Lawton rips UW-Waukesha merger study proposal

Our Lieutenant Governor is here criticising a proposal to by State Rep. Scott Jensen (R-Town of Brookfield) to conduct a study of merging the two year University of Wisconsin-Waukesha with the four year University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"I think the question of a UW-M/UW-W merger is a very serious issue that could have ramifications for the entire system," she said. "Something of that magnitude deserves to be debated on its merits and not buried in a budget."

I'd rather the budget wasn't used as a vehicle for passing non-budget measures, but she appears to assume that a study would conclude the campuses ought to merge.

Lawton said she believed the role of the two-year campuses in the state system served to increase the number of people with baccalaureate degrees in the state.

She believes this, but goes on to give reason to doubt it.

"When we talk about one of the biggest differences between Wisconsin and Minnesota, where they have greater economic growth and per-capita income, one of the factors in that is the number of people with baccalaureate degrees.

Maybe we ought to be studying how Minnesota does that.

"The question is how can we be successful in making our university system accessible to low-income people."

Presumably here meaning geographically accessible, as opposed to having a higher percentage of low-income people with high school diplomas.