UW-Madison - are top-notch faculty leaving?

[marvel2375]

Hello, I am fairly new to these forums, so my apologies in advance if I've started this thread in the wrong forum.

I have been reading news related to higher education on a frequent basis for the past few months and I was wondering if someone could shed light on what's going on in UW-Madison in terms of the Board of Regents' adoption of the controversial tenure policies? Is it true that a lot of the university's top-notch faculty are considering to leave given that some of them feel that their academic freedom has been threatened? The reason I'm asking is because I have already applied to a Masters program at that school and I'm starting to wonder if the quality of higher education there is predicted to drop in the coming years given the newly adopted measures...

[compscian]

Yes, the quality of education will likely drop. See this: https://www.quora.com/What-impact-will-the-University-of-Wisconsins-recent-changes-in-tenure-and-funding-have-on-their-ability-to-recruit-faculty

From the point of view of a new faculty, most  wouldn't want to go to a place where they cannot get tenure. There is very little incentive to choose UW over some other university or even an industrial lab! However, I don't expect established faculty who have been in Madison for many years to just pack up and leave. They would have strong ties to the university and city. Hence, they'll try to stay back and fix the system as opposed to leaving. However, don't expect any influx of talent to join the university anytime soon.

[knp]

I might be concerned about a PhD, but a master's program is so short that everything should still be fine by the time you've graduated. It takes ages for anything to happen in the academic world, so even if every single tenured professor there starts sending out applications to try to leave for a faculty position elsewhere (which is both extreme and unlikely to the point of impossibility given what compscian pointed out about people's personal ties), the exodus would still take a decade. They'll have more difficulties recruiting new faculty, but no gaping chasm is going to consume the entire university in the next three or four years.

[marvel2375]

Thank you both for your replies!