UW Regents approve deal on diversity, pay raises after six-month budget standoff
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The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents flip-flopped Wednesday, voting 11-6 to approve a deal on diversity positions and pay raises it had rejected just four days earlier.
Bowing to pressure, both political and financial, the regents reversed course and accepted a deal brokered by UW System President Jay Rothman and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Burlington.
"We simply can’t ignore the immense challenges facing our universities," said board vice president Amy Bogost, one of three who flipped their votes in favor of the agreement. Regent President Karen Walsh and UW-Parkside student Regent Jennifer Staton also changed their votes.
The move frees up $800 million for employee pay raises and building projects — both of which Vos has held up for months while demanding cuts to campus diversity, equity and inclusion programming.
Under the deal, campuses will restructure 43 diversity positions and freeze the total number of jobs across the UW System through 2026. Democrats and many on UW campuses view the concession as selling out students of color for state money.
While conservatives cast DEI offices as racially divisive and a waste of taxpayer money, campuses say DEI employees help a broad range of students, such as student veterans, students with disabilities and students of color, make it through college.
The deal requires approval from the GOP-controlled Legislature. Some components of the agreement may require Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' approval as well.
"We finally have turned the corner and gotten real reforms enacted," Vos said in a statement. "Republicans know this is just the first step in what will be our continuing efforts to eliminate these cancerous DEI practices on UW campuses."
Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu seemed supportive of the plan, and said "repurposing" DEI resources" will benefit the state.
Evers slammed Republicans for holding UW funding hostage despite approving some parts of the deal, such as pay raises, months ago.
"This vote today represents a vast overreach by a group of Republicans who’ve grown exceedingly comfortable overextending, manipulating, and abusing their power to control, subvert, and obstruct basic functions of government," he said in a statement, adding: "This exercise has been about one thing—the relentless political tantrums, ultimatums, and threats of retribution by legislative Republicans, most especially Speaker Robin Vos, his negotiation-by-bullying tactics, and general disdain for public education at every level," he said.
Rothman and UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin have acknowledged the proposal's imperfections but said their commitment to diversity wouldn't waver under the deal.
"We will hold their feet to the fire on this," Bogost said. "By adopting this resolution, it does not reduce or eliminate this accountability for them or for us."
Vote caps a tumultuous week of deal-making
Wednesday marked the fifth board meeting in a chaotic seven days.
A six-month standoff with the Republican-controlled Legislature over campus diversity programs appeared poised to end. But the plan hit an unexpected impasse Saturday with the board's stunning 9-8 rejection of the agreement.
Walsh on Wednesday said the board lacked sufficient time to discuss the deal and its potential pitfalls before the vote was called. She called a second vote after regents heard from chancellors, students, faculty and staff.
"That's just good governance, not a defense of a particular ideology," she said.
Conservatives criticized the board voting the deal down Saturday while liberals praised it. The surprise move reignited chatter among Republicans about potentially firing unconfirmed regents from the voluntary, unpaid position.
Four of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers' appointees — Bogost, as well as John Miller, Dana Wachs and Ashok Rai — have not been confirmed by the state Senate.
Democrats, campuses criticize UW deal with Republicans
Facing intense pressure over the re-vote, regents said they had received hundreds of emails and calls. Anger came at them from every side.
"Let's be perfectly clear here," Rep. Dora Drake, D-Milwaukee, said at a Wednesday news conference. "This deal is part of a systemic, racist deal, and it is discriminatory. It’s discriminatory toward students, faculty and staff of color, because their experiences should never have a price tag."
The headline on the UW-Madison student government statement: "Higher Education is Not a Bargaining Chip: Stop Politicizing Our University."
It was a theme echoed by the six regents who rejected the deal for the second time − Miller, Wachs, Evan Brenkus, Angela Adams, Ed Manydeeds and Joan Prince. During Wednesday's meeting, several of them questioned what may happen the next time a campus wants a new building.
“Precedent matters, and this sets a bad one,” Miller said.
Three appointees of former Republican Gov. Scott Walker — Bob Atwell, Mike Jones, and Cris Peterson — voted for the deal, along with Evers appointees Bogost, Walsh, Staton, Ashok Rai, Kyle Weatherly, Héctor Colón and Jim Kreuser. Wisconsin Technical College System Board President Mark Tyler also voted in favor. State superintendent Jill Underly did not attend the meeting.
"I don’t love this deal," said Weatherly. "I don’t even like this deal. And I certainly can see that reasonable, good people, people I deeply respect, can disagree. But I continue to support it."
In a departure from Saturday’s meeting, a string of chancellors spoke Wednesday to the need their campuses had for the cash. They said the raises will lift employee morale, and the additional money will expand programming.
UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone worried rejecting the deal could justify future cuts.
“I fully agree there is no real win. This is an imperfect choice,” he said. “I do also believe that compromise in terms of state and biennial budget matters is just the reality that we have had and will always have.”
The chancellors' testimony helped pushed the deal over the finish line.
"We have heard from all of the chancellors and they have asked for our help," Staton said. "And right now I will place their needs above my own. They are the leaders of their campuses and we have entrusted them with this leadership. The reality is without this resolution, Parkside may not be here in the years to come."
What's in the deal for Republicans?
Freezing the total number of jobs across UW System through 2026, with exceptions for faculty and staff who directly support students or research
Restructure 43 DEI positions to serve in roles supporting the success of all students
End a UW-Madison hiring program that has been used to diversify faculty ranks and replace it with a different hiring program for faculty who have demonstrated their ability to work with underrepresented students.
Remove diversity statements from the student application process
Guarantee UW-Madison admission to the top 5% of Wisconsin high school students
Guarantee admission to other UW campuses to the top 10% of in-state students
Develop a mandatory online orientation on free speech for incoming students
Seek donor money to fund a UW-Madison faculty position focused on conservative political thought, classical economic theory or classical liberalism
What's in the deal for University of Wisconsin System?
Recouping the $32 million budget cut, which campuses would spend on programs supporting state workforce needs, such as nursing, engineering and computer science
4% pay raise in 2023 and 2% raise in 2024 for most UW System employees
Engineering building and renovations of three dorms for UW-Madison
$78 million for UW-Whitewater to renovate two academic buildings
A change in where money from Wisconsin's tuition reciprocity agreement with Minnesota is housed, which will provide campuses with additional funding
$45 million in one-time money to demolish some aging facilities
Journal Sentinel reporter Jessie Opoien contributed reporting.
Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KellyMeyerhofer.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: University of Wisconsin regents approve deal on diversity, pay raises
