The annual operating budget that University of Wisconsin System officials refused to release publicly until 90 minutes before the Board of Regents approved it was actually finalized last week, contrary to what a system spokesman implied while explaining the delay to reporters, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has learned.
The time stamp of the final modification to the budget document is contained in its meta data, which summarizes basic information about the document’s creation. The document was last modified June 3 at 2:07:58 p.m., and was released to the public six days later, at 1:58 p.m. on Thursday.
Within an hour of its public release, while the regents were actively discussing the budget in their meeting at UW-Milwaukee, an individual concerned about the way it was being handled opened a PDF of the document and traced the final modification through its meta data. That employee shared the information with Eric Sandgren, a professor in the UW-Madison Veterinary School.
Sandgren independently confirmed it, and so did the Journal Sentinel.
“I understand partisanship, I understand disagreement, and I understand PR and public persuasion, but I cannot accept when folks lie,” Sandgren told the newspaper. “This whole UW System support story has brought out the worst in a lot of people. I wish I could win the Lotto and give the system half a billion.”
The decision to withhold details of the $6.23 billion operating budget prior to the regents discussing and voting on it was delivered to reporters shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday.
UW System spokesman Alex Hummel notified the news media that the budget document, which includes details of student fee increases and drawdown of fund balances, would not be released as previously promised, and consistent with past practice.