The purpose of this page is to provide an assortment of concise narratives by which someone concerned with the future of the University of Wisconsin System could communicate their support for the emergent directions of reduced tenure entitlements and greater allowances for student work experiences.
Because UW System President Ray Cross is halfway through his term as of this writing in early June 2016, the focus is upon exposing the Board of Regents (his immediate supervisors) to public opinions favorable of Ray "Crusader" Cross.
Such support persuades the Regents to keep Ray aboard for the remainder of his term; and potentially also to re-appoint him for a subsequent term. This altogether allows Mr. Cross a berth by which to continue the transformative work he's begun.
There are several different support letters one might send, depending on your status as a current student, an alumnus / alumna, family member of the same, or non-student / non-alumnus.
(Because any party can fit into the catch-all category of "taxpayer," I incorporate fiscal concerns into each template letter. Redact that portion if you want, but the Regents speak in numerical terms, so it's better to leave it in.)
Student Support Letter
Dear Regents,
I'm writing to voice my confidence, as a student of the UW System, in UW System President Raymond Cross. He bravely represents the needs of stakeholders outside academia, even when faced with angry gestures by Faculty Senate leadership.
Although a minority of my peers has sycophantically latched onto the cause of restoring obsolete tenure rules, they have been brainwashed by the forceful personalities of the various faculty who dominate their immediate environment.
The students with a broader perspective understand a relaxation of tenure protections is necessary to hold faculty accountable for the holistic development of their students, perhaps the greatest of which is professional growth.
You've probably heard about faculty who say, "It's in the book -- read it!" when students ask innocently about information within course materials. Such dismissal of dialogue, in favor of self-directed study, negates the point of paying tuition in the first place.
Too many instructors have limited themselves, in a self-satisfied way, to that of academician. However, our University's mission is to develop citizens who are widely recognized as capable of contributing to the modern "knowledge economy."
When untold ranks of graduates are effectively shut out of administrative and other skilled jobs, it means our Institution is not producing the respectable, capable knowledge workers to the extent it believes.
The disconnection is between the students and the faculty: When the former ask the latter for job leads or internships, they are told to consult the Career Development Center. This merely passes the problem from educators to clueless staff untrained, inexperienced, and lacking resources to actually give any opportunity.
For the record, "career center" advice usually boils down to a counter-productive personality test -- which doesn't even correlate to the majors of graduate students who take them -- and a paint-by-numbers online jobs board that recycles job listings from elsewhere.
There is literally -nothing- unique about the information provided by the career center, which leaves faculty as the primary on-campus arbiter of unadvertised opportunities and secret shibboleths that will win over particular people in human resources.
And yet, no Faculty Senate has prioritized student school-to-work outcomes as an issue worth addressing! It's about time the problem came home to roost, even if indirectly.
The threat of ever-withering tenure protections ought to be a wake-up call to faculty: Prove your commitment to helping your students launch actual, honest, sustainable careers!
As public instructors, you are responsible for the future fortunes of your community -- if not for a matter of professional pride, then for the economic health of our State of Wisconsin and the myriad citizens who will have to survive here.
With continuing interest,
Alumni Support Letter
[***NOTE: In this letter, change each instance of "alumnus" to "alumna" if you identify as female. (There are two, by my tally.) Also, change the part that mentions "SUFAC" and "student legislation" if you never took part in student government.***]Dear Regents,
I'm writing to voice my confidence, as an alumnus of the UW System, for UW System President Raymond Cross. He has shown unwavering determination in enforcing the new tenure rules, despite being scapegoated by Faculty Senate leadership.
These faculty somehow believe there exists a "right to a job." How many college graduates wish that were true!
I took college very seriously, from freshman year through graduation, ultimately closing out my tertiary education as an above-average "honors" graduate who appropriated over $6.5 million in SUFAC funds and wrote several pieces of subsequently enacted student legislation.
In other words, I wasn't a slacker; and I did my best to build a career with the limited opportunities available. (Faculty turnover could increase these opportunities.)
Yet, I cannot get hired for -so much as call center worker- and have therefore resorted to a manual labor job through a staffing agency. This under-employment in unskilled labor has been going on several years strong, despite such agency work being intended to be "temporary" and a "step to something better," much as your esteemed UW System institution failed to provide!
What do my difficulties in the labor market, as a distinguished alumnus, say about the job prospects of not only the median but also the near-median UW students? The same situation shall befall formerly enfranchised faculty, for lack of action on the careers-for-emerging-graduates issue.
While faculty are not quite facing famine, they are being brought a few notches lower towards the plight of work-hungry students and over-educated graduates who still aren't professionals (and not for lack of aspiration).
Our instructors are finding out, the -hard- way, that we cannot simply ignore the school-to-work problems our students are having. Adjuncts, associates, and full faculty alike are entering the very survival mode into which their less fortunate graduates rudely found themselves!
When a critical mass of disenchanted grads arises (including many of my fellow alumni), public support for the faculty plummets, thereby allowing elected officials to strip away faculty privileges that once were seen as "rights."
Can there -now- be mutual understanding between occupationally secure faculty and economically insecure students? Will the former not only acknowledge but also empower students who cannot catch an internship to save one's career?
Not if we kowtow to the whims of those who disavow our University's mission to promote a better trained, higher caliber, more desirable workforce!Finally, it cannot be over-emphasized that a better-off alumni base produces a higher-paying donor base. That's how the Ivy Leagues thrive...
