Robert La Follette led the Progressive movement within the Republican Party in the state of Wisconsin. La Follette was governor of the state from 1901 to 1906 and represented Wisconsin in the US Senate from 1906 to 1925. La Follette originated what was called the "Wisconsin Idea" (or the "Wisconsin Way"), which proposed that efficient and ethical government will be controlled by voters, not by businesses and lobbyists. The Wisconsin Idea also theorized that educated specialists in law, economics and the sciences would produce the best sort of government.
The president of the University of Wisconsin during La Follette's governorship was Charles Van Hise, who was a friend and former classmate of La Follette's. Van Hise applied the Wisconsin Idea also to the role of the university in fostering good government for the benefit of progressive reform in the state. In a 1905 address, Van Hise said, “I shall never be content until the beneficent influence of the University reaches every family of the state.” That aspect of the Wisconsin Idea is still hailed as a guiding principle for the University of Wisconsin system.
