Guy A. Gottschalk

Conversations:
Engaging Wisconsin
Q&A with Regent President Guy Gottschalk

Guy A. Gottschalk is the 17th person to serve as president of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents, having been unanimously elected to the post by his peers in June 2002. He succeeds Jay L. Smith as board president.

Prior to his election as board president, Gottschalk was chair of the Regents' Business and Finance Committee and a member of the Regents' Executive Committee. As chair of the Business and Finance Committee, Gottschalk helped direct the effort to build the UW System's resource base.

Gottschalk, president of Gottschalk Cranberry, Inc., and Biron Cranberry Co., began his seven-year term as a regent in 1998. He is a UW System alumnus, having earned a bachelor's degree in horticulture from UW-Madison. Gottschalk also serves on the University of Wisconsin Foundation Board of Directors and the UW-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Board of Visitors.

In this Q&A with Wisconsin Ideas, President Gottschalk outlines his priorities for the year, discusses the challenges facing the UW System and elaborates on his plan to "Engage Wisconsin."

WI: What do you see as the biggest challenges ahead for the UW System?

GG: There are several. Access is one. For the first time in many years, we had to deny access to qualified students. About 1,000 people who wanted to come to the university couldn't get into our UW Colleges and other institutions this year because we didn't have the resources to accommodate them. We cannot sustain the quality and access of the university system if drastic cuts come our way, and quality is non-negotiable.

Access is tied to funding and getting adequate funding for the university is a major challenge. We took a $44 million cut this fiscal year, which is equivalent to support for about 6,000 students. And the state is looking at a $2.8 billion deficit so we have been warned that more cuts are likely. Eighty-five percent of our GPR budget is in instructional salaries-we are a people-intensive business and additional cuts will mean lost jobs for Wisconsin.

At the same time, the depressed economy also has negatively affected our private fund raising activities and the value of our endowments, so the next several years will be very challenging from that standpoint. That is why our Board of Regents has made building the resource base such an important priority.

WI: What are some of the ways of addressing the resource base?

GG: Here, too, there are several approaches. Although the UW System is the most efficient system of higher education in the nation, we must continually be on the lookout for ways to become more efficient and to make the best use of our limited resources. The UW System does an accountability report annually-I think we are the only state entity that produces such a report-to benchmark our progress in that regard.

At the same time, we need to procure additional dollars for the university. That is why we have begun a modest effort to get more federal funding. And we want to applaud and support the UW campus foundations, which are doing a great job in raising private money. And the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation and its subsidiary, WiSys Technology Foundation, Inc., help convert our intellectual capital into additional funding.

However, those sources cannot replace state dollars and tuition dollars, which are the lifeblood of our instructional programs. I think we need to do a better job of explaining to students and state lawmakers why their dollars are so critical to the university, and we need to educate them as to the long-term negative impact of declining state support and tuition that is far below our peers.

WI: How would you go about that?

GG: The Regents have launched a new program, Engage Wisconsin. The point of the program, as the name suggests, is to engage our faculty, staff and students and to engage state citizens in decisions that will affect the university's future.

We want these constituents who depend on a healthy university to, in turn, engage their local legislators and be very proactive in protecting the university from damaging cuts. Because state policymakers will determine the UW's fiscal future, we need to make the case for the university as forcefully as we can.

Other entities which get far more state funding from the state have been much more political and have become almost untouchable in the budget cutting exercise. That is why the university has steadily declined for three decades as an overall percentage of the state budget. We need to become more political as well.

We want to see to it that every member of the Senate and Assembly is contacted by "friends." And we want to make sure they are fully informed of the university's situation. For legislators who have a campus in their district, it is especially important that they realize the devastating impact of large cuts to the UW on their local economy.

WI: You have made it a point to visit with state legislators over the past several months. Can you tell us what you are hearing from them?

GG: They all predict that this next biennial budget will be very tough and they say the university system must brace for more cuts. Some legislators don't believe we have a fiscal problem because we have managed so well the more than $100 million in cuts that we've taken over the past decade. But that cannot continue without serious consequences.

They note that the UW budget has actually grown in recent years. That is true but the growth has been very modest-much less than the overall growth in state spending-and it has come largely in areas such as utility increases, bond payments and health insurance benefits that are fixed costs. Our instructional programs-as all those who teach in the system will know-have suffered. We have had no increases in supplies and expense budgets since the early 1990s.

Some legislators have advised us to become more active politically and are supportive of the Engage Wisconsin approach. So I encourage the regents, chancellors, faculty and staff to foster personal relationships with them as well.

WI: What will happen if the university does get cut?

GG: The Regents have gone on record that they will not support sustained enrollments in the face of additional state cuts. We must preserve quality. That means we will be faced with some very tough decisions and will have to cut back enrollment, which also will mean cutting back on faculty and staff.

However, we can sustain some modest cuts if we are given the flexibility to manage them and that includes the authority to set resident undergraduate tuition. The regents had that authority up until a few years ago and tuition increases were actually less dramatic and more predictable when the regents had the authority, as we have now for all other tuition categories.

Our concern is that lawmakers will raise tuition and use the funding to fill the state's budget gap rather than deliver educational services. We have seen that happen with nonresident tuition, which is now so high that it is discouraging out-of-state enrollments. Every nonresident student now pays for 1.6 residents, so these students are very important to us. Not to mention that 1 out of 4 stays and works in Wisconsin upon graduation and represents a brain gain for our state.

At the same time, we can manage cuts more effectively if we can keep the interest on tuition income which now goes directly to the state, and if we can be cut loose from some of the overhead that we pay the state for services that we don't use or could replicate more cheaply ourselves. I am optimistic that the governor and state lawmakers will consider seriously some of these flexibility proposals.

WI: What can a faculty or staff member do to help?

GG: For one thing, tell the good stories of the university to friends and neighbors and to your local legislators. Get your friends who are parents of prospective UW students or alumni of the university more engaged in this effort. We estimate we have more than 700,000 alumni in the state and 1 in 3 Wisconsin high school graduates goes directly into the university. Their voices are very important to the university's future.

Become more aware of the facts about the university's budget. There is a wealth of information on the university's website: www. wisconsin.edu. And invite legislators and legislative aides to the campus to talk about these issues. We realize how busy our faculty and staff are but if just a small percentage took the time to be advocates with their local political leaders, it would make an enormous difference.

There is also a new grassroots organization being formed called Citizens for Higher Education. One of the leaders of this new organization is former Regent President Tom Lyon and he will be working with the chancellors and others to disseminate membership information on the campuses. This group will advocate for public higher education support and hold legislators accountable for their votes on issues related to the university and technical college systems.

WI: Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the future?

GG: I am very optimistic. Wisconsin citizens have always strongly supported education and I believe they will continue to do so. The university has come through hard times before and it will again. It has an outstanding leader in Katharine Lyall, an outstanding Board of Regents who are devoted to helping the university thrive and a great cadre of chancellors. I have faith not only in our university leadership but also in the outstanding university workforce. Together, we can handle what comes our way but we can't afford to be complacent. We need to be more engaged and we need to develop and sustain a more effective grassroots effort.

The citizens of Wisconsin have generously supported public higher education for more than 150 years and they have been rewarded with one of the most outstanding systems in the nation. I have faith that they will maintain that investment and that future generations will reap the educational, economic and quality of life benefits.