Interview with Joe Salmons

Partial Transcript: Alright, today is June 17the 2013. This is the first interview with Joe Salmons.

Partial Transcript: Why UW-Madison?

Segment Synopsis: Question: How did Joe Salmons (JS) end up teaching at UW-Madison? Answer: "Pure luck." When he graduated from UT-Austin, jobs in languages/linguistics were not easy to find. He took a job at Purdue University. The program and location did not fit him well, so he looked for other opportunities. While at Purdue, JS met and married a fellow linguist, who grew up in Madison. He was offered a visiting professorship at UW-Madison, which he took. He and his wife moved to Madison and eventually both were offered full-time faculty positions here. In the early 1990s, UW-Madison served as the best place for teaching and research on linguistics and German language. It was also perfect for JS for other reasons, including the Wisconsin Idea.

Keywords: German; Purdue University; UT-Austin; UW-Madison; Wisconsin Idea; linguistics

Partial Transcript: So, when you were here as a visiting professor, what classes did you teach?

Segment Synopsis: Question: As visiting professor, what classes did JS teach? Answer: Two classes. In one (an undergraduate course), JS recalls a woman who did great work but could not be relied on. He later found out that she wrote for The Onion, which explained why she did not focus on his class. When asked about wanting to come to UW-Madison, JS says he wanted to come here, but that he and his wife both needed to find positions in the same place. After months of sweating and possibly going back to Purdue, they both got jobs at UW.

Keywords: The Onion; linguistics; tenure

Partial Transcript: Maybe we should provide a personal noun to your wife's name.

Segment Synopsis: Question: JS’s wife’s name? Answer: Monica Macaulay (MM). Gives a brief biography of her, including why UW-Madison served as such a great fit for her, as well as for him. He speaks of past professors here, whose work they both have used. JS notes that they would have gravitated towards here, even without MM’s family ties. Talks about professor “Smoky” Seifert, the namesake of JS’s professorship, and how Seifert's work ties to JS's own work.

Keywords: Central American languages; Native American languages

Partial Transcript: It's really interesting. In Monica's field, and linguistics departments working on endangered languages...

Keywords: endangered languages; linguists; outreach

Subjects: [No question.] JS continues talking about MM’s work, focusing on linguists and their research on how languages change, strive, or die. Then he talks about the importance of linguists truly giving back to the communities they have studied.

Partial Transcript: Joe I think you've alluded to this, but I guess I'm interested to know if you think your wife's research has...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Has MM’s research help shape JS’s work? Answer: Most definitely. Linguists should try to reach out to other linguists, regardless of their language focus, to gain a broad view of languages. Talks about an interview with a former German professor in the UW-Madison’s oral history collection that he listened to and learned from. The nature of that narrator’s (Roe-Merrill Heffner) work crossed a variety of disciplines, including phonetics and physics. JS and others approach linguistics today by getting to know and trying to work with other linguists on campus and beyond. JS lists some members of the current campus linguistic community.

Keywords: German; Roe-Merrill Heffner; UW-Madison campus; Wisconsin Tradition; language; linguists; narration; phonetics; physics; sound waves

Partial Transcript: So instead of starting with trying to get an overview of your teaching...

Segment Synopsis: Question: How did JS get involved in linguistics? Answer: JS grew up in North Carolina and went to college, in spite of himself. He attended University of North Carolina-Charlotte. He majored in philosophy and chose German as his language to learn. He focused on learning European philosophy and study French, as long with German. While he wanted to learn the History & Philosophy of science, he quickly realized he needed a solid background in German and French to be successful.

Keywords: German; University of North Carolina-Charlotte; linguistics; research

Partial Transcript: So I applied for philosophy in a couple of places and I applied in German to a couple of places.

Segment Synopsis: [No question.] He applied for graduate school in both philosophy and German. UT-Austin, which held graduate degrees in both, accepted him. To get an advanced degree in German at UT, the department required him to the history of the German language class. JS, in his classes at UNC-Charlotte, the great teachers there never could answer his “why” questions. Within two or three classes, his professor in the history of the German language answered the “why” questions JS always wanted to know. Furthermore, he would help JS after class to get more information. This class hammered home to JS his desire to stick in German and to learn linguistics.

