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UW System celebrating its 30^th anniversary

On Oct.11, at the Milwaukee Public Museum, University of Wisconsin System President Katharine Lyall will be hosting a dinner to celebrate the UW System’s 30^th anniversary.

The celebratory dinner is partially underwritten by the State Financial Bank of Milwaukee’s donation of $10,000. The remainder will be financed by a $60 per plate charge, part of which will go to a newly founded university fund. The fund will be available for the UW System President to host events and activities.

In October of 1971, the Wisconsin State University and the University of Wisconsin merged after decades of discussion. Today the UW System has about 155,000 students on 26 campuses each year, according Wisconsin Ideas magazine.

Assistant Vice President for UW System Relations Kevin Boatright said the merger was a controversial idea back in 1971, but in retrospect has been beneficial for students. By eliminating duplication the UW System spends less than 6 percent of its total budget on administration, compared to 10 percent for other state universities, Boatright said. The savings are instead used for instructional and academic purposes, he said.

Having a single budget provides two benefits, Boatright said. Having merged, the institutions coordinate among themselves instead of competing for resources. The merger has helped the system to make their case to the state legislature because it has a unified voice. 

Another financial benefit of having a central system is reducing the duplication of academic programs. “You have only two doctoral universities, instead of four, or five or six, which would have again been a strain on the state financially,” Boatright said.

There will be no fireworks or parades to celebrate the anniversary, but there will be an opportunity to appreciate what has been achieved by having a single system, Boatright said.

Lyall said the merged UW System is efficient, affordable, accessible and it’s benefiting students and taxpayers alike. “We are providing a higher quality education at a cheaper price,” she said.

Lyall said the dinner in Milwaukee will be only part of the celebration. She expects that each campus will be holding different activities to highlight the contribution that Wisconsin has made to higher education.

To date, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire has not made specific plans for celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the system, Chancellor Donald Mash said. “We haven’t gotten to a point to determine how we might celebrate it here.”

UW-Eau Claire senior graphic design student Sarah Wayne said that the UW System’s 30^th anniversary is not relevant to her. She said it would mean more to her if UW-Eau Claire, not the UW System, had a significant anniversary while she’s a student.

“Even if there is some kind of meeting or celebration or whatever, I probably won’t do anything. What the university was in the past doesn’t really matter that much to me,” she said.

Lyall said she hopes students will think of their own activities that will help celebrate the importance of higher education in the state, at its 30^th anniversary.