Gov. Tony Evers visited UWM Monday morning to speak with students about their concerns. The visit comes four days after Evers proposed his first budget as governor, including a proposal to increase funding for the UW System by $150 million.
Evers spoke to a small group of students in the Lead the Change program, a six-week series of seminars that teaches UWM students about social justice leadership and how to be an agent of change. The program, which began in the fall of 2017, is offered every semester.
Following that meeting, he met with the media and briefly with other students who had gathered at the Wisconsin Room.
As expected, students had questions about tuition and the need for more support for UWM and the university system.
Becky Eaton, a senior in the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare, said she had come to UWM from Connecticut to study American Sign Language and interpreting because of the strength of the program at UWM. Now, she is concerned because some of her favorite professors have left.
Evers responded that the state not only needs to provide more support to attract and retain quality professors, but also show they are valued. That type of support was lacking because of negative comments and criticisms of teaching load and other issues in the previous administration, he said.
Lorenzo Backhaus, a master’s student in the College of Nursing, asked the governor about food insecurity on campuses, especially those in urban areas. He did his undergraduate work at UW-Whitewater and helped establish a food pantry there, and said he was glad that UWM had also established a pantry. But he wanted to know what more could be done.
The governor said food security was an issue, but one that is related to other issues such as ensuring Wisconsin residents have access to well-paying jobs and adequate health care.
Le’Zea Hickman asked about the possibility of support for refinancing student debt, to lower the burden on students. The governor agreed this was important, but noted students also need more help in applying for support for college. Students coming out of high school, and their parents, often don’t have the experience and time to deal with “the amount of paperwork and complexity” of filling out forms like the FAFSA (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). He recalled that when he was state superintendent of education, the department had an office solely devoted to helping with those forms.
In chatting with the media after the event, the governor was asked about whether there would be a tradeoff between a continuing tuition freeze and the $150 million for higher education he asked for in his first budget. He was also asked about the possibility of lowering tuition.
He said that “higher education has been ignored for the past eight years,” and the budget needs to be adjusted to provide more support. “We can’t expect UWM and the other campuses to continue to absorb” tight budgets and a tuition freeze, he said.
