Category Archives: Uncategorized

Why Act 55’s changes don’t make sense for UW

Posted on October 9, 2015 by W. Lee Hansen

The UW-Madison Faculty Senate as well as the Board of Regents are grappling with the challenge of responding to the provisions of the Legislature’s Act 55. That legislation calls for wholesale change in policies that deal with tenure, post-tenure review, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Act 55, Board of Regents, Faculty Senate, governor, knowledge, policy, PROFS, UW-Madison, Wisconsin Idea | Leave a comment

Lest We Forget—Memorial Day Reflections: May 2015

Posted on May 25, 2015 by W. Lee Hansen

Honoring Memorial Day faces ever greater challenges—the proliferating array of activities that compete with the purpose of that day, to honor those who fought and died fighting this country’s wars. Among these activities here in Madison are the weekend’s “World’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Decoration Day, General Order #11, Gettysburg Address, Lest We Forget, Memorial Day, North Cape, veterans | Leave a comment

Understanding the effects of Governor Walker’s UW System budget cut on the cost of instruction and tuition

Posted on March 10, 2015 by W. Lee Hansen

March 10, 2015 WISCAPE Reactions to Gov. Scott Walker’s proposed budget cut of $300 million for the UW System in the next biennium, while strong in their opposition, have not been clearly focused. To better understand the effects of these … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged budget bill, budget cut, GPR, instructional costs, public authority status, Scott Walker, taxpayer funding, tuitiion, UW System | Leave a comment

UW students stuck with cost that taxpayers used to cover

Posted on March 8, 2015 by W. Lee Hansen

March 8, 2015 The Wisconsin State Journal Lost in discussions of Gov. Scott Walker’s $300 million budget cut for the University of Wisconsin System is how the sharing of the costs of instruction will be shifted from taxpayers to students … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged budget cut, cost of instruction, quality, Scott Walker, taxpayer, tuition increase, Univerisity of Wisconsin | Leave a comment

Letter to the Editor: UW should use all available means to create a better campus climate

Posted on January 30, 2015 by W. Lee Hansen

January 30, 2015 The Badger Herald Lack of evidence about the state of Madison’s “campus climate” proved to be the real surprise at Tuesday afternoon’s Diversity and Inclusion discussion. Remarks by Chancellor Rebecca Blank, Dean of Students Lori Berquam and … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized, Uncovering the Facts: Affirmative Action/Diversity Poli | Tagged campus climate, disability, Diversity and Inclusion, ethnicity, exclusionary, gender, Lori Berquam, Patrick Sims, race, Rebecca Blank, sexual orientation | Leave a comment

Wisconsin won’t admit it, but its new egalitarian policy leads to grading quotas

Posted on December 17, 2014 by W. Lee Hansen

December 17, 2014 The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy In July, I wrote about the pressure that University of Wisconsin officials have been exerting on the faculty for greater “equity” on campus. My “Madness in Madison” essay … Continue reading →

Posted in Forward Together, Uncategorized | Tagged achievement gap, diversity, egalitarian groupthink, equity, grade inflation, grade quota, Inclusive Excellence, minority students, multicultural, Patrick Sims, pedagogical strategies, racial, targeted group, UW-Madison | Leave a comment

Creating a “Teaching/Learning” Evaluation Instrument For Proficiencies-Based Economics Courses

Posted on August 18, 2014 by W. Lee Hansen

Creating a Teaching-Learning Evaluation Instrument For Proficiencies-Based Economics Courses A slightly abbreviated version of this essay will appear in the Summer 2014 issue of Liberal Education.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Madness in Madison: The University of Wisconsin’s latest diversity plan calls for “equity” in high-demand majors and the distribution of grades

Posted on July 16, 2014 by W. Lee Hansen

July 16, 2014 The John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy Many American colleges and universities are in the thrall of “diversity,” but none more so than my institution, the University of Wisconsin. This spring, the university adopted a … Continue reading →

Posted in Forward Together, Uncategorized | Tagged 1966, academic disadvantage, academic excellence, academic preparation, ACT/SAT, Ad Hoc Diversity Planning Committee, affiliation, aptitude, avoid trouble, Board of Regents, Center for Equal Opportunity, class rank, cliche, commitment, compositional diversity, core, critical mass, deficit mindedness, definition of diversity, demonstration, difference group, diverse, diversity, education babble, emotional health, empty rhetoric, equity mindedness, excellence, Faculty Senate, framework, Framework for Diversity and Inclusive Excellence, gender expression, gender identity, goals, grade distribution, grade inflation, group differences, high demand, historically underrepresented, inclusion, Inclusive Excellence, increase diversity, individual differences, intellectual ability, intelligence, justification, language, learning style, life experience, mob-like, motivation, new policy, outbreak, personality, Peter Wood, physical ability, pro-diversity, progress, protest, race and ethnicity, racial preference policy, ramifications, recommendations, representational equity, research university, Roger Clegg, sacred cow, sexual orientation, shocking, sifting and winnowing, social differences, socio-economic status, spring, stigmatizing, students, targeted minority students, teaching, trigger, University of Wisconsin, utopian, UW-Madison, working definition, world-class | Leave a comment

Memorial Day Reflections: May 2014

Posted on May 29, 2014 by W. Lee Hansen

Memorial Day Reflections: May 2014 W. Lee Hansen wlhansen@wisc.edu Out of respect for the many Americans who fought and died fighting this country’s wars, I am always drawn to attend Memorial Day events. These gatherings are especially meaningful for two … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 32nd Division, 34th Division, American, American Legion, army, Battle of the Bulge, Bible, bombing, bugler, Capitol Square, cemetary, China, Civil War, Colonel Heg, Decoration Day, France, General John Logan, Germany B-17, Gettysburg Address, grandparent, gravestone, honor guard, Italy, Korean War, Licoln, Madison, Memorial Day, misty-eyed, Navy, North Cape, Norwegian, proclamation, Racine, Sweden, Taps, veteran, war, waterford, Women's Army Corps, World War I, World War II | Leave a comment

Estimating the Resource Costs of Minority and Disadvantaged Student Programs

Posted on April 30, 2013 by W. Lee Hansen

W. Lee Hansen* Professor Emeritus Economics UW-Madison wlhansen@wisc.eduFor presentation at WISCAPE Brown Bag Wisconsin Idea Room, Education Building May 1, 2013: 12-1 pm Executive Summary This paper presents estimates of the full resource costs of Minority and Disadvantaged Student … Continue reading →