UW-Milwaukee layoffs could be the start of a slippery slope

Last week, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents accepted a proposal to lay off a group of tenured professors from the system’s Washington County and Waukesha campuses.

This decision is unprecedented and represents the largest layoffs of public university professors in recent history. We are here due to Regent Policy 20-24, adopted by the UW Board of Regents in 2016. The policy came after the Legislature and then Governor Walker deleted tenure-related guarantees from state law and allowed tenured faculty to be laid off due to changes in university programming.

We could argue that this policy should not be in effect to begin with, and would certainly argue that these layoffs are to the detriment of UW-Milwaukee students and faculty both here in Milwaukee and across the region. Letting go respected, well-qualified professors only lessens the offerings available to students, and in this instance, takes away additional opportunities for students to earn two-year associate degrees and explore other specialized programs.

We are disappointed with this decision and failure to protect these staff and the UW-Milwaukee students, and also call on the State to re-examine the funding provided to our public universities.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.