Keywords: German; Philosophy; UNC-Charlotte; UT-Austin; graduate school; linguistics

Partial Transcript: The next class I took was with a graduate of UW-Madison,Winfred Philipp Lehmann.

Segment Synopsis: [No question.] JS speaks of another class (Synchronic Linguistics) and its instructor, Winfred Philipp Lehmann, and his role in JS’s development. Lehmann required a paper. When JS told him of his interests, Lehmann pointed him to a community (Fredericksburg) near Austin that still spoke primarily German. Lehmann told him to go out there and start interviewing folks. He drove to Fredericksburg with a cassette recorder and asked people questions. It led to JS’s first published article. These two events best describe JS’s life-long academic research. JS took his paper from Lehmann’s class to his History of German Language professor, who became his dissertation adviser. The discussions with him taught JS that to study historic linguistics he must also know current language trends.

Keywords: Historic Linguistics; Synchronic Linguistics; Winfred Philipp Lehmann

Partial Transcript: You mentioned what you taught when you came here as a visiting professor.

Segment Synopsis: Question: Teaching at UW-Madison? Answer: JS has taught the history of German, as well as teaching the “old, dead” languages. He explains those, particularly the ones that pertained to teaching German. Mentions a current colleague, Rob Howell, whose knowledge could be intimidating. JS never taught syntax, but just about everything else, including special topics through the department, which led him to teach classes in German linguistics.

Keywords: German; Gothic; Historical Linguistics; History of German; UW-Madison; dead languages

Partial Transcript: Who were..Who were some of the faculty in the department that you...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Faculty in German who influenced JS? Answer: JS returns to Rob Howell. They knew each other only in passing before JS reviewed RH’s book, which then led to a three-hour conversation. JS to discusses how many connections have came from outside of the German department. In linguistics, JS says, “the campus is your world.” He lists a few of the linguists in other department that he has worked with and learned from. Talks briefly about Linguists List, which has become the world’s largest academic website, where JS and other linguists on campus edit book reviews.

Keywords: German Department; Linguists List; Rob Howell

Partial Transcript: When you came here, Rob had the graduate program, as you said, in great shape...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Did JS get graduate students as soon as he started at UW-Madison? Answer: JS starts by explaining how graduate students came to him (through being TAs in his classes or finding out about him through other faculty or their own research on him). JS and Howell have served as virtual co-chairs on students’ dissertation committees. JS does not participate in "intellectual cloning," meaning his students work with him, not for him. He and Howell have argued for blurring lines among teaching, research, and outreach with his graduate students, because they all will serve students well. He compares his own graduate student experience with today’s. Students today must do (competent) original research as soon as possible. Offers anecdote about a recent conversation with a high school student, who expressed interest in linguistics. Research/teaching have become an element of the graduate (and even undergraduate) level.

Keywords: advising; dissertation committees; dissertation director; intellectual cloning; outreach; research

Partial Transcript: So you think, 'what about service?', well if you look over your shoulder...

Segment Synopsis: [No question.] In regards to service/outreach, JS talks about a recent research project that involved three graduate students doing research in German language in Wisconsin, (basically between Lake Winnebago and Lake Michigan). The initial funding and project led the graduate students to secure additional funding (Wisconsin Humanities Council) to present their finding both in person and on the web. JS discusses how community (or the Wisconsin Idea) in a grant proposal can get students funding to do service/outreach within the community.

Keywords: German; Lake Michigan; Lake Winnebago; Wisconsin Humanities Council; dialects; funding; graduate students; grant proposals; outreach; research; service

Partial Transcript: So, another graduate student, she wasn't my graduate student...

Segment Synopsis: [No question.] Another anecdote regarding graduate students researching this question: How did Germans learn English in the late 19th/early 20th Century? (Or did they?) This research stemmed from JS’ talks in community Historical Societies. JS was asked why current immigrants cannot learn English without government assistance, while his German ancestors learned English without it. JS looked for research but could not find much on it. The 1910 Census (question 17: Do you speak English? If not, list language spoken.) offered a possible avenue for answers.

