October 4, 2012

"There was never a question whether we wanted President Obama to come to our campus."

Said the former University of Wisconsin Chancellor, Biddy Martin, quoted in the New York Times in 2010, when President Obama gave a performance in the area known as Library Mall.

She said: “That was clear. But the question was how to do this in a way that was fair to everyone in the community.”
Ms. Martin, who has been chancellor since September 2008, was thrilled by the chance. You couldn’t buy this kind of educational experience, or, quite frankly, this kind of publicity; it’s an honor. But she worried about the fairness of having campus life disrupted by a political event. A day or so of fretting followed....

Ms. Martin and the Board of Regents signed on, then received validation of that decision in the plans of students and faculty members to gather after the political rally to debate everything from the economy and the wars to the political process itself. The only dissent has come by e-mail from a couple of alumni, objecting to the use of the campus for the rally.

“This is a campus that values political speech,” Ms. Martin said.

But political speech comes at a cost. It meant the complete or partial closing of several buildings, from the University Bookstore to the spectacular State Historical Society building. It meant a day off for all the food vendors in Library Mall. It meant the cancellation of the 5 p.m. Mass at the St. Paul’s University Catholic Center.
This time, in the heat of Obama's reelection campaign, there was no "day or so of fretting." Coordination with the campaign flowed smoothly, with the UW's website linking students to the campaign website and requiring them to provide their phone numbers and click "I'm In" to get tickets. I'm In... what? The campaign effort? And this time the event wouldn't be in Library Mall, inconveniencing food vendors and the 5 o'clock Mass-goers. It would be smack in the center of campus, displacing many university students and employees for an entire day.

Why didn't Biddy Martin put on a show of fretting this time? Take a day to brood publicly about the university's educational mission, the separation of education and politics, minimizing inconvenience, and setting up an after rally discussion session about the deeper meaning of it all?

P1030473

Biddy Martin isn't here. The University drove her away by rejecting the plan for UW independence she negotiated with... Governor Scott Walker... boo hiss... toxic!

Martin understood politics. She performed well in the political theater, and then she took her bows and absconded to Amherst.

46 comments:

Colonel Angus said...

Can Chancellor Martin keep him for your campus? I don't even live in Wisconsin but I'll even donate for a new wing to the law school for him to reside and teach.

TosaGuy said...

Enjoy a standard stump speech delivered with a ho-hum attitude, Madison.

But at least Obama will have more oxygen than he did in Denver.

TWM said...

Is it raining up there? How't the crowd looking?

traditionalguy said...

TOTUS is being shipped in. The event will have to await the arrival of the ventriloquist machine that uses Obama as a wooden headed dummy complete with blinking glass eyes.

Econophile said...

TWM, it's not raining yet. Just cloudy.

The crowd is looking as you might expect: idiots lined back as far as I can see from my building, which is close to Bascom but thankfully open. It's nice to have all the beta males with skinny jeans and biker bags corralled into one place on campus, at least. They are a constant assault on my libido.

Michael Haz said...

Mid term exams are scheduled today aren't they? They will have to be rescheduled to next week. Hey, no problem! Lets never mind people's schedules and schedule a rally for good ol Barry.

chickelit said...

Looking "forward" to all the fearless shifting and whinnying.

Emil Blatz said...

Biddy, we hardly knew ye...

Kirk Parker said...

"You couldn’t buy this kind of educational experience"

With all due respect to the former chancellor, WTF???

Curious George said...

I wonder if he'll talk about the debate and if he does:

1) joke about his performance
2) pretend he did okay
3) ignore his performance but rebut Romney.

garage mahal said...

Heard the Tea Party has an astroturf bus rally. This might be a good time for the RNC to tag team and gather Democratic registration forms. And shred them, like in Florida. Just thinking inside the box.

Kirk Parker said...

And let me repeat: the first candidate who convinces me they're serious about rolling back the kind of security excesses that accompany these events, has got my vote, regardless of the rest of their platform.

Just Say No to the Imperial Presidency!

MadisonMan said...

The rain, like most rain this year, falls apart as it approaches.

Maybe the next batch will get to the ground?

Link

TWM said...

"Just thinking inside the box."

