The Naked Truth/Jamala Rogers
A New Chancellor, a New Vision
Chancellor Rebecca Blank made a surprise announcement last fall that she would be leaving the University of Wisconsin-Madison to take a job at Northwestern University. A Search and Screen Committee spun into action. The grueling search for the replacement of Chancellor Blank will soon bear fruit. The committee hopes to announce its final choice this month. New leadership at the university presents an opportunity to identify critical areas which need some new thinking, and some new direction.
Chancellor Blank’s tenure spanned eight years at UW-Madison, the longest since Irving Shain who served for nearly a decade before retiring in 1986. During her administration, there are certainly accomplishments to be celebrated despite real-world obstacles like the GOP’s cutting state support and COVID-19.
Graduation rates are at an all-time high. Undergrad applications doubled and there was a slight increase in minority enrollment. The university brought more in than $3 billion in revenue from various sources. These education institutions are more than just places of learning, they are a big business attracting and creating businesses.
Chancellor Blank created programs like Bucky’s Tuition Promise which guaranteed free tuition for students with incomes under $60,000. That should have been a big hit with Wisconsinites struggling to attend an institution of higher learning and come out with no debt. The program is credited for the largest freshmen class in the university’s history and the most state residents of any freshman class in the last 20 years.
Although the university claims the 2021 freshman class is the most racially and ethnically diverse ever, it will need to show it has plans to make students of color more welcomed so that they stay. There have been charges of racism by Black students who represent an embarrassing 2 percent of a total student population of nearly 48,000. The percentage of Black faculty is equally shameful. Retention is a persistent issue with both groups.
One incident that incited the outrage of students — not just the usually marginalized ones — was the ‘Home is where Wi Are’ project. The video release at last year’s homecoming had an all-white cast. What I found so curious about this racial erasure is that Black students were videotaped for the project; they just got edited out. Usually, the exclusion is from the start where students of color don’t even make it into the plan.
It's no wonder the administration felt compelled to hire a mental health professional to serve this overlooked and rejected population. The hiring decision was protested by a student group of white conservatives. Yes, there’s some serious work to be done campus-wide to confront and dismantle racism.