Keywords: English; German immigrants; community historical societies

Partial Transcript: Miranda and I were bouncing around ideas for projects...

Keywords: English; immigrants; immigration rhetoric; microfilm; outreach

Subjects: [No question.] JS could not physically go through the 1910 Census on microfilm, so his graduate student volunteered to do it for her research project. JS offered their findings, which basically belied the idea that 19th/20th immigrants learned English without help. Some, even, never learned English at all. JS concludes with the question, why is this research (and its finding) important? The data can counter current immigration rhetoric, has led to current outreach, and has given students a project that ties teaching, research, and outreach together.

Partial Transcript: So it's, I mean from what you told me there...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Clarifying JS’ thought that teaching/research/service (outreach) should intertwine? Answer: JS focuses on a Fall 2013 class for undergraduates on Wisconsin immigration history. Argues that tying the triad together needs to trickle down to undergraduate education too. Asks the questions: how do we make education for undergraduates count, and what is faculty’s role in quality undergraduate education?

Keywords: immigration history; research; service; teaching

Partial Transcript: Wednesday when we meet next...

Partial Transcript: Alright, today is June 19th 2013. This is the second interview with Joe Salmons.

Partial Transcript: The first actually goes back to you and your wife moving here to Madison permanently...

Segment Synopsis: Question: When Joe Salmons (JS) and his wife (Monica Macaulay) moved to Madison, where did they live? Answer: Could have bought a Victorian mansion near Purdue. In Madison, they lived in various places, including MM’s parents’ house, until they purchased a house in Madison’s Far East side. While biking around town, JS found a house on Monona Bay, where they have lived for most of their Madison time.

Keywords: Far East side; Madison; Monona Bay; Wisconsin

Partial Transcript: The other think I want to talk about is, the differences...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Compare Purdue to UW-Madison? Answer: JS talks about Purdue’s Land Grant status, which orients them towards Agriculture and Engineering. UW-Madison, while also a Land Grant college, offers a more comprehensive university experience. JS went to Indiana University to check out books and do research. While linguistics at Purdue had good things to offer, it seemed more akin to a service for Agriculture and Engineering students to learn German for their possible international work. This meant it offered a rich but limited environment for linguists.

Keywords: Agriculture; Engineering; Land Grant Universities; Purdue; UW-Madison

Partial Transcript: You go from that, I mean it goes back to the very first things I said...

Segment Synopsis: [No question.] JS returns to the positives at UW-Madison for him and his wife. While he appreciated getting the job at Purdue and could have imagined carving out a decent career there, UW-Madison offered the perfect opportunity to excel. Compares Lafayette Indiana cuisine to Madison, Madison wins hands down. MM made a rule that they would travel somewhere one weekend a month. When traveling to a big metro area, they always stopped at grocery and liquor stores to bring items home that they could not find in Lafayette.

Keywords: UW-Madison; local amenities; local cuisine

Partial Transcript: You talked indirectly, although I'm not sure if you used the word mentor, of two of the professors at UT-Austin...

Segment Synopsis: Question: JS’ mentors? Answer: Along with the two professors JS referenced in his first interview, he lists others. His background required him to find faculty to help him move from being “a hick” to a leading academic. Faculty, including those who never officially taught and those at the level of dean and associate dean, seemed quite willing to help him learn the context of academia. An anecdote about the dean, whose politics conflicted with JS’s, who wanted to set up a situation in a Faculty Senate meeting where he and JS agreed on a topic, hoping to cause the faculty to flip out.

Keywords: Faculty Senate; UT-Austin; dissertation committee; mentors

Partial Transcript: So, and again you've talked about this, even as you started the answer to this question but...

Segment Synopsis: Question: How has JS mentored others? Answer: He discusses a book that his wife wrote entitled Surviving Linguistics, which they started at Purdue, because of the smaller cohort of graduate students there. He notes that no day has passed without him thinking about how best to mentor. He (and others) have created a contract that he has shared with his graduate students, although he strives to avoid cloning students to think and write just like him. He also has pounded in the idea that they should seek advice and support from other faculty, as well as staff and their cohorts.

