Straightening out the UW system

Owen tells us of a conversation that he had with Congressman Green about the UW Eau Claire RA bible study mess. Owen wasn't quoting Green verbatim, but this selection stuck out in my mind:

I asked Green what the governor should do about it. He said that there is an institutional problem with UW. Its priorities are so screwed up that it needs a complete managerial overhaul. UW is out of touch with the rest of Wisconsin and needs to be reigned in.

I think that a lot of people in Wisconsin would agree that UW has some institutional problems and that it could use a managerial overhaul. As with everything political, though, success is in the perception. Presenting this as UW being out of touch and needing to be reigned in is an approach I can see backfiring. While a lot of people resent UW, this state also has a perverse pride in UW's quirky nature. On top of that, people do tend to bristle when it is suggested that a University be reigned in.

I'm no political scientist, but it seems to me that the best strategy for accomplishing some reform in the UW system is to just come out and say exactly that-the system needs some reforms and managerial changes. And when asked why, stick to examples. The UW system has made enough ham handed decisions over the last couple of years to give you a very powerful argument. Otherwise, you risk getting bludgeoned over the head with a lot of lefty rhetoric that sticks with voters.

Now granted, by the sounds of it, this was a pretty informal conversation, but as someone who agrees that the UW system needs some work, I'm really interested in seeing overhauls presented in a way that will resonate with the citizens of Wisconsin. Sometimes the semantics can make or break an effort like that.