Wisconsin Idea - Part I

"But the Wisconsin tradition meant more than a simple belief in the people. It also meant a faith in the application of intelligence and reason to the problems of society. It meant a deep conviction that the role of government was not to stumble along like a drunkard in the dark, but to light its way by the best torches of knowledge and understanding it could find."

Adlai Stevenson

Madison, Wisconsin

October 8, 1952

The Wisconsin Idea is often and vaguely described as meaning “the boundaries of the University are the boundaries of the state". To me, the Wisconsin Idea means that the University will be part and parcel of the continuous betterment of the state of Wisconsin - and as a happy collateral impact, to the betterment of other peoples in other places.

The Wisconsin Idea emerged in the early 1900's from twin currents that shaped the history of Madison and the state: The Progressive movement's ideas that a sensible society approaches its problems rationally with the government applying knowledge to solve social ills. At the same time, the University of Wisconsin began to offer its expertise in public affairs and the offering of nontechnical lectures to popular audiences. These were not, in fact unrelated events - the University was broadly impacted by the progressivism at the other end of State Street. while that governing end recognized the value of and supported the University's works.

A 1995 report for the Wisconsin Blue Book defined the "Wisconsin Idea as the University’s direct contributions to the state: to the government in the forms of serving in office, offering advice about public policy, providing information and exercising technical skill, and to the citizens in the forms of doing research directed at solving problems that are important to the state and conducting outreach activities."

But the report noted that the Wisconsin Idea works best when both ends of State Street work together.

"State government’s support of and interest in the University has probably been a more important factor in the Wisconsin Idea’s flourishing than has that government’s pressure. That support and interest have been demonstrated by providing adequate funding and by using the University’s resources in the legislative process."

Let's be honest, the University of Wisconsin is the single prominent world class instititution in this state. The University is truly a jewel. Coming from Illinois (many years ago) I still marvel at how underappreciated the UW often is by the locals. The UW is probably the second best university in the Big 10 behind only Michigan and maybe tied with Illinois. In many fields it is still among the elite not just in the Midwest or the US, but in the world.

It saddens, stuns, puzzles, baffles, and preplexes me then, that some politicians - mostly of the Don't Need To Know Nothing wing of the Republican party - think that taking whacks at the University is politically astute and that in some places, among some people, cutting down the University is indeed popular. The UW makes it share of mistakes and, yes, the arrogance of its high administrators can irritate (especially when they tell me what a 'bargain' the tuition is), but if you care about the future of this state, you have to treasure the University, nurture it, do whatever it takes to maintain and extend its world class standing.