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Evers also vetoed a plan from Republican lawmakers to eliminate 188 positions within the University of Wisconsin System focused on diversity, equity and inclusion programs, but maintained the $32 million cut in funding that was paired with the staffing reduction. Republicans put $32 million into a fund UW officials may request money from as long as the GOP-controlled committee approves the officials’ plans for its use.

Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a Republican attempt to eliminate 188 UW System jobs related to diversity, equity and inclusion Wednesday, cuts that were intended by GOP lawmakers to curb DEI efforts on campuses across the state.

UW-Madison senior Ciboney Reglos interacts with DEI programming “basically every single day” she’s on campus. She is the senior class diversity, equity and inclusion director and a board member for the Filipinx American Student Organization, one of at least 65 multicultural student groups competing for limited funding and campus programming space.

Evers previously said he would not sign a state budget that includes tax cuts for wealthy residents or maintains a $32 million cut to defund diversity, equity and inclusion programs within the UW System.

Both measures were included in the budget passed Thursday, but Evers has since softened his position and signaled he could support the UW provision because Republicans on the budget-writing committee included a companion provision that allows UW officials to request for the funding to be restored if the committee approves their plans for it.

Taxes would be cut across all income levels, with the wealthiest benefiting the most, and the University of Wisconsin would get nearly half a billion dollars less than it asked for under a two-year spending plan up for approval Wednesday in the state Senate.

Republican lawmakers who control the Legislature’s budget-writing committee on Thursday voted to cut funding to the University of Wisconsin System by $32 million and nearly 200 positions in an effort to eliminate diversity offices and programming on campuses.

University of Wisconsin System President Jay Rothman defended campus diversity programming this week as Republican state lawmakers consider cutting university funding by around $32 million because of opposition to those efforts.

A fierce battle over diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education is being waged in the Wisconsin State Assembly, where it has temporarily paralyzed the state budget vote.

Wisconsin Republicans have delayed a vote on the state’s budget for the University of Wisconsin System, hours after a top GOP leader pledged the Legislature would cut the UW’s budget by tens of millions of dollars.

Lawmakers writing the next state budget spent eight hours behind closed doors Tuesday only to delay action on the University of Wisconsin System after the Legislature’s top Republican said UW campuses would see a $32 million cut in state funding − a move the Democratic governor characterized as a “war” on higher education.

After a stinging defeat by the Legislature’s Republican-controlled budget committee, which last week rejected a new engineering building at UW-Madison, campus and University of Wisconsin System leaders vowed to bring the project to fruition.