Green Statement on Board of Regents Decision to Expand Diversity by Raising Tuition

Green Statement on Board of Regents Decision to Expand Diversity by Raising Tuition

Says more tuition increases are not the answer to increasing diversity on UW campuses

GREEN BAY - GREEN BAY - Gubernatorial candidate Mark Green issued the following statement Friday after the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a new tuition surcharge aimed at increasing diversity on the campus of UW-La Crosse.

"While I certainly support the goal of increasing access to our UW campuses for minorities and low-income students, I strongly disagree with the concept of establishing a new tuition surcharge on Wisconsin families for the sole purpose of increasing diversity.

"The best way to increase diversity on our college campuses is not to raise tuition even more than it already has been under Jim Doyle. Instead, it is to support efforts at closing the terrible achievement gap in Wisconsin between minority and white students - including education reforms like the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program and charter schools.

"This new tuition surcharge comes right on the heels of the UW officials proposing changing admissions standards in a way that diminishes academic achievement in favor of finding students that 'fit the mold' of what the UW is looking for, as one UW official put it.

"Jim Doyle and the University of Wisconsin System leadership are taking the UW in the wrong direction. Elect me governor, and we'll inject a heavy dose of Wisconsin values and common sense into our university system. We need to stop looking for ways to make it tougher for middle-class Wisconsin families to have the opportunity to send their children to UW schools."

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