At its October meeting, the UW System Board of Regents called for the state Legislature to finalize a state biennial budget that includes adequate financial support of the UW System and its Growth Agenda.

In a unanimous resolution, the Regents stated Thursday that the System does not have the funds to cover existing costs because it is still operating under last year’s budget levels.

System funds are tied up in a budget that has stalled in the divided state Legislature.

“Inaction is a choice, and by not acting there are very serious and dire consequences,” Regent Chuck Pruitt said. “To suggest, by not acting, that nothing is happening is pretty inexcusable.”

System President Kevin Reilly also addressed concerns from those in attendance about how increased funding for the state’s higher education might affect taxes.

“Nobody wants to raise taxes, but unless we reinvest in the university, we will have no choice going forward to either raise taxes or very seriously diminish the services the state provides to our citizens,” Reilly said.

“If we create more college graduates and knowledge-economy jobs to employ them, we’ll raise per-capita income and grow the state’s tax base and increase tax revenues without increasing the individual tax burden.”

Executive Senior Vice President Donald Mash also announced several upcoming think-tank meetings designed to analyze the future of the UW System. He said all UW System schools have strategic planning efforts underway, and the system-wide initiative will provide some “oomph” to those processes.

“We are culminating the planning of the process and we’re ready to move forward and begin to engage in the conversation,” Mash said Friday.

The announcement came just a day after UW-Eau Claire officials announced the progress of their own strategic planning process.

In an e-mail Thursday to all students, M.J. Brukardt, special assistant to the chancellor for Strategic Planning, announced two campus discussion sessions with Chancellor Brian Levin-Stankevich to address two main themes: “Our Campus Culture” and “Our Academic Mission.”

“We really want to set a compelling vision for the university – what will really allow us to distinguish ourselves as a university,” Brukardt said in a Sept. 7 interview with The Spectator.

“The conversations will be informal, respectful and challenging.”