“In some sense we’re seeing a continuation of this tendency that we see at the national level, that whatever slow down there is coming, it keeps on getting pushed further and further into the future,” University of Wisconsin-Madison economics professor Menzie Chinn said.
In the same interview, Vos also said he would continue challenging programs aimed at increasing diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, in the state.
That comes after he secured a victory on that issue by exchanging pay raises for UW employees and funding for certain university projects — notably, a new engineering building at UW-Madison — for a reduction in DEI-related staff positions in the UW system.
About 35,000 UW employees will receive 4% wage increase, back pay from July by Jan. 11.
Each side of the agreement still has to take steps to fulfill various promises they made to each other, a process that is expected to take years and that could face new barriers.
Wisconsin State Superintendent Jill Underly said Wednesday she would have voted against the deal the Universites of Wisconsin struck with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Wednesday he wants a comprehensive audit of diversity programs in Wisconsin state government, the latest signal from Republicans that debates about equity and inclusion initiatives will extend into the state’s next budget cycle.
The Republican lawmaker who forced the Universities of Wisconsin to commit to reducing diversity positions called Tuesday for an in-depth review of diversity initiatives across state government and repeated his claim that he has only begun to dismantle equity and inclusion efforts in the state.
On its website, the bar association says the program is for University of Wisconsin and Marquette University law school students “with backgrounds that have been historically excluded from the legal field.” But the lawsuit alleges that is a new focus and that the program has historically been touted as a way to increase racial diversity among attorneys at law firms, private companies and in government.
Kenneth Streit, a clinical professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin Law School who has been involved with Wisconsin’s corrections programs for more than 40 years, said it would be extremely unlikely for the state to close one of its prisons without first addressing violent crimes.
“Closing prisons without first reducing gun-related homicide and injury will never happen in Wisconsin,” Streit said, noting that New York was able to release thousands of older incarcerated men when it eliminated its 1970s-era drug sentencing laws.
ARepublican-controlled legislative committee approved 6% pay raises for about 35,000 Universities of Wisconsin workers Tuesday after the UW system agreed last week to repurpose some diversity positions as part of a broader deal with lawmakers to unlock nearly $800 million in state aid.
State lawmakers officially approved raises Tuesday for 35,000 employees of the Universities of Wisconsin after a deal brokered and approved last week with a top Republican legislator.
The Republican lawmaker who forced the Universities of Wisconsin to commit to reducing diversity positions called Tuesday for an in-depth review of diversity initiatives across state government and repeated his claim that he has only begun to dismantle equity and inclusion efforts in the state.
The school is also launching a five-year pilot program to cover in-state tuition and fees for students pursuing a law or medical degree who are from tribes in the state, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced Monday.
Dubbed the Wisconsin Tribal Educational Promise, the program launches next fall. Unlike the university’s other tuition promise program, this one isn’t based on financial need. All enrolled members of Wisconsin tribes qualify.
Starting next fall, UW-Madison will meet the full financial need — including tuition and fees, as well as housing, meals and books — for in-state undergraduates who are enrolled members of one of 11 federally recognized Wisconsin tribes.
UW-Madison will launch tuition assistance programs next fall for in-state students who are members of one of Wisconsin’s federally recognized tribes, part of the university’s efforts to acknowledge the Indigenous history of the land on which the university was built.
“Frankly, it just felt like the right thing to do,” said Mnookin. “As we look at ways to honor the history of this state and what happened before the state of Wisconsin was the state of Wisconsin, and as we think about trying to help the flourishing of Native students here, it just seems like the right approach.”
“It felt, as we look at ways to honor the history of this state and what happened before the state of Wisconsin was the state of Wisconsin, and as we think about trying to help the flourishing of Native students here, it just seemed like the right approach,” she said at a news conference in Madison.
Any enrolled member of one of the tribes will be eligible for the program and eligibility will not depend on a student’s financial need.
Indigenous students will be able to attend the University of Wisconsin – Madison for free next year.
Indigenous students from any of Wisconsin’s 11 tribes will be able to attend the University of Wisconsin-Madison for free beginning next fall, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced Monday.
