Nearly a decade ago, Wisconsin governor Scott Walker and Republican legislators alarmed faculty members across the country when they removed tenure protections from state law. But since then—despite the Universities of Wisconsin System suffering significant enrollment declines and closing entire campuses—UW institutional leaders haven’t fully utilized the freedom Walker and his allies gave them to oust tenured professors.
In 2021, the Wisconsin State Journal reported what it said was the first instance of the system Board of Regents laying off a tenured professor because their academic program was discontinued—a justification that Republicans’ Act 55 in 2015 allowed for. One person, Wonim Son, was laid off from UW Platteville.
Now, UW-Milwaukee has proposed something much bigger. The university has advanced plans to end its entire College of General Studies, which includes what used to be two separate, two-year college campuses that the state merged with UW-Milwaukee. All told, 35 tenured faculty members will lose their jobs if the Board of Regents approves UW-Milwaukee’s plan.
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2024/08/08/decade-after-gop-bill-wiss-first-mass-tenured-faculty-layoff