Join WUU

Public higher education in the United States is under widespread attack through politicization of governance andincreases in demand for higher education coupled with shrinking public resources.. We at WUU believe it urgent that faculty and academic staff who share our values make themselves heard, not only in protest but in practical engagement with these realities.

Though UW-Madison is known as a national beacon of free speech and unimpeded scholarly pursuit, as an institution offering the highest quality academic instruction at the lowest possible cost, as the home of the “Wisconsin Idea” of lively democratic experiment in public policy, as a university where public service is central to its mission — there is work to be done even here.

Today the ratio of students to fulltime faculty at UW-Madison is at an all time high. So too is the share of teaching borne by “associates” with no chance of job tenure, the percentage of staff maintained as “limited term employees” the amount of time it takes students to get through to a degree,, and the cost of tuition to students and their families. Near an all time low are faculty and staff powers in University governance..Within the last year, there have been two attempts to significantly alter the structure of the University without meaningful communication, let alone agreement, from participants in governance. These things concern us, and we wish to improve them.

For those who share these values and concerns, WUU is a source of information and fellowship, a voice for democratic engagement, representation in event of employment disputes and a tool for practical reform. With the loss of even the prospect of collective bargaining for faculty and all staff it is now even more urgent to secure and expand upon these rights. We urge you to join WUU, using the membership form below. Our dues are kept low, so not to be a bar to membership.

So please join us, and let’s be about the work of better realizing our democratic values in this great institution.