UW-Milwaukee Faculty Say Wisconsin Idea is in Peril

Nearly 300 faculty members filled the room and halls on May 10 for UW-Milwaukee’s first-ever full faculty meeting, which had just one order of business: a symbolic  “no confidence” resolution in University of Wisconsin System leadership. Faculty voted unanimously in favor of the motion, joining four other UW schools.

“It finally makes sense to say it: no confidence, rippling across the state and beyond,” associate professor Rachel Buff said. “I have no confidence in the unprincipled duplicity of the Board of Regents and President [Ray] Cross.”

“I’m not sure what you just said,” Siri said, from an anonymous iPhone in the audience. The crowd laughed.

“I have no confidence!” Buff exclaimed. The crowd cheered.

After Chancellor Mark Mone and his staff unsuccessfully searched for a bigger room to accommodate the overflowing attendance, he called a vote on the resolution. A resounding “aye” moved Faculty Document No. 3050 and opened the floor to remarks.

“I probably have never been prouder to be a Panther than I am today,” Buff said. “Thank you all for coming out on such a rainy, unpromising day to make this a really promising and exciting moment in our history.”

Faculty Document No. 3050, Resolution of No Confidence in UW System President and Board of Regents, served as a statement of protest to the UW System leadership’s handling of state mandated budget cuts and policy changes. Recent changes by the UW System president and Board of Regents to UW-Madison’s tenure policy sparked universities within the system to protest no confidence.

“By voting no confidence, we insist on the central role of shared governance, even in times of extraordinary difficulty,” Buff said. “Without our inclusion in decision-making, we cannot believe in the integrity of the process, nor work for a better outcome.”

UW-Green Bay passed a similar resolution the day after UW-Milwaukee’s vote. UW-River Falls, UW-Lacrosse and UW-Madison passed their own versions earlier in May; UW-Madison spearheaded the protest on May 2 when they passed the first “no confidence” resolution in response to new layoff and termination policies passed by UW System President Ray Cross and the Board of Regents.

“In the past year, we have seen President Cross champion the hasty conversion of the UW System to a public authority, despite the near total lack of detail on how the new entity would work,” assistant professor Nicholas Fleisher said.

Over the past two years, Gov. Scott Walker and state Legislature passed $250 million in cuts to the UW System budget.

“Through all of this, we have seen President Cross and the regents characterize our continual state of fiscal austerity, as if it were an inevitable force of nature, rather than a deliberate political choice,” Fleisher said.

Instead of fighting Walker and the state, President Cross and the Board of Regents signed polices that effectively enable managerial flexibility so they can make decisions without consent from the faculty in the universities they govern over.

“Our campuses have been dealing with unfunded mandates on top of massive budget cuts that harm our students’ education,” Fleisher said.  “We’ve seen no sign or plan from President Cross or the regents for how to stand the tide of state funding cuts.”

Some faculty members within the UW System fear these changes by the UW System leadership open the gate to further budget cuts, which some believe could threaten the quality of the UW System.

“We are here today because we wish to speak with our system leaders and with the public about the course that the UW-System leadership has charted,” Fleisher said. “We are here because the course they have charted harms research, teaching, learning and access.”

Walker’s administration attempted to change the UW System’s mission of access and research, outlined in the Wisconsin Idea, in the 2015 budget legislation to “meet the state’s workforce needs.” The Wisconsin Idea, a written philosophy that has guided the UW System for more than a century after Charles Van Hise implemented it in 1904, enables university research and expands its benefits to all citizens of the state. Walker dropped the proposed changes to the Wisconsin Idea after public outcry demanding to restore the original language to protect the UW System and its mission.

Although the “no confidence” resolution went unchallenged by the UW-Milwaukee faculty in the name of the Wisconsin Idea and students’ education, it did not receive everyone’s approval. President Cross criticized the resolution that sprung from changes to UW-Madison’s tenure policy language change, saying that tenured faculty are not guaranteed jobs for life. Walker built on Cross’s sentiments in a press release where he suggested that faculty members care more about job security than students’ education.

“[Cross] falsely attributed to faculty that tenure is a job for life, a talking point repeated by Gov. Walker in a press release issued just today,” Fleisher said.

“Because of our dual mission of access and research, the Wisconsin Idea takes specific form at UWM,” Buff said.

Earlier this year, UW-Milwaukee earned “Research 1” status, a status shared by 114 other doctoral universities in the nation. Some believe the Wisconsin Idea helped UW-Milwaukee earn the R1 ranking by funding research, staff and development.

“We gather here today as bearers of a scared trust,” Buff said. “As stewards of the University of Wisconsin, we are the keepers of the Wisconsin Idea—the crucial, democratic notion that the beneficent influence of the University should reach every home in the state.”

The faculty meeting ended with a call to action.

“It is further resolved that the UW-Milwaukee faculty call on System President Ray Cross and the Board of Regents to recommit themselves to the Wisconsin Idea,” associate professor Richard Leson said. “By carrying out their responsibilities and working with us to strengthen the quality of our state universities, in particular, by working with the state legislature to make a positive case for improved access, affordability and educational resources for our students.”