Assembly Speaker Vos said Monday he is done negotiating with the University of Wisconsin System over a deal that would have provided funding for building projects and pay raises for UW System employees in exchange for a hiring freeze on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) positions for three years.
Under the deal, the UW System would have received $800 million for pay raises to over 30,000 employees as well as a new engineering hall for UW-Madison. However, the UW Board of Regents rejected the deal Saturday in a rare 9-8 vote, following worries the deal would create uncomfortable campus environments.
“The universities have to stand to the highest value, the value of equity and any vote otherwise is to come into the racist agenda, unwillingly being thrust upon this governing body under the veil of compromise,” Regent Evan Brenkus, a junior from UW-Green Bay, said at the meeting.
Vos, R-Rochester, told WISN-AM Monday he hopes the regents will reconsider, but he will not make further changes.
“This deal was negotiated in good faith,” Vos said. “We’re not changing one thing in this deal. We are not going backwards. If anything, I’d prefer to go forward. But a deal is a deal, you’ve got to keep your word. This is not forever. If they want to walk away, they can walk away.”
Additionally, Vos told WisPolitics Saturday the deal was “our best and final offer.”
“It’s a shame they’ve denied employees their raises and the almost $1 billion investment that would have been made in the UW System to continue their ideological campaign to force students to believe only one viewpoint is acceptable on campus,” Vos said.
UW System President Jay Rothman said he was “disappointed” but respected the decision.
If the proposal passed, Vos would have also pledged $32 million in funding for workforce development efforts, multiple capital projects including a new UW-Madison engineering hall, $16 million for the state’s tuition reciprocity agreement with Minnesota and funding for UW System utilities projects.
In return, UW-Madison would seek an endowed chair to focus on conservative political thought, eliminate DEI statements in admissions, support guaranteed admissions programs for students ranked in the top 5% of their class and restructure UW System’s 130 DEI positions into general student success positions.
Assembly Democrats responded to the deal Thursday with a joint statement denouncing Republican efforts to cut DEI initiatives, calling the efforts “the far right’s agenda in our educational institutions.”
“We see Republican Legislators’ attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion at our universities for what they are — attempts to divide us and foment culture wars at the expense of the wellbeing of all of our students,” the statement read.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers said in a statement Saturday he supported the regent’s decision and called on the Legislature to release the already-approved pay raises and capital projects previously included in the biennial budget.
“I look forward to this discussion continuing in the weeks and months ahead,” Evers said. “I urge legislative Republicans to remain in those conversations so we can work together and find common ground to do what’s best for the UW System, including investing in the UW-Madison engineering building.”
Ava Menkes is the state news editor at The Daily Cardinal. She has covered multiple stories about Wisconsin politics and written in-depth about nurses unions and youth voter turnout. Follow her on Twitter at @AvaMenkes.