Fantasizing actually . . .

AllenS said...

Is the university ready to give Romney equal time?

TWM said...

"You couldn’t buy this kind of educational experience"


You could't pay me for it . . .

Irene said...

The campaign website also required those who register to answer the question: "Are you a student?"

edutcher said...

She sounds like a very responsible person.

You miss her, don't you?

PS Absconded? That's usually for somebody who takes off with the petty cash or the buxom secretary, Miss Plimsoll.

Or both, if he's lucky.

John said...

The lemmings don't need food vendors on that day... lunch money will be donated to either Obama for Prez or the Obama Retirement Fund.

Chip Ahoy said...

Oh remember when he said ___, I should'a said ___.

And when that guy said ___ I should'a said ___.

Oh, man, I missed my chance to say ___ when I was on ___.

Obama's team will have loaded TOTUS with all those. And all those retorts will have meaning for the people lined up eagerly to hear them.

He's already doing that actually, the bit I heard this morning is, "He didn't even know there are law that encourage outsourcing to China. Can you believe that? He doesn't even know there are laws on the books that encourage outsourcing to China!" *mute*

I'm saddened and cheered at the same time. Those late retorts will resonate among the who people assemble there to hear and see and be a part, and support, but imagining myself in that crowd by way of opportunity, there will be others there too, privately thinking, hey, this is bit crap. Those will be the ones not experiencing ecstasy.

Amartel said...

"Biddy". That's a name crying out for a change. (Dictionary definition is "garrulous old woman.") So good for her for keeping it, stubborn WASP. (And lesbian and feminist, reading between lines at website.) At UW least she knew enough to go through the motions of fretting.

John Cunningham said...

Just as "journalists" are Dem operatives with bylines, university adminstrators and profs are Dem operatives with minimal workloads and tenure. they are stooges and apparatchiki.

Alex said...

I think Obama's outsourcing attack on Romney will be very effective with swing-voters who have been hurt by that policy.

MadisonMan said...

The daughter is on Bascom Hill. (she got in line at 8:30 this morning). I asked if it was crowded, and she said "Very"

Tim said...

The Legislature should cut funding (equal to the net cost to the University of this political stunt) and force the administrators who approved of this stunt to sell brownies (or cut jobs, salaries, pay raises or bonuses within administration overhead) to pay for this stunt.

Force accountability.

Tim said...

Alex said...

"I think Obama's outsourcing attack on Romney will be very effective with swing-voters who have been hurt by that policy."

Absolutely.

EVERYONE knows General Motors makes their own tires.

Tim said...

"Just thinking inside the box."

This didn't make sense, so I ran it through the online translator, and it came back with "Just shitting in the cat box."

I thought that was wrong so, to be fair, I went to a different website, and it too came back with ""Just shitting in the cat box."

Two out of two websites concur: "Just shitting in the cat box."

leslyn said...

You're booing and hissing your public employer? Nice to be protected by tenure, isn't it?

John Cunningham said,

Just as "journalists" are Dem operatives with bylines, university adminstrators and profs are Dem operatives with minimal workloads and tenure. they are stooges and apparatchiki.

Chip S. said...

leslyn said...
You're booing and hissing your public employer? Nice to be protected by tenure, isn't it?

Your comment makes the case for tenure succinctly.

Just imagine if the governor or state legislators or university administrators could punish faculty for criticizing their policy decisions.

Alex said...

I fail to see why anyone should have government protected right to speak ill of your employer.

Chip S. said...

I fail to see why anyone should have government protected right to speak ill of your employer.

Yes, especially not those employees whose job is to pursue the truth wherever it may lead.

Can't have any of that going on in a state agency.

Chip S. said...

It's funny how liberals get so outraged by the arguments made in Liberal Fascism, while demonstrating its basic validity seemingly whenever the opportunity arises.

chuck said...

Presidential visits can be great. LBJ came to Utah State and smoked cigars on stage and ground out the butts underfoot. For a campus with rather strict anti-smoking regulations at the time it was a great performance and provided an educational moment that couldn't be matched in any classroom.

James Pawlak said...

UW requires more citizen control rather than less. Such might bring UW back to its real role of providing a quality education at a reasonable cost by, among other things, eliminating the waste and corruption inflicted by the UW Administration.

