The best deals over time are often the deals that left no one happy at first.
Such may be the case now that the UW Board of Regents, reversing a prior vote, approved a package put forward by Republican state legislators to unlock $800 million in staff raises, clear the way for a much-needed engineering building in Madison and other brick-and-mortar needs, release $32 million tied to a workforce development plan, and revise a reciprocity agreement with Minnesota.
Some Republicans are still grumbling the deal gave too much to the Universities of Wisconsin – and some Democratic lawmakers, students and advocacy groups believe the UW should have fought harder to maintain “diversity, equity and inclusion” jobs under that name versus allowing them to be recast.
This fight still isn’t over, given there may be lawsuits challenging parts of the deal or the process itself, and there may be enough disappointed GOP senators to block passage once the 17-part deal comes back to the full Legislature for approval – most likely in January or February.
In the meantime, here are some observations on the deal and the process.
- The Regents shouldn’t have been surprised by what the deal contained. The board delegated UW System president Jay Rothman and UW-Madison chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to negotiate with Assembly Speaker Robin Vos and his team. Those same Regents were kept abreast of the bargaining along the way. When the deal came to the board for a Jan. 10 vote, the 9-8 rejection was seen as undermining the UW’s top two administrators. The 11-6 reversal on Jan. 13 restored a sense of confidence.
- The power of donors should not be underestimated. The first “no” vote infuriated many donors for major projects such as the UW-Madison engineering school building and, had it stood, would have cost UW tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars. The UW is a public institution, but a great deal of its support comes from sources outside tuition and state government. Ask the former University of Pennsylvania president about angry donors.
- This was a statewide story within a national story. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision in the Students for Fair Admissions, which prohibited the consideration of race in college admissions, there have been challenges to DEI initiatives across the country. Wisconsin is no different. At the same time, the deal reads that the UW “will not increase from the level currently in effect the aggregate number of positions that serve … core DEI functions,” and that “normal attrition” and “active restructuring and re-imagining” of DEI jobs will take place over two years. In short, there may be some different titles and some fewer jobs, but the idea of helping all students succeed endures.
- A new admissions system is emerging. The deal includes an “automatic admissions” process that will ensure students from smaller schools or home schools are admitted to UW-Madison or another UW school if they meet certain performance criteria, such as class rank or national testing scores. Along with the revised reciprocity language, the approach may compete with Minnesota’s new rules surrounding automatic admission and family income. It should also address a long-standing complaint that small-town kids are treated differently than those who graduate from larger schools.
- More emphasis will be placed on high-demand fields. The $32 million restored in the system’s workforce development program is aimed at building programs in areas such as artificial intelligence, nursing and finance. For instance, nursing is a profession that has been hurt nationwide post-COVID and needs to rebound quickly in a state with an aging population.
This deal is far from perfect, and Republicans would be wise to declare victory in what their critics call a “war against talent.” Businesses of all types need workers, and they don’t care about race, gender or other factors. They just want trained people who know how to work.
For their part, Rothman and Mnookin said the commitment to serving students from all backgrounds is unchanged. “As we made clear publicly for months, diversity and inclusion are core values, but we are open to changing how some of these positions can better benefit student retention and graduation,” Rothman said.
There will be no shortage of people on all sides of this debate watching to see how that happens.
Tom Still is president of the Wisconsin Technology Council. He can be reached at tstill@wisconsintechnologycouncil.com.