Keywords: intellectual cloning; mentoring

Partial Transcript: I assume you've been here long enough now that there are graduate students that you advised that are now in the field...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Overview of JS’s work with graduate students? Answer: JS started with one of his first graduate students at Purdue, who recently succumbed to a heart attack. He lists others and their accomplishments. He has continued work with a lot of them, even those no longer in academia, primarily by co-authoring pieces with them.

Keywords: advising; graduate students

Partial Transcript: Maybe we'll start it by going back to graduate school because you said that you were politically active at UT-Austin.

Segment Synopsis: Question: Politically active while at UT-Austin? Answer: JS says that democracy depends not only on people being knowledgeable about the process but also on people having access to quality public education, as a place to practice democracy. JS focused on access to education, explaining his lineage. When he matriculated at UT-Austin, he noticed that a good percentage of his cohorts came from privileged background with a history of being well educated, which gave him an example of the importance of educational accessibility. He also discusses the change in education from his graduate experience to today, focusing on how, then, he could get an education with only one outside job and with little or no long-term debt.

Keywords: UT-Austin; democracy; higher education; politics; public education

Partial Transcript: Austin was a pretty political, UT was a pretty political place...

Segment Synopsis: [No question.] JS calls UT-Austin a pretty political place, where one could participate in campus government easily. Though could rarely vote, they could shape policy by showing up and commenting (a cohort called it “screaming rights”). Talks about trying to win small battles while at UT-Austin and seeing the Teaching Assistants Association argue for positive change. He echoes the Martin Luther King statement that the arc of history bends towards justice, highlighting the idea that affordable education can help bend the arc.

Keywords: Teaching Assistants Association; UT-Austin; affordable education; campus government; democracy; politics

Partial Transcript: So,now lets push this forward, unless there are things at your time at Purdue...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Service at UW-Madison? Answer: JS took over as director of the Max Kade Institute and tried to shape its agenda toward new research and public outreach. These “outreach talks,” which he describes in some detail, led him to see various parts of the state and to learn new possible avenues of research from the attendees.

Keywords: Max Kade Institute; UW-Madison; Wisconsin Idea; public outreach; service

Partial Transcript: And you get to know very quickly... people, and this campus is rich with people who know...

Segment Synopsis: [No question.] The Max Kade talks also helped him make connections with the history and archival community on campus, including the Wisconsin Historical Society and Mills Music Library. Story of getting “Smoky” Seifert’s Soundscriber and discs after he died. After much mulling over what to do with the piece of equipment and records, a colleague told him to go to Mills Music Library, where a staff person there played one on a regular turntable. They then heard Seifert’s 1948 recording, in German, of a man who was born in the mid-1860s. JS and his graduate student were pleasantly shocked to hear this long-lost recording. The folks at Mills also advised them about how best to preserve them, until they could be digitized.

Keywords: Mills Music Library; Smoky Seifert; Wisconsin Historical Society; records; soundscriber

Partial Transcript: So you start learning what's happening in the state and what people in the state are interested in.

Segment Synopsis: [No question.] Discusses the soon-to-be published Wisconsin Talk Book, and the real-life nature of the questions they want the book to answer and the way the book has continued to shape JS’s (and others’) teaching/research/outreach paradigm. Being involved in Max Kade forced him to think like an administrator, which has benefited him greatly.

Keywords: Max Kade; Wisconsin Talk Book; language; outreach paradigm

Partial Transcript: So we talked about-- well, actually you talked about with Joanie...

Segment Synopsis: Question: JS’s involvement in PROFS? Answer: JS heard about PROFS and eventually, when asked, joined the steering committee for it. He spent his early years on PROFS listening and learning. He discusses going to meetings around the state and the difference between his own outreach talks and these presentations. Talks about how others in the state have viewed UW-Madison and The Wisconsin Idea.

Keywords: PROFS; The Wisconsin Idea; UW-Madison

Partial Transcript: Maybe one last thing for today, and that's...

