• Print •  • E-mail Alerts • Search Articles

March 2008

State Roundups
Wisconsin

Getting bigger, more sensitive, maybe smarter

The University of Wisconsin System has been witness to a lot of growth and change of late. This past fall, enrollment rose by 2.1 percent over 2006, hitting a record 173,000 among the UW's 26 campuses.

Women are also taking over, at least in terms of degrees. In 2007, 57 percent of undergraduate degrees were awarded to women; four of the five 4-year campuses in the Ninth District had even higher rates.

System regents have also experimented with admissions policies; last year, they approved a change allowing admissions counselors to take applicant backgrounds—including race—into consideration, rather than just test scores and class rank.

And students will be able to shop the UW System for their education. Late last year, the system agreed to participate in a nationwide voluntary testing system that will allow students and parents to gauge quality and compare individual campuses and their programs. The system will not be operational for several years. Once it is, available information will include baseline data on students and their families, student learning outcomes, and students' perceptions and experiences at college.

State passes cable competition bill

Television fans in the state are expected to reap the rewards of a new law that deregulates cable television by allowing the state to issue franchises for telecommunication firms to offer services anywhere in the state.

Previously, such television franchise agreements were the purview of cable companies and local governments. The law is intended to ease local entry for new telecom operators to compete for customers.

The law is not without its critics, most of whom point out that local access channels will likely be eliminated with state-wide charters because local franchise agreements typically required such offerings.

Gov. Jim Doyle also vetoed items in the original bill in an effort to reinforce consumer protection. One line-item veto creates the requirement that providers serve at least 30 percent of low-income customers in a market within a three-year window. Another veto will help protect local governments by allowing them to charge a fee to companies that need to use or install equipment on public land.

—Ronald A. Wirtz