Category: Higher Education/System

“I think the frustration that many of us are feeling has only been magnified,” professor at UW Green Bay, Jon Shelton, said.

The board has a meeting scheduled for Wednesday evening. An agenda lists a “recommendation to approve” terms related to a state funding proposal. Republicans have withheld $32 million of funding from UW because of opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh sophomore Aubrie Selsmeyer read the assurances from campus administrators that cutting 200 staff positions to address an $18 million budget deficit would have a “minimal impact on students and student success.” But she doesn’t buy it.

“We’re losing mentors. Our professors are losing colleagues and friends,” Selsmeyer recently said on WPR’s “Central Time.” “There are going to be empty classrooms. Emails are going to go unanswered. And I think we’re going to lose things that we absolutely took for granted and we may not even realize yet.”

Campus closures and tuition hikes loom at the Universities of Wisconsin with a projected $60 million deficit by next summer.

College leaders and lawmakers hope a change to the state’s reciprocity deal with Minnesota can help ease some of those shortfall struggles.

Regents share perspectives, emphasize importance of DEI at UW schools.

The regents voted 9-8 against the deal, which would have unlocked $32 million for the system’s workforce development plan, paid for projects including a proposed engineering building at UW-Madison, and green-lit raises for UW employees.

The Board voted 8 to 9 with several members stating the deal would limit resources for students of color. “I can not and will not vote to set the system back,” stated Regent Joan Prince.

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents rejected a resolution to restructure DEI positions in exchange for funding for UW System employee pay raises and building projects in a 9-8 vote.

The regents voted 9-8 against the deal, which comes after Republican lawmakers had previously threatened to completely cut diversity programs.

Statement comes after $32 million budget cut, employee layoffs.

Wisconsin Assembly Democrats released statements Thursday denouncing Republican efforts to “trade” freezing diversity, equity and inclusion positions for pay raises and building project approvals across the UW System.

Starting next year, high school students could be accepted into University of Wisconsin schools without even applying.

The Universities of Wisconsin is rolling out its direct admissions initiative to boost enrollment across its campuses. UW system administrators hope to reach first-generation college students and other potential students who might not have considered attending a four-year school.

In an email to chancellors of UW campuses, which was attained via records request by The Daily Cardinal, UW System President Jay Rothman writes:  “Consider shifting away from liberal arts programs to programs that are more career specific, particularly if the institution serves a large number of low-income students.” The suggestion was an item on a list of “lessons” he took away from a Chronicle of Higher Education report.

A story in a UW-Madison student newspaper set off a firestorm within the Universities of Wisconsin after it reported the system president suggested to chancellors they might consider “shifting away from liberal arts.”

“Let me be crystal clear: I have not asked our universities to move away from liberal arts programs,” Rothman wrote on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. “I have repeatedly stated that the liberal arts develops critical thinking and problem solving skills vital to a knowledge economy and to winning the war for talent.”

Student journalists from UW–Oshkosh and UW–River Falls join us for a roundtable about how budget cuts and layoffs throughout the university system are affecting students on their campuses.

UW System President Jay Rothman suggested in an email to campus chancellors that they should consider cutting liberal arts programs at schools that serve a large number of low income students, the UW-Madison student newspaper the Daily Cardinal reported this week.

A bombshell story by a college newspaper reported the University of Wisconsin system president suggested chancellors consider shifting away from liberal arts. The story has campuses buzzing, and the president criticizing as “egregiously false.”

In emails obtained by The Daily Cardinal, Rothman, a former law firm chairman and CEO with no higher education background before leading the UW System, told campus chancellors UW schools should seek a long-term path “to return to financial stability.”

Out-of-state enrollment at the University of Wisconsin at Madison increased by 29 percent in the three years after the state government removed a cap on nonresidents in 2015, according to a new working paper from researchers published by Brown University’s school of education.

A new report from the American Federation of Teachers shows millions of adjunct educators are underpaid, with more than 25 percent of respondents earning less than $26,500 per year. The head of the union explains what issues these millions of educators are facing.