The forums kicked off Monday against a grim backdrop of projected state budget deficits, turmoil on Wall Street and an uncertain economic future.
The bottom line? “We’re going to face cuts,” Chancellor Martin told an audience of more than 100 people at Union South.
Still, Martin called for participants at the brainstorming session to identify opportunities for higher education in this recessionary economy and to think creatively about UW-Madison’s future.
“We will have to find ways to cut back, but only by figuring out how we can move forward,” she said. “This is going to be a team effort and a community effort.”
The chancellor acknowledged the finals-week timing of the sessions is not ideal, but pledged to have another, student-focused forum after classes resume after the holiday break.
5:04 p.m.
Closing the campus entirely on the day following Thanksgiving, and the “weekend tie day” when the Christmas/New Years holidays fall in the middle of the week would be a great Green measure that saves a substantial amount of money. This would require Union agreement to switch a few personal holidays to these days; but well worth the effort. Probably, 80-90% of employees take off those days, while we keep the entire campus fired up.