• On the recent admissions scandal at the University of Illinois: “I think it’s completely unacceptable. Would we find the same problem here? Absolutely not. There are times like this when I just think, On, Wisconsin. Our admissions office has been accused of being overly rigid. I’ve never been called by a legislator ever and asked to do anything of that sort.”
• On financial aid and the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates: “There are two steps. Provide more money, and get out in to the high schools and communities and make sure that students understand they will be able to afford an education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Being a first-generation college graduate myself, I think people find it difficult to grasp the benefits that are available to them…. Without the imagination that you could actually do these things, you don’t try. One of the biggest problems is not money, is the lack of the sense of that ability. We’ve got a lot of work to do beyond just providing the money.”

On Aug. 1, Vince Sweeney ‘78 began leading the university’s external relations efforts as the first-ever vice chancellor for university relations. A former associate athletic director for external relations with the Athletic Department, Sweeney said that over the years, he has been a UW-Madison student, alumnus, parent, member of the media, city and state resident, and long-term employee of the institution.

“I see UW from so many angles, and it looks good from every angle I can see,” he said.

Sweeney said the year is off to a great start with outstanding leadership from Chancellor Martin, including the strong case for the Madison Initiative for Undergraduates, and the successful launch of Go Big Read, which is energizing students and people from all over the university community in a common book program.

To help strengthen the university’s position in the state and help tell UW-Madison’s story, Sweeney called upon alumni to be ambassadors for UW-Madison where they live.

“Be the eyes and ears of UW-Madison,” Sweeney said. “We need you to be the pulse of UW-Madison in your communities.”

Sweeney’s duties as vice chancellor for university relations include not only managing relationships with government, community and social sectors, but also strategic university communications, corporate relations and economic development initiatives, and constituent relations, including parents, visitors, alumni and friends of the university community.

“Relationships with key constituents is my fundamental job,” Sweeney said. “We want to make sure we’re in conversations with the legislators, the Governor’s office and elsewhere. We want higher education to be an nonpartisan issue.”

Sweeney said the university will continue to bring Chancellor Martin and faculty to the Capitol to showcase faculty and their contributions to the well-being of the people of Wisconsin.

“We’ll do the best we can to nurture and establish strong relationships,” he said. “We’ll have civil conversations and understand each other throughout the process. If we can build and protect the brand of UW-Madison, I think that will help us in the long run.”

Rep. Mark Pocan ‘86 (D-Madison), said there are a couple of ways to successfully advocate for a cause with elected officials, and that as a group, UW alumni have the potential for “people power,” and can show that there are people concerned with the university’s success and that they are ready to reach out and do something.

“The number of alumni, the number of students, parents, staff, faculty, vendors… When you add that all up, I can’t think of any entity that would have people to contact their legislators as the university system,” Pocan said. “We need to activate that even more. Not everything has to take money, but they still need the same people advocacy to get things done.”

Pocan said that funding and support for the university can be an important issue throughout the next budget cycle and the upcoming governor’s race.

“We have to be in a position to defend the dollars we do need for this university,” he said. “It’s not just about the next budget that’s going to happen for this university. Lots of people will want to talk with you as they want to be the net governor. Talk about the university system in general and then specific facts about UW-Madison in that context… the real problem is trying to get legislators to decide that the university system is a priority.”

Pocan said UW-Madison alumni can be influential with their elected officials even through simple communications in favor of support for the university.

“If I get five contacts on an issue, it’s on the radar screen. A well-written letter can make an impact,” he said. “Think about the alumni you know in your area – you can easily find five or ten alumni. Put that tree together, and you’ve really made an impact on that legislator.”

• On what to ask gubernatorial candidates: “A good question to ask is, what are they going to do about revenue to the state of Wisconsin? If they’re not willing to talk about revenue at all, then they’re not willing to govern. They just want to be elected to something. We haven’t been willing to talk about revenue for a long time, and we’re at the point where we’re starting to damage things.”
• On contacting legislators who regularly support the university: “Help build that network statewide. Get people in Appleton you know involved with the alumni association doing this work. We need to build that network in districts where regardless of party, [legislators] may not have a university or hear about these issues enough.”

Katherine Cramer Walsh ‘94, an associate professor of political science, director of the Badger Poll and Morgridge Center for Public Service Faculty Research Scholar, described her studies of public opinion in Wisconsin as it related to perceptions and knowledge of UW-Madison.

Walsh’s studies stemmed from visits she made to communities across the state to talk with people in informal settings about how the university connects with residents across the state.

She said her research focuses on three questions: What UW-Madison does well, what it doesn’t do as well, and what people would like UW-Madison to be doing in their communities.

“People love Badger sports and the Marching Band, as well as UW-Extension and the UW Hospital,” Cramer Walsh said, but added that people are concerned about the rising cost of tuition, sometimes perceive faculty as “liberal, lazy and elitist,” and have the sense that most of the state’s financial resources are directed to the Milwaukee and Madison areas.

But overall, she said, UW-Madison enjoys a positive reputation.

“I heard a lot of pride in the University of Wisconsin, as you can imagine — Alumni, especially,” she said. “People were very welcoming. Most Wisconsinites are.”

Details about Cramer Walsh’s research finding are available online on her Wisconsin Public Opinion Study Web site.