Segment Synopsis: Question: JS’s relationship with the TAA, prior to February 2011? Answer: A number of his students took active roles in the TAA. JS discussed, briefly, a big “grade-in” in the late 1990s/early 2000s. The German Department has been involved in TAA issues since at least the early 1980s. JS felt that faculty should argue for better benefits for TAs, because—particularly in the German Department—TAs have done so much to keep classes vibrant and vital. JS has attended TAA rallies and marches to show his support and solidarity. He and others worked with the TAA on CAPE (Coalition for Affordable Public Education).

Keywords: CAPE; Coalition for Affordable Public Education; German Department; TAA; Teaching Assistants Association; grade-in; students

Partial Transcript: Joe I want to start, not with the 2011 protests, not with the 2010 election...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Describe your involvement in the 2008 election. Answer: JS has voted and worked for candidates at state and local levels. Did some hours of volunteer work for the Obama campaign. He usually invests energy in the Democratic party, even though he has a permanently uncomfortable relationship with the party.

Keywords: 2008 election; Democratic Party; President Obama; politics

Partial Transcript: The reason why I ask that question is...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Did 2008 national results effect 2010 state elections in Wisconsin? Answer: JS thinks the results of the 2010 election in Wisconsin and other states came out of certain programs and agendas that had been developing in the right for years. The rise of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). Believed that Barack Obama’s race was one dimension that provoked a reaction nationally in the wake of 2008 election. This goes back to political discussions since 1980 of the role of government: higher education, tuition rates, and Reagan’s elimination of Social Security survivor benefits for college.

Keywords: 2008 election; 2010 State Election; ALEC; American Legislative Exchange Council; President Obama; Social Security survivor benefits; Wisconsin; higher education; tuition

Partial Transcript: So as a, now Wisconsinite working on campus, how did you react or feel...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Reaction to Wisconsin 2010 elections and Republican control? Answer: Could see Republican control of state government coming. Did not predict that the impact of the results would be so stark. PROFs had brownbag sessions to inform faculty and administration about state government politics and the mechanics of the political process. JS saw less apathy among the faculty now than prior to 2010. JS realized the the broader university community needed to think about the situation of the university and how faculty, staff, graduates, and undergraduates could do something if they were so inclined.

Keywords: 2010 Wisconsin State Election; PROF; Republican Party; politics

Partial Transcript: So, was that a PROFs meeting or?

Segment Synopsis: [No Question] A forum called State Budget 101 was held in the Wisconsin Idea room with U.S. Congressman Mark Pocan, Pete Christianson, a lobbyist from the Alumni Association, and Don Nelson, a university lobbyist. People knew that it would be a tough year for the budget. Pocan had left his BlackBerry out on the table and he started looking at it intensely. Pocan announced that news had leaked out that the Walker budget would be released on the following Monday and it was going to be a lot worse than expected. Lots of speculation.

Keywords: Alumni Association; Congressman Mark Pocan; Don Nelson; Governor Scott Walker; Pte Christianson; State Budget 101; The Wisconsin Idea; budget; forum; lobbyist

Partial Transcript: That Monday, Valentines Day, the TAA had organized their Valentine for UW Campaign...

Segment Synopsis: [No Question] TAA organized their Valentine’s Day for UW campaign. There was a clear indication that a battle was brewing.

Keywords: TAA; Teaching Assistants Association; Valentine's for UW Campaign

Partial Transcript: So, did you attend? I guess, A: did you know that the Valentine's Day event was going to happen?

Segment Synopsis: Question: Attend the Valentine’s Day event? First time at Capitol? Answer: Signed a Valentine but could not attend event due to teaching responsibility. Originally thought this was going to be a TAA gesture on behalf of UW. Went to the Capitol for the first time on Tuesday morning. Was surprised to see how full the building was: “had never seen anything like it.” The crowd was Wisconsin—not just union people or university people—but people of every group.

Keywords: TAA; Valentines for UW; politics; protests

Partial Transcript: Did you try to participate in the hearings...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Participate in the hearings? Answer: Did not speak, but attended them. Many of the speakers were graduate students and staff people, and went mostly to support them. Faculty voices were present, but faculty was not the most affected. A pay cut for JS might be an inconvenience; for those testifying it was a difference maker. To make things worse for them was a bad deal for all.

Keywords: budget; collective bargaining; graduate students; hearings; pay cuts; politics

Partial Transcript: Just throwing out some general questions here.