Beginning in the fall of 2024, the University of Wisconsin–Madison (UW-M) will cover the full cost of an undergraduate degree for Wisconsin residents who are members of federally recognized Wisconsin Indian tribes, the University announced on Monday.
Chancellor Mnookin announces undergraduate student program, professional degree pilot-program.
The new program aims to ensure “full access to all that UW-Madison offers,” UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said in a press release. “As a university, we are deeply committed to a future of mutual respect and cooperation with the American Indian tribes in Wisconsin,” Mnookin said.
UW officials unveiled the plan on Monday, explaining it would include tuition and fees, plus housing, meals, books, and other educational expenses, starting next fall. A second initiative, which is being introduced as a five-year pilot program, would pay for tuition and fees for those who go on to seek a J.D. or M.D. degree.
“We’re providing native students a pathway to completing a degree, we hope without taking on debt to cover their educational expenses,” said Mnookin, “thereby bringing a world class education fully within reach for Wisconsin’s native students.”
“Oh it’s a really big deal, we’re all really excited to hear about this,” Senior Cayden Kirkpatrick, President of the American Indian Science Engineering Society (AISES) chapter at UW-Madison, said.
Beginning in the fall of 2024, the University of Wisconsin–Madison will offer financial support to cover the full cost of pursuing an undergraduate degree for Wisconsin residents who are enrolled members of federally recognized Wisconsin Indian tribes, Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin announced Monday.
Starting fall 2024, Wisconsin residents from federally recognized Wisconsin Indian tribes will receive full financial support while they pursue their undergraduate degrees — including tuition, housing, meals and other expenses. This program is accompanied by a five-year pilot program that will cover in-state tuition for law and medical students who are Wisconsin tribe members.
“There’s really nothing like the efforts of the fake electors in 2020,” said UW-Madison Political Science Professor Barry Burden. “That was an orchestrated effort across multiple swing states, including Wisconsin, to present false electors on behalf of the party that had lost in every one of those states.”
A program in Milwaukee County is growing and strengthening the life skills of inmates at the Community Reintegration Center in Milwaukee County.
The Building a Path to Success workshop is hosted by My Way Out, a re-entry organization in Milwaukee. The six-week workshop is a collaboration between My Way Out, University of Wisconsin-Extension and Milky Way Tech Hub.
“If oil prices are going to stay at the levels that they are, then we can continue to see at least not an upward movement in gasoline prices, and that’s gonna allow us to have inflation continue to fall,” said Menzie Chinn, a professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison is pledging to cover the full cost of a college degree for students from Wisconsin Indian tribes under a new program announced Monday.
The Legislative Audit Bureau reported that on average less than a third of work stations were in use at the University of Wisconsin system and the offices of 15 state agencies that they visited repeatedly in July and August.
Rich Kremer reports for Wisconsin Public Radio, which is staffed by employees of the University of Wisconsin-Madison: The Universities of Wisconsin will have the opportunity to give pay raises to its 34,000 employees and build a new $347 million engineering building in Madison under a deal approved Wednesday by the Board of Regents. But the universities will also freeze DEI staffing through 2026 and eliminate or refocus about 40 positions focused on diversity.
UW-Madison’s chief diversity officer on Thursday tried to allay concerns that the Universities of Wisconsin is stepping back its support for diversity, equity and inclusion programs, despite UW system President Jay Rothman and legislative Republicans brokering a deal that authorizes about $800 million for the UW system in exchange for DEI changes.
Backed into a corner on a deal seen as selling out students of color in exchange for state money, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents talked around the problem this week.
The UW System’s Board of Regents approved the controversial deal yesterday, in what the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports was the board’s fifth meeting in seven days.
Fitzgerald’s remarks misconstrue that process, according to former University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor David Canon, whose research focused in part on election administration.
“He has it exactly backwards,” Canon said. “They don’t vote individually to certify the results in all 50 states.”
After a months-long standoff between the University of Wisconsin system and the Republican-controlled Legislature, the two parties brokered a deal to release $800 million in state funds — for long-delayed UW pay raises and key campus building projects — if the system agreed to realign dozens of diversity, equity, and inclusion positions and support several other Republican-backed priorities.
