The University of Wisconsin (UW) System Board of Regents has voted to reject a deal the university’s own administrators had negotiated with Robin Vos, the top Republican in the Wisconsin State Assembly, to limit diversity efforts in exchange for additional UW funding.

The surprise 9-8 vote against the deal came after six months of bargaining had yielded a compromise that would have required UW to end various diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in exchange for $800 million for the UW system.

The proposed deal had several elements that Vos had hoped would sweeten the pot enough to get the university to go along with what many criticized as a betrayal of traditionally underrepresented groups.

For example, in exchange for capping DEI hiring for three years and restructuring about a third of existing DEI positions into student success roles, the UW system would have received $800 million for pay raises, a new engineering building at UW-Madison and several other building projects across the system.

Other elements of the deal were also problematic. For example:

  • It would have required UW-Madison to end a hiring program aimed at diversifying its faculty ranks.
  • It would have obligated the flagship campus to solicit private donations for a faculty position focused on “conservative political thought, classical economic theory or classical liberalism.”
  • The UW System would have had to remove diversity statements from the student application process and support a bill that would guarantee admission to the top 5% of Wisconsin high school students (at UW-Madison) and the top 10% of in-state students (at other UW campuses).

"The Legislature has made decisions over the years that have proved to have a negative lingering effect on our public universities," Regent Angela Adams said during the special meeting, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "But to finally and begrudgingly propose to start funding the universities in exchange for insulting people historically excluded and underrepresented in higher education is a nonstarter for me. It's divisive, it's polarizing, and will ultimately lead to even more negative effects on the university system for decades to come."

The vote constitutes a significant dispute not only between the board and the State Assembly but between the board and UW System President Jay Rothman and UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, who had worked out the deal with Vos.

It’s highly unusual for a board to reject its chief administrators’ recommendations, particularly on a matter as public, partisan and protracted as this one, and what the rebuke means for their future in the system remains unclear. It’s also uncertain whether the board’s decision might be emulated by other governing boards facing pressure from their state legislatures to curtail DEI initiatives.

Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who had previously sued the State Assembly over its blocking of the pay raises for UW employees and who appointed all the board members who voted against the deal Saturday, called for common ground:

It’s clear the regents are deeply divided over this proposal, have immense concerns about this process and the difficult position they were put in, and are all committed to their charge—doing what’s best for our past, present, and future students, faculty, and staff, and the institutions that have defined our state for generations.

I believe that’s what they did today in voting their values, and I understand and support their decision and vote.

I look forward to this discussion continuing in the weeks and months ahead. 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.

In the meantime, I again urge legislative Republicans to release the already-approved UW System employee raises and investments included in the biennial budget that are well overdue.

Describing the deal as "our best and final offer," Vos said, "we negotiated in good faith and expected the same," in a text message to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in Saturday. "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."