Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are sending a message to the UW Board of Regents and UW System President Ray Cross. The professors declared no confidence in the UW leadership in a vote yesterday and laid out a slew of issues with how things are being done.
Their no confidence resolution is aimed mostly at tenure policies approved earlier this year which they say will threaten the ability of faculty to undertake “risky or controversial” research. Tenure had been written into state law until changes were approved under last year’s state budget. The UW Board of Regents now has new flexibility to cut or reassign faculty.
The resolution also takes leadership to task for not fighting harder to resist $250 million in budget cuts, imposed on the UW System by Governor Scott Walker and Republicans in the legislature.
The resolution, authored by professor Chad Alan Goldberg, has drawn criticism from legislators, with Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke terming it “a hissy fit.”
“It troubles me very, very much when powerful politicians use their power to threaten the faculty for speaking our minds,” said Goldberg.