UWM Chancellor Addresses Election, Community Concerns

Chancellor Mark Mone discussed the uncertainty of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s future after the 2024 election and addressed the possibility of a University of Wisconsin-Madison split from the Universities of Wisconsin in his chancellor’s report at a Faculty Senate meeting on Nov. 14.  

“I’ve received several questions about election outcomes and impact, and I’ll just address those to the extent that I know,” Mone said. “We simply don’t know at this point because we are in that, some call it the twilight period, after the election and before the inauguration in early January.”

Wisconsin Election Results Mean an Unpredictable Future

At the state level, the percentages that will make up the legislature in 2025 have changed. Republicans will no longer hold a supermajority in the state Senate after Democrats won key senate races, but the Republican majority remains, according to the Wisconsin Examiner.

In the state Assembly, where all 99 seats were up for election, Republicans held a slimmer majority after new maps were implemented, according to the Wisconsin Examiner.

Mone said that this has “two different areas of impact.”

“One is, well, that might make the individuals of the majority party today more willing negotiate, more willing to be flexible and open, recognizing what’s coming,” he said. “The counterargument is no, if this is the last stand, then this is an opportunity to make some other types of legislative changes that would go their way.”

Mone reiterated that these are “things we just don’t know.”

The chancellor said the UWM operating budget is determined at a “system level,” and the university “can’t influence” the decisions made. The university can, however, influence capital projects specific to campus.

Mone said the university’s top project is the Health Sciences renovation of the Northwest Quad buildings, which would fall in the 2025-27 capital budget. The renovation would require an investment of $198 million, according to UWM.

Mone said that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers would likely submit his proposed budget by January, which would then be handed to the legislature, where they would have their own budget or modify the governor’s.

He also said the hope is that the budget will be known by the end of the fiscal year, but if it isn’t settled, the current state budget will continue.

UW-Madison’s Potential Split

The chancellor also addressed growing concerns and conversations about the potential for UW-Madison’s departure from the Universities of Wisconsin system.

A legislative committee has been considering the future of Wisconsin’s public university system since July, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

The committee recently voted 13-5 to split the flagship school from the system. Any changes to the Universities of Wisconsin structure require approval from the state Legislature and would happen when the session starts next year, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

Evers isn’t supportive of the idea.

“Tell me why that’s a good idea. I have no idea, I mean, we have a system and it works. It’s underfunded, but it works,” he said in an interview with a Green Bay TV station in September.

Mone expressed concern for the budgetary impact that would come with UW-Madison’s split.

“The impact of that would be very contingent on what happens to the GPR, the General Program Revenue, of new funding that goes if Madison does split off,” he said. “If they take everything they have now, and there’s no increase in our budget, then that’s very challenging. Straight up, you know, stating the obvious here.”

The chancellor said that he doesn’t believe there is a “high likelihood” of the split happening.

Higher Education in a Second Trump Term

In the days following his electoral win, videos of Trump have circulated online from his Agenda47 campaign, where he outlined various plans for his second presidential term, many of which have created a stir of conversations and concerns online.

“One thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and all education work and needs back to the states,” Trump said in a 2023 video. “We want them to run the education of our children because they’ll do a much better job of it.”

The plan to end the Department of Education—which was also a plan during his 2016 administration—has been a highly discussed issue following Trump’s win.

Mone expressed questions about policies like Title IX, Title IV, and DACA for UWM.

Mone called Title IV “one of the biggest concerns” for financial impacts if the Department of Education were to be dissolved.

Title IV, part of the 1965 Higher Education Act, oversees student financial aid funding for public and private schools. The financial aid available to students through Title IV is directly tied to the Department of Education.

For UWM, Mone estimated that about $180 million of the budget is tied up in Title IV. This impacts federal loans, grants, and aid.

Title IX is part of the 1972 Education Amendments and protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance, according to the Department of Education.

Under DACA, the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, undocumented immigrants are allowed deferral of deportation from the country, along with access to Social Security numbers and renewable two-year work permits, according to UWM.

There is no federal law requiring proof of citizenship when applying to college.

“There will certainly be some additional directives around DACA and other immigrant student populations. We saw this in the previous Trump administration and will likely see some further areas of impact and concern,” Mone said. “We’re seeing that on our communities right now. If you’re following any of the social service agencies, the lawyers who work with immigration, they’re very much expecting a lot of work in those areas.”

Community Faces Uncertainty After Election

Mone closed out his chancellor’s report by addressing feelings of uncertainty among the UWM community.

“I think it’s just so important for us to continue to reflect on what we’re doing and the importance of it, and what we do in terms of knowledge creation, in terms of transforming lives through education at a scale, and for audiences that really wouldn’t always have the alternatives that we provide,” he said.

Even in an era where the university is facing declining enrollment and budgetary struggles, Mone encouraged focusing on the “positive transformative effects” that UWM has had on the lives of alumni and current students.

“I just want to make a plug and acknowledge how nice it is to see students and faculty and staff who are really wanting to be on campus compared to some of the experiences we’ve had in the past,” Mone said.