I have said this already elsewhere, but just by floating his plan for the University of Wisconsin, Governor Walker has already done serious damage to that academic institution.
If I were a rising academic superstar and had an offer from UW and an offer from somewhere else (a real superstar would probably have more than one offer), Right now, I would almost certainly take the job somewhere else. That is true even if "somewhere else" were an institution that is less prestigious than UW. Few academics with other options are going to risk joining a sinking ship. Few are going to want to strive for tenure at an institution where the future of tenure is in question. I bet right now UW is already losing talent it would otherwise have had, just because Walker is talking about these changes.
If I were a rising academic superstar and had an offer from UW and an offer from somewhere else (a real superstar would probably have more than one offer), Right now, I would almost certainly take the job somewhere else. That is true even if "somewhere else" were an institution that is less prestigious than UW. Few academics with other options are going to risk joining a sinking ship. Few are going to want to strive for tenure at an institution where the future of tenure is in question. I bet right now UW is already losing talent it would otherwise have had, just because Walker is talking about these changes.