Segment Synopsis: Question: Balance teaching and activities at the Capitol? Answer: A busy semester. Was teaching a linguistics class for the first time, researching, and working with grad students. Would run into his grad students and undergrads at the Capitol who were working on assignments, research projects, etc. Remembers getting very little sleep. Impressed by the TAA who were organizing an impressive operation.

Keywords: TAA; capitol protests; teaching

Partial Transcript: So the 14, the Wisconsin 14, left and then there was a brief...

Segment Synopsis: Question. Night of bill’s passage? Answer: Everyone was on edge. Went up to the Capitol and it was clear that the bill was going to be forced through. Recalls going to the Capitol and text messaging friends and allies to come. After 1.5 hours, the building was so full it was almost impossible to get out.

Keywords: Capital; Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill; politics; protests; recalls

Partial Transcript: I got out. And that was when they had started, just started, controlling access to the Capitol...

Segment Synopsis: [No Question] Officials controlling access to Capitol. Recalled it was unclear whether protestors should clear the building or not. People were flooding into the building, including faculty—both politically active and rank and file faculty members. “Shame” chants. The bill passed through that night, but nobody knew for sure whether it was a legitimate vote. JS refuted the notion that the protestors did damage to the building.

Keywords: Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill; access; budget; politics; protests

Partial Transcript: But that night, I had a sense, and I think a lot of people had a sense of...

Segment Synopsis: [No Question] JS felt that night people had a sense that the Republicans were going to try anything to ram the bill through. Mark Pocan and members of the legislature started to question the legitimacy, and distributed an affidavit questioning the process.

Keywords: Mark Pocan; Republicans; affidavit; bill; legislature; legitimacy

Partial Transcript: Did you attend any of the Saturday or the weekend protests?

Segment Synopsis: Question: Memorable weekend protests and rallies? Answer: Weekend of Tea Party rally stood out. TAA requested volunteers to help monitor the event to ensure there was no conflict, violence, or inappropriate activity. Tea Party rhetoric argued that the protestors had no respect for the Capitol or the political process. JS denied this interpretation, but he did witness intense conversations between two sides.

Keywords: TAA; Tea Party; politics; protests

Partial Transcript: Where you there the day the tractors came on the square?

Segment Synopsis: Question: Attend on the tractor rally day? Other memorable days? Answer: Was not there on tractor rally day as he was speaking in Bloomington, IN, that day. Heard estimates of one-hundred thousand people attending that day.

Keywords: tractor rally

Partial Transcript: That leads me to at least one more question, which is...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Role of the media in the protests? Answer: JS was a Wisconsin State Journal subscriber, and after they had endorsed Scott Walker, their coverage was “not good.” MSNBC probably built viewership in Wisconsin with visits by Ed Schultz and nightly discussions led by Rachel Maddow. Relevance of Twitter, social media, and smart phones. A lot of the organizers were “plugged in” though JS was not an active social media user at the time. Argued that it was a serious break in media—local journalism was pressed harder and harder. Cap Times did good work. State Journal did not have the resources to provide good coverage, though JS disagreed with their editorial positions.

Keywords: Capitol Times; Ed Schultz; MSNBC; Rachel Maddow; Scott Walker; Twitter; Wisconsin State Journal; media; protests; smart phones; social media

Partial Transcript: So for you, personally, getting specific information about what was going on...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Information channels primarily through emails and texts? Answer: Yes. Not using social media at the time, but lots of information also communicated face-to-face. Information flows surprisingly strong. The value of going to the Capitol was the interaction with concerned people. JS recalled receiving a notebook paper attached to his bike from graduate students that said, “Thank you, Joe.”

Keywords: communication; email; phone calls; text

Partial Transcript: So, these series of questions are going to be about the recall.

Segment Synopsis: Question: When did you first hear that the governor might be recalled? Answer: From the time the protests began people were talking about the recall. There was a sense that there was a breakdown of the normal political process the night Act 10 went through—a break from how normal politics was run in the state. JS discussed collecting signatures for the recall.

Keywords: politics; recall election

Partial Transcript: Do you recall where you where and what you were doing when...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Recall when the petitions were counted? Answer: Heard the news on Wisconsin Public Radio that there were close to one million signatures.

