Zac Schultz:

Outgoing UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank gave parting remarks this week speaking to the difficulty of working with the state’s Republican-controlled Legislature.

Rebecca Blank:

This is one of the more constrained and regulated universities in the country. We are much more a state agency than an independent university. And that does create issues at times for all of us. I understand why the state has a strong interest in some of that. But, particularly, as the competitive environment for top research universities has become even more intense, it becomes more and more important that we have some of the freedoms to act in the ways that our peers act. The need to go through three Senate committees and five votes in the governor’s office in order to get approval to get something done. It is what it is.

Zac Schultz:

In full disclosure, PBS Wisconsin is a part of UW-Madison.