I suggest the direct election of the Regents (Perhaps tw0/three from each Congressional District.. Today's teleconferencing would eliminate the need for all together meetings.

As the People already elect a State Superintendent of Schools, I see no reason to not elect the UW President.

Calypso Facto said...

My son was visited by the Secret Service and their dogs as he worked in the blinds-closed lab today. So I guess there was an educational experience to be had after all: Here's what a growing police state looks like.

Meade said...

Is it wrong of me to note that the beginning of the 42nd annual Great Midwest Choom Harvest Festival and President Obama's visit coincided?

Penny said...

Biddy Martin went to Middlebury College!

That's where Althouse wanted to go to school, and never got the chance.

Wonder if Althouse ever thinks, "I could have been Biddy Martin...if only I hadn't been so respectful of my parents? Or if only I had taken personal control of my life at an earlier age?

Sure hope not. "Regrets" pretty well suck.

It's much more likely that Althouse is thrilled for Ms.Martin landing the top job at the number two, nee number one, liberal arts college in the country.

Penny said...

Ha ha

Yeah, UW, you sure "tossed" that one!

Idiots didn't know she was a friggin' acrobat.

Penny said...

If I were a judge, I'd give her "landing" a 9.5 ...

Want to bet Martin "sticks" it next time out, and takes Amherst back to their number one slot?

purplepenquin said...

Is it wrong of me to note that the beginning of the 42nd annual Great Midwest Choom Harvest Festival and President Obama's visit coincided?

In all fairness...Obama has tried to make up for (whatsomemaylabelas) his youthful indiscretions by increasing the War on Drugs, especially the battle against marijuana, to a greater extreme than any previous president has.

Ya'll going to the parade on Sunday? (in support? to ridicule? I really don't know which side ya fall on this issue, but neither of those options would surprise me)

Jerry Sena said...

I'm not sure how to interpret this entry, Professor Althouse. Passive aggression is such a slippery beast.

Is your sense of inconvenience predisposed proportionately by the popularity of the guest speaker? Or, is there something else coloring your mood?


Would you recommend limiting invitations to only those speakers whose presence on campus would evoke the blandest responses? Our minds are open. Anything, after all, in the name of convenience.

I'm sure Secret Service details can be quite the pain in ... well, I wouldn't want to call into question the intended good faith of my comment with a crude reference to posterior pain centers.

Take heart in TWM's observation that the president doesn't seem capable of drawing the crowds he once did. Pray for rain (wink wink).

Though, in that case, I would expect your next post to address that other miserable, inconveniencing agent of the left wing, the weather.

Dave said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave said...

If they value political speech so much, when are they inviting Governor Romney to visit? If they offer such an invitation, will they shut down the center of the campus to do so?

AlphaLiberal said...

I saw this funny article about Ann Althouse at Wonkette and thought I'd check in. They use the most flattering photos, no?

Look, Ann, Rmoney is welcome to come and speak at the UW. He will have the same policies. So, quitchyer bitchin'.

jim said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
jim said...

Yes, a speech by the POTUS is indeed a dire outrage that has never sullied any American campus before, especially during the paragons of dignity & decorum that are Presidential election campaigns ... vile, shameful, shocking, blah blah blah.

A pity those pearls being clutched aren't coal, or you could have some sweet DIY diamonds in no time flat.

PS: A big tricolor thumbs-up to those vigilant commenters citing "Liberal Fascism" to call Obama out for daring to use the Secret Service Gestapo to grind his National Socialist boot-heel into the faces of innocent Americans!

Being so brutally fascistic a tyrant, I'm sure Obama will make sure that there'll be yet more sickening & contemptible incidents of innocent law-abiding folks with satirical tee-shirts being arrested, & opponents of the Administration being penned like cattle in chain-link/razorwire "Free Speech Zones" ringed with threatening paramilitary cops with snarling attack-dogs, pretty well ANY MINUTE NOW ... yep, it's gonna all go down ANY MINUTE NOW ... wait for it ... okay, maybe not QUITE any minute now, but REALLY REALLY SOON, DAMMIT!

Wake up, sheeple!