...And the corollary is that poor graduates will not donate when their occupational prestige is consistently poorer, or at least no better than, it would have been if they had skipped college.
Faculty need to feel the hardship of their hard-luck grads. They need to know the changing political climate is due to a long-accruing interest group of disgruntled grads, who are now exercising their political power to bring down the policy hammer against the faculty who did them no favors!
I therefore ask you, attentive Regents, to continue supporting Ray Cross in his endeavors as the official figurehead of reform throughout the UW System. To do otherwise, in favor of placating selfish employees, would disservice the public.
With greatest regards,
Parent / Guardian / Family Support Letter
[***NOTE: In this letter, change "close relative of a student" to "father | mother | brother | sister | spouse | significant other | etc. (pick whichever you are) of a student | two students | (however many UW students to which you're related)." ***]Dear Regents,
I'm writing to voice my confidence, as a close relative of a student in the UW System, for UW System President Raymond Cross. He accurately represents the needs and wants of non-faculty stakeholders, despite demonization by Faculty Senate leadership.
As family, I frequently hear concerns about the putative value of a UW degree. Not only are many faculty aloof and dismissive, but also the students are gravely concerned about their ability to support themselves with their degrees, so that I won't have to!
Our University's mission is to develop citizens who are widely recognized as capable of contributing to the modern "knowledge economy." Staff talk a good game, which lures students into enrollment -- but all too often, the rhetoric falls shy of reality!
When untold ranks of graduates are effectively shut out of administrative and other skilled jobs, it means our Institution is failing to produce respectable, capable, knowledge-worker grads from the students it admits.
I do not want anyone to join the so-called "Boomerang Generation," let alone -my- adult children. Unfortunately, there will be little other choice when employers are consigning our college-educated kids to dead-end jobs that disrespect the self-sacrifices and community investments made to educate and elevate these young adults!
The disconnection is between the students and the faculty: When the former ask the latter for job leads or internships, they are told to consult the Career Development Center. This merely passes the problem from educators to clueless staff untrained, inexperienced, and lacking resources to actually give any opportunity.
For the record, "career center" advice usually boils down to a counter-productive personality test -- which doesn't even correlate to the majors of graduate students who take them -- and a paint-by-numbers online jobs board that recycles job listings from elsewhere.
There is literally -nothing- unique about the information provided by the career center, which leaves faculty as the primary on-campus arbiter of unadvertised opportunities and secret shibboleths that will win over particular people in human resources.
And yet, the faculty care neither to acknowledge this systematic breakdown of administrative support nor to do anything constructive. It is therefore up to us, the public overseers of the UW System, to force remediation of this serious issue.
The Faculty Senate has not yet prioritized student school-to-work outcomes as an issue worth addressing. However, the tactical tearing-down of tenure protections ought to be a wake-up call to faculty: Prove your commitment to helping -your students- launch actual, honest, sustainable careers!
The economic health of our State of Wisconsin; of the myriad citizens who will need to abide here; and of -your teaching opportunities-, rely on your cooperation as public instructors and caretakers of our young adults' keys to careers.
To deny this role is to further alienate yourselves from students, their families, and the broader community of would-be college students.With utmost concern,
General / Citizen-Taxpayer Support Letter
Dear Regents,
I'm writing to voice my confidence, as a taxpayer and citizen of the State of Wisconsin, for UW System President Raymond Cross. He proves committed to enforcing the new tenure rules, despite desperate attempts by the Faculty Senate to discredit him.
By forcing the issue of universal job insecurity, Ray Cross accurately represents the needs and wants of non-faculty stakeholders to otherwise apathetic faculty. A sea change is coming, and faculty must look out for student career credibility to ensure a healthy tax base to pay their ever-rising salaries.
With the best considerations,
Lobbying the UW Board of Regents Before Their June 2016 Meeting at UW-Milwaukee, a.k.a. Palooka University
With template letter now in your browser, copy and paste it into your email client (with any appropriate modifications). Time to email the Regents? Well, not quite -- we must email an intermediary. And why is that?
Most contact information for the UW System Administration has been redacted, ever since a massive direct-email campaign in 2014 that advocated allowing unemployment benefits for student workers.(The secretary [or program assistant, in the secretary's absence] screens all information. The old email addresses from the UWSA.edu domain are deprecated; and while the new email address from the WISCONSIN.edu domain might be guessable, it would frustrate any goodwill between you and the recipient Regent.)
Although the Board of Regents used to list their email addresses on the "About" page of the UW System Administration website, the only contact information available in recent years has been the following:(608) 262-2324 – Telephone number for general inquiries; screened, but prone to inaccurate transcription or message-passing.
board@uwsa.edu – Email is the preferred contact method for reaching the Regents because it is less work for clerks to transcribe, but also because you are no longer at risk of them butchering your message. Although communications sent by email are also screened, your message is sent verbatim if it meets unspecified guidelines on being sent.
(I called the main number to ascertain what rules of thumb are used to determine whether a message is sent. Megan Wasley, apparently sitting in for Jane Radue at the latter's phone extension, said, "Messages are generally sent if they're on-topic and not vulgar.")
Tags: "apathetic faculty","Board of Regents","school-to-work scam","support Ray Cross","taming tenure","template letters","university lobbying","UW System President"
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