UW faculty advocacy group responds to board of regents DEI vote

From the Article:

The Universities of Wisconsin board of regents approved this week a major funding agreement reached between university officials and Republican lawmakers in the state Capitol.

In exchange for $32 million in general funds, investments in building improvements, and pay raises for university employees, UW President Jay Rothman agreed to freeze hiring new employees for positions tied to diversity, equity and inclusion. The agreement would also require UW schools to reduce their DEI workforce by a third, and assign those employees to other positions.

News 3 Now spoke with the president of PROFS, an advocacy group for UW-Madison faculty, about how the deal impacts the faculty at the Madison campus. News 3 Now is sharing clips of the interview with Professor Mike Bernard Donals, ahead of it airing in full Sunday on "For the Record."

"I can imagine that this was an incredibly difficult decision for members of the board of regents, as is evident from the fact that they had to do the vote twice," Bernard Donals said. "The arrangement provides some good things for the Universities of Wisconsin, but Representative [Robin] Vos made it abundantly clear that he has it in for diversity, equity and inclusion at the universities and he forced a decision that I think is going to set us back some in that area."

Vos, the state's Assembly speaker, has been spearheading efforts in the Capitol to eliminate DEI positions in the university. He told conservative talk radio earlier in the week he would have sought to eliminate more positions, but settled on reassigning just a third of positions during this round of negotiation.

Many of the funds had already passed the state Legislature during the budget process, but were held back specifically over this DEI fight. Bernard Donals said the pay raises for employees will have an impact.

"The inflation of the past year has really taken a bite out of out of people's take home pay, and it was really crucial, I think, for especially the lower wage folks at the university to get those increases," he said.

"I don't know of many states, where a budget can be passed, that includes pay raises, and then a committee of the Legislature, not the full Legislature, but a committee of the Legislature, can essentially withhold those pay raises, and do what Representative Vos did here by forcing the university into an incredibly difficult position," he added.