There are some who believe the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) and other UW System campuses are slowly but surely being "privatized" due to shrinking state support.

Students are noting this trend and asking whether UWSP, specifically, and all public universities, generally, can survive, or is privatization of the public university an eventuality. To look at this trend, UWSP�s Student Government Association (SGA) has brought together an array of viewpoints for a panel discussion at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 16, at the University Center�s Legacy Room. The discussion, "Privatization of Public Higher Education," that brings three respected state leaders to campus, is free and open to the public.

Nino Amato, president of the Wisconsin Industrial Energy Group and former UW System Regent, has been a longtime community leader in Madison. He also has served as the CEO/president of Forward Wisconsin, the state of Wisconsin�s marketing and economic development corporation. He is past president of the Wisconsin Technical College System Board. Amato holds bachelor�s and master�s degrees from UW-Madison.

Joining Amato on the panel are Mike McCabe and Anneliese Dickman. McCabe is the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan political watchdog group working for "clean government and real democracy." Prior to joining the campaign in 1999, he was the communication director and lobbyist for the Madison Metropolitan School District. A former Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, he holds two bachelor�s degrees from UW-Madison.

Dickman is currently a senior researcher with the Public Policy Forum, a nonpartisan think tank in Milwaukee. Her areas of expertise are education policy issues including state education financing, charter schools, school choice and desegregation. Prior to joining the forum she worked for the county of Milwaukee as a staff member of the County Board of Supervisors. She received a bachelor�s degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a J.D. from the University Of Denver College Of Law.

According to SGA Legislative Issues Director Lauren McGrath, over the past several years, students have seen disturbing movements toward the search for private dollars to supplant dwindling state support.

"Our elected state government has a tradition of providing quality higher education, but recently has failed to fully fund this endeavor," said McGrath. "Without sufficient public funding, public higher education institutions must then solicit private donors, and in many cases the funding comes with strings attached. SGA hopes this forum will give people pause as to the future of UW System campuses and whether access, quality, and affordability will remain the benchmarks of a quality, �public� higher education."

For more information on the forum, contact SGA at 715-346-4592.

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