The “Wisconsin Idea” is a revered concept in our state’s higher education ethos. In many respects, it’s a revolutionary concept that links the core mission of the University of Wisconsin system to real-life applications and benefits to people and society beyond the ivory towers. First articulated by UW President Charles van Hise in 1904, the Wisconsin Idea said “the walls of the University are the borders of the state.” The idea was meant to forever connect the university to the “real world” in ways that benefit both. It remains embedded in the current mission statement of the UW: “To create, integrate, transfer and apply knowledge.”
In a very real sense, the Wisconsin Idea vision and tradition lives on in the strong relationship between the UW and Wisconsin’s real estate industry — in particular, between the UW-Madison Graaskamp Center for Real Estate and the Wisconsin REALTORS® Association.
Our relationship with the Graaskamp Center runs long and deep. In fact, a portion of the center’s funding comes from dedicated revenues from real estate license fees in Wisconsin. That novel funding source was created in legislation passed in 1992, with the strong support and lobbying effort of the WRA. The concept embodied the Wisconsin Idea by having real estate professionals directly supporting research and knowledge-based services that benefit academia and industry, both inside and outside the state.
Today, the center functions as a self-funded, quasi-private organization that operates efficiently and with a clearly stated mission and objectives. Year-in and year-out, the center is ranked as the top (or near the top) real estate school in the country. A large part of the center’s success is the stable and reliable source of funding from license fees that allows the center to retain and develop a highly capable and experienced staff that works to ensure regular, consistently high-quality research projects and events that benefit the real estate business community.
This funding, and the benefits that accrue from it, was in jeopardy recently as the legislature considered a state budget proposal that would have converted the UW system from a state “agency” to an independent “authority.” Within that proposal, state funding for programs such as the license fee allocation to the center, would have ended. As we learned of this budget proposal, the WRA immediately teamed up with the faculty and leadership of the Graaskamp Center to develop a plan to restore the funding. Luckily, our lobbying contacts with lawmakers and administration officials revealed no dissatisfaction per se with the center or its work, or the funding source for that matter, and thus most decision-makers were receptive to the idea of restoring the funding. The budget-writing Joint Finance Committee and legislative leaders have now said they will reject the concept of the UW system as a private authority and, with that change, restore the license fee support for the Graaskamp Center.
This effort to protect the funding for the Graaskamp Center has reinvigorated the strong relationship between the center and the WRA. While the state budget process is not over, and thus funding issues could resurface, it appears the center can now refocus on the excellent programming and research that has made it a national real estate education leader. These activities include an annual Wisconsin Real Estate and Economic Outlook Conference, held at UW-Madison. For the past 21 years, this conference has provided a unique forum for real estate and housing professionals who are involved in every aspect of the industry to address critical issues facing the industry and society. Over the years, the conference has focused on a variety of relevant and timely topics on housing and public policy issues, from metropolitan neighborhood revitalization to low-income housing tax credits. The conference pays special attention to conditions and trends in Wisconsin. In recent years, the conference has evolved to address issues of national housing and financing policies as well. As a member of the board of advisors for the Graaskamp Center, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of representing the WRA and the real estate industry in the planning and programming of this excellent conference of which the WRA is a proud sponsor.
The center will also continue providing programs and conferences like the Sustainable Real Estate Development Conference; corporate, government and industry associations’ training partnerships; executive-in-residence speaker series; and a renowned real estate certificate program, just to name a few. This is in addition to cutting-edge working papers by nationally recognized center faculty made available to the WRA and other industry leaders. Observations and analyses of Wisconsin’s real estate and housing markets can also be found throughout the year in the WRA’s Wisconsin Real Estate Magazine. And coming soon, the WRA and the center are collaborating on a new quarterly “economic dashboard” that will track and analyze key labor, housing, finance and demographic data and trends and explain how these data are impacting or will impact our industry.
The WRA values an equally strong relationship with the economics department of Marquette University, where professor David Clark has produced the WRA’s monthly housing statistics for many years. These statistics are also valued by government agencies and media outlets throughout the state.
Our association and industry benefit tremendously from these higher education relationships, and by keeping the tradition of the Wisconsin Idea alive, we are hopefully showing other industries how to make the boundaries of the university and the state one in the same.