Keywords: Wisconsin Public Radio; petitions; recall election

Partial Transcript: Well lets talk about the day of and the evening of the recall...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Memories of the day and evening of recall? Answer: Braced for what was going to come—hopeful, but ready for bad news. JS tried not to react to the immediate news, but wanted to think ahead. Discusses his complicated relationship with the Democratic Party and thoughts about gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett. There was no sense the Democrats offered a real solution; instead, they were the lesser of two evils. The Democrats had not made their case forcefully enough. JS believed that Wisconsin needed an outlet for the view that people need to represent themselves collectively. Walker campaigned on jobs, but then attempted to implement other parts of his agenda.

Keywords: recall election

Partial Transcript: You talked about sort of catching up and then also being involved in...

Segment Synopsis: Question: New Badger Partnership? Answer: The New Badger Partnership (Public Authority for UW-Madison) was more complex than Act 10. JS had many concerns. The New Badger Partnership was a continuation of a decline in support for affordability in higher education, and more support for privatization in education. JS challenged the idea that a university needs to run like a business and shared his concerns about student debt. The notion of independence resonated with a lot of faculty and staff because of the perception and concern that the state micro-manages university affairs.

Keywords: New Badger Partnership; higher education; student debt

Partial Transcript: So the notion of us having more independence has appealed...

Segment Synopsis: [No Question] Preferred to see an actual commitment from the state and federal government to create affordable, accessible education. Fairly early, JS became skeptical about the Partnership because he could not find out how independence from the state would bring in funding. Concern over university control over tuition, and tuition “sticker shock.” Growing up, his attitude was that debt was the road to ruin. What does financial aid look like under the New Badger Partnership? The administration gave no real answers. The University of Wisconsin tradition of shared governance was challenged without fundamental involvement in the university community and input from campus and it raised people’s blood pressure resulting in a divided campus.

Keywords: New Badger Parntership; affordable education; debt; financial aid; tuition

Partial Transcript: So what we ended up with very quickly was a campus that was pretty divided.

Segment Synopsis: [No Question] Split campus. JS felt that a lot of the faculty that supported the New Badger Partnership had not studied the issue. JS believed that in the long-term, the failure of the New Badger Partnership was a good thing. However, the relationship with UW-Madison and System needed to be repaired. Building the system better, not severing ties with sister campuses.

Keywords: New Badger Partnership

Partial Transcript: I want to talk a little bit more about, and this is way back, so when you came here...

Segment Synopsis: Question: How much did you know of the history of German linguistics at UW-Madison? Answer: A lot. Most of the faculty he studied with at Texas had Wisconsin degrees and he understood the Wisconsin tradition. Had understood the Wisconsin Idea in a general sense, but started to see the connections in a general sense engaged in communities. JS discussed the split in linguistics between the theoretical enterprise closely related to Noam Chomsky, but this kind of linguistics was not tied to communities and the real world. Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE). JS discussed how to make linguistics relevant at the community level.

Keywords: DARE; Dictionary of American Regional English; German Linguistics; Noam Chomsky; The Wisconsin Idea

Partial Transcript: Maybe just one more thing. I'm very interested in mentoring and...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Mentoring. How does the template for graduate students get tweaked for individuals? Answer: Successful mentoring is ultimately about developing a relationship that is driven by the other person based by skills, interests, and gaps in their background. The template has to be abstract enough. Not to tell student, you should do X and not Y, but to trying to help student understand what could occur within their interests and skills.

Keywords: advising; mentoring

Partial Transcript: We talked about and I think we even followed up about it but...

Segment Synopsis: Question: Training and mentoring students for fieldwork then and now? Answer: The current system has many more benefits. Students are in field with a lot more preparation and they are able to work together and learning from their peers. Going out in groups of 2 or 3, students will spend hours of conversation with their subjects and with each other. Process. Trip reports. Linguistic questions that students ask to study Wisconsin history. JS related story of a successful first-year graduate student in linguistics studying syntax to illustrate the contemporary sophistication of linguistic study and method.

Keywords: advising; fieldwork; mentoring; training