Outraged senators and lawmakers requested Monday that the UW System Board of Regents rescind recent pay scale increases for various top UW System officials and revisit the issue in a fully noticed, open meeting.
Criticizing last Tuesday's teleconference meeting as poorly publicized, rushed and covert, state senators have threatened to reconsider granting regents the authority and flexibility to set tuition and salary rates without legislative oversight, according to multiple letters from legislators to the Regents.
\Quite frankly, the action taken by the Board of Regents was arrogant, crass and woefully out of step with Wisconsin values. For the Board of Regents to have done this just weeks after Wisconsin students and their families were hit with unprecedented tuition and fee increases is astounding,"" state Senators Rob Cowles and Michael Ellis said in a letter to Board President Toby Marcovich.
Additionally, some senators cited the Regents' disregard for the current UW System budget deficit.
""It's clear that the UW Board cares more about boosting salaries for their top CEOs than they do about maintaining the affordability and access for UW students,"" state Representative Scott Suder stated in a press release. ""The time may have come for the legislature to take back this spending authority to prevent further abuses.""
In addition to the letters of complaint, state Senator Tom Reynolds requested the Public Integrity Unit investigate the events surrounding Tuesday's board meeting to assess whether any aspects of the meeting would fall under misconduct.
""Whether or not there was a technical violation of the open meetings law, clearly the Board of Regents deviated from its normal practice of notifying the legislature, notifying the press and notifying others that they were actually moving forward with the meeting with [pay range increases] on the agenda,"" said Steve Creezer, Senator Tom Reynolds' chief of staff.
A communications officer from the attorney general's office said Reynolds' request will be taken into immediate consideration.
However, Marcovich, who scheduled the pay range meeting, said recent concerns about the meeting are unwarranted.
""I think what happened is the media people missed the boat on that meeting and rather than take the responsibility for missing the meeting, they are trying to put the blame on the Regents. This isn't the first time they've failed to show up at a teleconference meeting,"" Marcovich said.
While Regent Nino Amato abstained from voting in the pay scale range decision citing a lack of information and calling into question the fashion in which the decision was made, Marcovich maintains Regents were within the law.
""Our chief legal counsels advise us that we've complied fully with the letter and spirit of the open meeting law,"" Marcovich said.
