University of Wisconsin - La Crosse Faculty Senate
Flexibility Resolution
Approved 4-14-11
WHEREAS the UW-La Crosse faculty are grateful for the many years of the state’s long-term
investment in higher education and for preserving the Wisconsin Idea (the diversity of institutions under
one umbrella and their ability to collectively serve all citizens of Wisconsin); and
WHEREAS UW-La Crosse faculty have benefited from, and collaborated with, other System Institutions’
programs and faculty since 1971 - when the University of Wisconsin merged with the Wisconsin State
Universities to create the University of Wisconsin System; and
WHEREAS UW-La Crosse, like all the System Institutions, needs significant budgetary flexibilities to
better serve the people of Southwest Wisconsin; and
WHEREAS UW-La Crosse competes in both national and international markets to retain and recruit top
quality faculty and staff, and the university is facing challenges to provide competitive compensation and
benefit packages to address market rates due to lack of pay plans and the continued decline of state
support; and
WHEREAS UW-La Crosse will need those flexibilities to manage its operations, to retain and recruit
dedicated faculty and staff, and to fulfill and advance its academic mission to all students, especially
students of Southwestern Wisconsin; and
WHEREAS external agencies currently treat the UW-System as a single entity, and provide the entire
System with specific considerations in terms of contracts and rates, and the efficiencies realized by this
likely save various UW-System institutions millions of dollars each year;
BE IT THEREFORE RESOLVED that UW-L, along with our UW System sister institutions, be allocated
resources necessary to continue providing our citizens the affordable, high quality, and universally
accessible education that is the essential foundation for private sector job creation within the state of
Wisconsin; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that management flexibilities be provided to all campuses in the UW
System, while ensuring transparency and appropriate oversight and public accountability.