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Ray Cross, Wisconsin’s new chancellor overseeing the state’s 13 two-year colleges and the UW-Extension, could play an influential role in the growing debate over Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to spin off UW-Madison as a public authority. Many students entering the colleges hope to later transfer to the flagship university – a process that could become more difficult if UW-Madison leaves the UW System.

Cross, appointed by the system’s Board of Regents in December, succeeds David Wilson, who served as chancellor of the UW Colleges and the Extension from 2006 to 2010. (During that time, the Regents voted to consolidate the administration of the two under a single chancellor.) Cross moved to Wisconsin after serving for 13 years as president of Morrisville State College in New York, part of the State University of New York system.

After starting in February, he’s getting his feet wet and has already met with legislators to discuss the proposed split, which is expected to become a hot topic in the state Legislature once it begins debating Walker’s 2011-13 budget.

Walker and UW-Madison Chancellor Biddy Martin are pushing to re-establish UW-Madison as a public authority independent from the UW System. As a public authority, the school would have greater freedom to raise tuition, pool resources in new initiatives, attract more high-caliber faculty and direct its own building projects and purchasing arrangements, which are currently overseen by the state Department of Administration.

The Regents – in a plan Cross is now backing – have proposed an alternative plan, the Wisconsin Idea Partnership, that would grant the “flexibilities” UW-Madison is seeking to all UW campuses but keep the flagship university within the UW System. The proposal takes its name from the oft-cited “Wisconsin Idea” philosophy that the state’s university system should benefit all the state’s citizens.

Cross says of the UW-Extension, which runs small business programs and county extension offices: “This is the entity that lives out the Wisconsin Idea.” In Milwaukee County, the extension office runs urban gardening, youth, community development and nutrition programs.

The UW Colleges often serve as bridges to the four-year campuses in the UW System for students, increasing accessibility. Tuition at the two-year schools is significantly lower, only about $2,300 a year, including fees, and students often save on housing costs by living at home.

Currently, transfers from two-year schools to UW-Madison are facilitated through the UW System. Cross says those transfers could become more difficult if the flagship campus spins off as a public authority. The 21-member board Walker’s budget creates to govern the authority (11 of whom would be appointed by the governor) could admit more out-of-state students (who pay higher tuition) or alter transfer policies, two changes that could make it harder for graduates of the two-year colleges to get in.

Cross says such changes, if they happened, would come slowly. “I don’t think it would happen right away.” The chancellor, like other critics of the Walker plan, including UW System President Kevin Reilly, say public authority status could lead to large tuition increases at UW-Madison. “When you have that freedom, I fear, you never deal with the expense side of the ledger,” Cross says.

Martin has insisted that large tuition increases are not in the works. In a recent letter to state legislators, she said she wouldn’t ask for an increase greater than 8.5 percent if the university is granted public authority status.

Cross agrees that some sort of tuition increase is needed at UW-Madison, which is cheaper than most of its peers in the Big Ten conference, to help it maintain its status as major research university. “That’s what you want a major research institution to do, but you can’t ignore the basic needs of the state,” he says.

The UW System and Cross are asking for the same freedom to set tuition as Martin’s New Badger Partnership, which was the primary inspiration for Walker’s plan to spinoff UW-Madison. Cross argues, however, that under the Wisconsin Idea Partnership, the Regents, by voting on campus requests to increase tuition, would provide the necessary oversight.

So far, tuition at the UW Colleges, which are intended to be a low-cost option, has grown at a snail’s pace – it hasn’t increased since 2006. But Cross says that’s likely to change. Walker’s budget reduces funding for the colleges, like most other campuses in the system, by about 11 percent.

Even with an increase in tuition, “We’re still going to be hit with a pretty sizable cut.” Cross says the hope is to avoid cutting services that impact students, “but I’m not sure that’s a challenge I can keep.”

Cross is joined by the 12 other UW chancellors (all others except Martin) in supporting the Wisconsin Idea Partnership over the UW-Madison split proposed by Martin and Walker.

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