Wisconsin
Regents accept UWM plan with system’s first mass layoff of tenured profs • Wisconsin Examiner
With only one dissent, the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents approved a plan Thursday from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee that will include the layoff of 35 tenured faculty members.
It would be the first mass layoff of tenured faculty anywhere in the Universities of Wisconsin system since state law weakened the system’s tenure protections nearly a decade ago.
The plan calls for dissolving the College of General Studies, associated with a pair of suburban two-year branch campuses, and its three academic departments. The UWM administration says that is a “program discontinuance,” allowing for the layoff of tenured faculty under a Board of Regents policy.
UWM’s College of General Studies was established as the vehicle for awarding two-year degrees from the two campuses, in Waukesha and Washington counties, when they were joined with UWM six years ago.
Falling “market demand” combined with shifting demographics have forced the closure of the two campuses, UWM Provost Andrew Daire told the regents’ education committee Thursday morning.
Nationally, the number of college-age students fell 39% from 2010 to 2021, Daire said, and while 12.9% of 18- to 24-year-olds enrolled in two-year colleges in 2010, that fell to 8.5% in 2022.
“Unfortunately, the numbers in Wisconsin are a bit more dire,” Daire said. Enrollment in UW’s 13 two-year campuses was just under 10,000 students in 2010 and fell 64%, to 3,556, by 2023.
The 13 campuses were merged into four-year UW schools in 2018. The campuses in Waukesha and Washington counties became part of UWM during that process.
Those two campuses have “seen significant decreases” with “almost a 58% enrollment decline since 2018,” Daire said. “We also cannot be optimistic in terms of future changes in enrollment.”
The cost per student in a two-year degree program “is more expensive than the cost on the main campus for bachelor’s, master’s and PhD students,” Daire said. “So the market demand and cost effectiveness is really what has gotten us to this unfortunate place of the program discontinuance and this proposal for faculty.”
Regent Policy 20-24, adopted in 2016, allows for faculty layoffs “for reasons of program discontinuance.” Under that policy, “faculty layoff will be invoked only in extraordinary circumstances and after all feasible alternatives have been considered.”
The board adopted the policy after the Legislature and then-Gov. Scott Walker enacted changes that deleted tenure-related guarantees from state law and allowed tenured faculty to be laid off due to changes in university programming.
State Superintendent Jill Underly cast the only dissenting vote, both in the education committee Thursday morning, which recommended approving the UWM plan, and in the full Board of Regents meeting Thursday afternoon, which concurred.
“I’m just deeply troubled that tenured faculty members are being laid off due to program eliminations,” Underly said before casting her vote. “With a [UW system] budget that exceeds $6 billion I believe we could have found a way to preserve these positions, especially when their combined payroll represents such a small fraction of our financial resources.”
Underly said cutting tenured faculty would hurt the UW system’s reputation as well as the faculty members and their families.
She acknowledged that the two-year campuses’ financial straits needed to be addressed, but argued that “it’s even more important that the system has a real plan for our two-year colleges, and we currently don’t have one.”
Underly said she would oppose eliminating programs, colleges and tenured faculty without “a responsible plan for these colleges.”
Regent Kyle Weatherly, who voted to accept the plan, called it the best option and pointed the blame at the state for not keeping up with its past record of funding for the UW system.
“What we lack, in my opinion, is the political will to invest in those students and those businesses and ultimately, our state’s future,” Weatherly said.
He recalled that two decades ago, when he was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin taxpayers covered 37% of the cost of an education. “It is now half that,” he added.
“I feel that some of those my age and older, those in power, are at best unbothered and at worst, eager to pull up that ladder that my parents’ generation provided me,” Weatherly said.
Regent Tim Nixon said the system had fallen short in letting the two-year campuses — created decades ago — operate without considering how the world had changed since they were established.
But Nixon rejected the idea that the UWM plan was “an attack on tenure.”
“Tenure is a protection for teaching and research interests,” so professors in fields of study that might be controversial aren’t vulnerable to being fired, he said. It’s not a permanent job guarantee, however, he argued.
Nixon said the current situation for the two-year campuses reflected “a failure for years to deal … with systemic issues” and would hurt “loyal dedicated employees who did no wrong.”
He added that he would vote for the plan nevertheless. “I’ve got to see what’s best for the system,” Nixon said. “Going forward, this is where we are today. It’s not where I think any of us wish we were, but it’s where we are, and that’s what I have to look at.”
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Wisconsin
Insider: Wisconsin Man Charged With Possession Of Virtual Child Pornography
POLK COUNTY (DrydenWire) – An investigation by the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, into multiple cybertips from Google about suspected child sexual abuse materials has resulted in felony charges for a Wisconsin Man.
Cody Struemke, age 27, of Amery, WI, is facing nearly a dozen charges for possessing child pornography, including Felony Possession of Virtual Child Pornography.
The criminal complaint against him alleges that Struemke saved a photo from Facebook of juveniles known to him, and digitally edited the photo to make it appear they were nude.
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Wisconsin
Wisconsin health professionals share tips to protect against respiratory illnesses
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) -Respiratory illness season has begun in Wisconsin, with health professionals reporting increased flu cases and higher demand for medications and vaccines.
