If access means increasing enrollments at the UW, we're going to have to think hard about how to do that and be responsive to the need. I believe higher education is a ticket for professional prosperity, economic well-being and even personal happiness. We have a responsibility to provide opportunities that come from higher education. The concern for accountability is not going to go away. I see many needs that are straining the public coffers.
Higher education is in competition for scare dollars.
But that doesn't mean we have to do everything our critics tell us to do. It will continue to be so. But at the UW teaching is done in the context of a research university by men and women at the cutting edge of their disciplines who know more than can be found in any textbook. They are extremely well situated to represent the University to their fellow citizens. And they can help alert members of the University, including the president, what the University could be doing better.