Ideas Lab inside
No, even as we fight coronavirus, we’re not all in this together. But we could be.
As colleges and universities announce plans to invite students back to campus this fall, American higher education is, according to the New York Times, “about to embark on a highly uncertain experiment.”
It remains to be seen how this fall's “tryout” will go. We all hope for the safety and health of students, faculty and staff everywhere. Yet during this precarious time for higher education and the nation, it is important to reflect on another public university “experiment” more than a century ago that made a difference not only during the 1918 pandemic but also in improving the quality of life for Wisconsin. This experiment still stands today as a model for how universities can effectively partner with their governments and citizens.
That model is known as the “Wisconsin Idea,” a century-old ethos that unites the University of Wisconsin, the state's public university, in service to its citizens. And we believe that the spirit embodied in that notion, and its execution, can help higher education, Wisconsin, and, perhaps, the nation, to recover from the current pandemic.
History shows us how
In September 1918, a global flu epidemic reached Wisconsin. By December, influenza had sickened more than 100,000 Wisconsinites, killing 8,459, and prompting the
state Board of Health to proclaim that the "Spanish flu epidemic would forever be remembered as the most disastrous calamity that has ever been visited upon the people of Wisconsin."
But as Steven Burg points out in his 2000 article “Wisconsin and the Great Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918” in the Wisconsin Magazine of History, “the great epidemic is worth remembering, not only for the terrible swath it cut through Wisconsin, but also because the crisis … permits unique insights into the nature of government, citizenship, civic life, and public health.”
While no state was adequately prepared for an epidemic of such proportions, Wisconsin, Burg explains, proved better prepared than most because of the state leaders' foresight in creating dynamic state institutions and making public health a policy priority.
“Wisconsin responded with one of the most comprehensive anti-influenza programs in the nation,” writes Burg, “one made possible by the existence of a strong state public health board and a well-coordinated statewide public health network.” Led by state Health Officer Dr. Cornelius Harper and combined with the public's willingness to join the fight, Wisconsin was able to save thousands of lives and relieve untold suffering.
How was this possible?
Cue the “Wisconsin Idea,” the statutory mission of the University of Wisconsin with its mandate “to extend knowledge and its application beyond the boundaries of its campus to the boundaries of the state.” While the state's public health infrastructure had predated the labeling of the Wisconsin Idea, the notion was part and parcel of how the UW gave back to the state. As UW President Charles Van Hise emphasized in 1905: “I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the university reaches every family of the state.”
His words, and commitment, received a huge boost from Gov. Robert M. “Fighting Bob” La Follette. The governor thrust the Wisconsin Idea into productive practice, using more than 50 University of Wisconsin faculty to help legislators draft laws and serve as experts for the state regulations created by the new laws. That spawned the Legislative Reference Library, which added a bill drafting service in 1907, a model so successful that it was adopted around the world. In 1911, Wisconsin, thanks to the university, created the nation's most effective workers' compensation program to protect people who were injured on the job. And it was “Fighting Bob” who had appointed Dr. Harper, a Madison physician, to the state public health board in 1902. As with the university's central role with state government, La Follette strongly favored an activist role for government in improving public health, working tirelessly for more stringent regulations and improved public support for education and health services.
The stage had been set, so that even before the influenza epidemic hit, Harper had called for a statewide educational campaign aimed at informing the public that anyone with a severe cold should stay at home and away from public gatherings. And when the epidemic arrived, it struck on the heels of the Progressive Era, a time in American life — nowhere more so than in Wisconsin — when faith in the power of government and experts for improving the quality of civic life stood at an all-time high.
Even with such a strong, coordinated effort, the severity of conditions led communities like Wausau to request additional assistance from the state Board of Health. On Nov. 5, 1918, the board sent L.E. Blackmer of the University of Wisconsin Extension to take charge of the effort there. He immediately addressed a meeting of ward chairmen of the County Council of Defense describing how citizens could assist the city's physicians. He also established a filing system for monitoring the progress of all known cases and for ranking their severity. Local officials granted UW's Blackmer full authority to adopt any measures he believed would help combat the disease.
The Wausau example provides a useful illustration of how the university collaborated with state and local governments to combat the flu. In most cases, the Board of Health provided local authorities with guidance and technical information, but in a few extreme cases, the state sent experienced public health professionals and UW experts to work directly with local officials.
This “Wisconsin Idea” impetus may help explain why Wisconsin was the only state in the nation to meet the “Spanish flu” epidemic with uniform, statewide measures that were unusual both for their aggressiveness and the public's willingness to comply with them. Undoubtedly, those measures helped reduce the loss of life from the disease.
It is well to remember that in 1918, millions sacrificed their individual wishes for the general welfare, and tens of thousands risked infection and possible death trying to alleviate the suffering of others. It was a “Wisconsin Idea” impulse driven by its active public university that helped reduce the destruction of the epidemic. We hope the state will call on this legacy, and the current immense talent pool in the University of Wisconsin System, to battle this 21st-century pandemic.
Combined, the authors represent more than 100 years in higher education leadership, communications, and advocacy. Kevin Reilly served as president of the UW System and chancellor of UW-Extension, Don Mash was senior vice president for administration at the system and chancellor at UW-Eau Claire. Doug Bradley spent three decades in a variety of communication roles with the UW.