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“As the once great University of Wisconsin continues its decline you can no longer blame Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and the Republicans”

Dave Cieslewicz

You can blame Gov. Tony Evers and the majority of his appointments to the UW Board of Regents. 

The grand compromise that Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman negotiated with Vos was a great deal for the UW. Vos has been withholding inflationary pay increases for UW employees, approval of a much needed new engineering building on the Madison campus, and $32 million in funding that Vos said was going to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

In the deal, announced Friday, Rothman got the new engineering building plus money for additional building projects, he got the $32 million restored, and he got the wage increases released, all while not having to eliminate a single DEI position. As a sweetener, the UW also would have been able to keep some revenue that comes from the reciprocity program with Minnesota that had gone to the general fund. All told, the UW would have gotten $800 million. 

What Vos got was mostly window dressing. Some of the DEI positions would have been reclassified as “student success” positions, whatever that means. There would have been a three-year moratorium on creating new administrative positions, not just in DEI but everywhere. The only problem with that idea was that it was only three years and it didn’t call for the outright elimination of some of that bureaucratic overhead. One of the big drivers of the high cost of higher education, after all, is the proliferation of non-teaching positions. 

There would have also been a new endowed professorship in “conservative thought.” It’s not clear what department the position would have been in or what it would have done exactly. Teach? Research? Be an advocate for conservative views in multiple departments? Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin may have thought it was a great idea as student marches and sit-ins could have been redirected there. In any event, it was symbolic and didn’t amount to much of anything. It would have been a small pill to swallow, especially when washed down with that $800 million.

More: Regents Destroy the UW.

And:

Members of the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents will consult with attorneys Tuesday about a lawsuit challenging the power of the Legislature, a move that comes just days after the board rejected a deal with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos involving pay raises and limits on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

And:

Most of Evers’ appointees to the board are serving without full approval from the Senate. Only board President Karen Walsh and Ed Manydeeds, who both voted against the deal, have been confirmed.

The GOP-controlled Senate committee on colleges and universities voted last month to approve eight of Evers’ appointees. Three more appointees are still awaiting a committee vote.

Ultimately, the full Senate has final say on the governor’s appointments. Senate Republicans have rejected Evers’ picks in the past, including Wisconsin Elections Commission member Joseph Czarnezki and several members of the state’s natural resources policy board.

When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?

Kelly Meyerhofer:

Brenkus, who did not respond to emails requesting an interview, described Rothman’s exit from the emergency meeting Saturday as “disrespectful and abrupt.” He said the vote striking down the deal showed Rothman was misaligned with the board on what is in the best interest of universities.

“I’m eager to see if he follows through (with) his threat,” Brenkus wrote.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers appointed Brenkus, an Oneida student enrolled at UW-Green Bay, to the board last May. Brenkus is one of several regents of color who delivered stirring speeches Saturday urging their fellow board members to reject the deal.

“You can attempt to justify it, that that these roles are reallocated, or we are going to improve this system in the future, but the truth is this: You are selling our minorities out for millions of dollars,” he said. “There is no number that makes this right.”

So @UWSystem Prez Rothman, @repvos negotiate good faith deal, Gov Evers’ Board appointees dump on it – and Gov agrees with them. Now story out suggesting Rothman threatened resignation, Evers’ appointee taunts him. Disarray.