Over-the-counter medicines are flying off the shelves at Forward Pharmacy in McFarland, according to manager Tony Peterangelo.
“We’ve had to increase like how much of some of that stuff we’ve kept on hand,” Peterangelo said. “We had to make some special orders to really bulk up on some of it too.”
Upland Hills physician Benjamin Hecht said the respiratory illness season typically begins after Thanksgiving.
“As of right now, we are just starting in the last week or two to see some Influenza A. Last year was a pretty tough flu year for us, influenza in Wisconsin. It’s still to be seen how severe of a year this is going to be in 2025-26,” he said.
Respiratory viruses are hard to avoid according to the Upland Hills physician.
“You can wear masks and wash your hands a ton, but you’re going to get exposed to these viruses at some point,” Dr. Hecht said.
RSV poses concern for young children
Dr. Hecht said another concern this season is RSV, particularly for young children with developing immune systems.
“The kids that get this, especially the really young kids, that don’t have a mature immune system, they can get pretty sick from RSV. That’s a particularly scary one. If you’re in a position where you qualify to get that vaccination or perhaps your kids do, please consider that,” Dr. Hecht said.
Forward Pharmacy is meeting demand for vaccines, which Peterangelo said can help protect against viruses.
“All of that stuff reduces the need to scramble on the back end to get antibiotics and cough suppressants. It doesn’t completely reduce your risk, but it reduces it enough that your likelihood of getting that is down,” Peterangelo said.
The pharmacy has given out dozens of flu and covid shots in a day.
“I would say maybe in the 60 to 80 range,” Peterangelo said.
Dr. Hecht said influenza B will come later in the season. He recommends people with severe respiratory symptoms like breathing troubles to see a doctor.
“The big thing is just living a healthy lifestyle, staying well hydrated, getting good sleep, doing what you can with physical activity and exercise to make sure your immune system is in tip top shape,” Dr. Hecht said.
According to new CDC data, doctor visits for flu-like symptoms rose to more than 3% in the last two weeks. The majority of flu cases are caused by a mutated strain that causes more severe illness, particularly among older adults.
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Wisconsin
Former Trump aides appear in Wisconsin court over 2020 election fraud charges
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Two attorneys and an aide who all worked on President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign appeared in court Monday for a preliminary hearing in Wisconsin on felony forgery charges related to a fake elector scheme.
The Wisconsin case is moving forward even as others in the battleground states of Michigan and Georgia have faltered. A special prosecutor last year dropped a federal case alleging Trump conspired to overturn the 2020 election. Another case in Nevada is still alive.
The Wisconsin case was filed a year ago but has been tied up as the Trump aides have fought, unsuccessfully so far, to have the charges dismissed.
The hearing on Monday comes a week after Trump attorney Jim Troupis, one of the three who were charged, tried unsuccessfully to get the judge to step down in the case and have it moved to another county. Troupis, who the other two defendants joined in his motion, alleged that the judge did not write a previous order issued in August declining to dismiss the case. Instead, he accused the father of the judge’s law clerk, a retired judge, of actually writing the opinion.
Troupis, who served one year as a judge in the same county where he was charged, also alleged that all of the judges in Dane County are biased against him and he can’t get a fair trial.
Dane County Circuit Judge John Hyland said he and a staff attorney alone wrote the order. Hyland also said Troupis presented no evidence to back up his claims of bias and refused to step down or delay the hearing.
Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson asked the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate the allegations.
The same judge will determine at Monday’s hearing whether there’s enough evidence to proceed with the charges against the three.
The former Trump aides face 11 felony charges each related to their roles in the 2020 fake elector scheme. In addition to Troupis, the other defendants are Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who advised Trump’s campaign, and Mike Roman, Trump’s director of Election Day operations in 2020.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice, headed by Democratic Attorney General Josh Kaul, brought the felony forgery charges in 2024, alleging that the three defrauded the 10 Republican electors who cast their ballots for Trump in 2020.
Prosecutors contend the three lied to the Republicans about how the certificate they signed would be used as part of a plan to submit paperwork to then-Vice President Mike Pence, falsely claiming that Trump had won the battleground state that year.
The complaint said a majority of the 10 Republicans told investigators that they were needed to sign the elector certificate indicating Trump had won only to preserve his legal options if a court changed the outcome of the election in Wisconsin.
A majority of the electors told investigators that they did not believe their signatures on the elector certificate would be submitted to Congress without a court ruling, the complaint said. Also, a majority said they did not consent to having their signatures presented as if Trump had won without such a court ruling, the complaint said.
Federal prosecutors who investigated Trump’s conduct related to the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riot said the fake electors scheme originated in Wisconsin.
The Trump associates have argued that no crime took place. But the judge in August rejected their arguments in allowing the case to proceed to Monday’s preliminary hearing.
Trump lost Wisconsin in 2020 but fought to have the defeat overturned. He won the state in both 2016 and 2024.
The state charges against the Trump attorneys and aide are the only ones in Wisconsin. None of the electors have been charged. The 10 Wisconsin electors, Chesebro and Troupis all settled a lawsuit that was brought against them seeking damages.
___
This story has been corrected to show that the attorneys who are charged formerly worked on Trump’s campaign, but are still practicing attorneys.
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