A Republican-controlled legislative committee is slated to approve 6% pay raises for Universities of Wisconsin workers Tuesday after the UW system agreed this week to repurpose some diversity positions as part of a broader deal with lawmakers to unlock nearly $800 million in state aid.
At a press conference Wednesday, representatives pointed to a memo by legislative attorneys.
In a surprising about-face, the Universities of Wisconsin regents approved a deal Wednesday evening with Republican legislators to limit diversity positions at the system’s two dozen campuses in exchange for money to cover staff raises and construction projects.
The Universities of Wisconsin will have the opportunity to give pay raises to its 34,000 employees and build a new $347 million engineering building in Madison under a deal approved Wednesday by the Board of Regents. But the universities will also freeze DEI staffing through 2026 and eliminate or refocus about 40 positions focused on diversity.
Just days after rejecting it, the UW Board of Regents on Wednesday approved a sweeping deal with Republican legislators to free up more than $800 million in staff raises, a new engineering building at UW-Madison and other infrastructure spending in exchange for scaling back diversity efforts.
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents reversed itself Wednesday and voted to approve a Republican-brokered deal that would unlock pay raises for employees and fund UW-Madison’s new engineering building in exchange for slimming its diversity, equity and inclusion staffing.
Three members of the UW Board of Regents changed their votes on a controverisal deal over diversity efforts and pay raises.
The vote-flipping by Regents Karen Walsh, Amy Bogost and Jennifer Staton solidifed a deal months in the making between the University of Wisconsin System and Republican legislative leaders.
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.
The lawsuit, brought by Julie Underwood, former University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Education dean, and other Wisconsin residents is funded by the liberal Minocqua Brewing Super PAC.
UW-Milwaukee’s “Milwaukee Tuition Promise” and University of Wisconsin-Madison’s “Teacher Pledge Program” are blueprints that other colleges can consider replicating. The longevity of the programs are reliant on private fundraising, however, and represent a fraction of the twenty-one four-year colleges in the state. A systems-level, state approach could offer funding sustainability to colleges seeking to attract students into education, an issue impacting all of Wisconsin.
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents on Wednesday voted to approve a deal with the Republican-led state Legislature to provide funds for the school system in exchange for a freeze on diversity, equity and inclusion positions, among other conditions.
During a brief press conference following the UW Board of Regents vote that ultimately changed the role of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion positions at UW schools, President Jay Rothman stated multiple times that he understood this was a ‘difficult decision for the regents’ and he respects all the people who voted for it or against it.
UW–Madison student, Madison City Council member weighs in on lack of student involvement in deal.
The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents is calling for a do-over.
The board is scheduled to vote 5 p.m. Wednesday on the same deal it rejected Saturday. It will be the board’s fifth meeting in a chaotic seven days.
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents will vote again on a Republican-brokered deal it rejected Saturday that would unlock pay raises for employees and fund UW-Madison’s new engineering building in exchange for slimming its DEI positions.
The UW Board of Regents will meet again on Wednesday to reconsider a deal brokered between Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman and legislative Republicans to secure pay raises for UW system employees and funding for UW-Madison’s long-awaited engineering building in exchange for restructuring system diversity efforts.
Universities of Wisconsin regents have decided to vote again on a deal with Republican lawmakers that calls for reducing diversity positions in exchange for funding to cover employee raises and campus construction projects, including a new engineering building at UW-Madison.
The salaries of more than 34,000 University of Wisconsin system employees are in limbo because of a few on-campus programs.
Dr. Gerald Pankratz, an associate professor and geriatrician at UW Health, said the most common injuries from falls are innocuous and might include a few bruises or cuts.
“On the more serious side, we’re definitely concerned about fractures of the big bones, the hip, most predominantly — there’s a marked increased risk in mortality and institutionalization in the months after having a hip fracture,” he said.
Assembly Speaker Robin Vos said Monday the deal was his final offer and would prefer if the UW System moves forward with the deal despite Democrat opposition.
