UW and GOP reach deal to ‘reimagine’ DEI by restructuring jobs, freezing positions

In a deal months in the making, the University of Wisconsin system will “reimagine” its diversity efforts, restructure dozens of staff into positions serving all students and freeze the total number of diversity and administrative positions for the next three years.

In exchange, the universities would receive $800 million to give pay raises for 35,000 employees and move forward on some building projects, including a new engineering building for UW-Madison.

“This is an evolution, and this is a change moving forward,” UW System President Jay Rothman told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “But it does not in any way deviate from our core values of diversity (and) inclusion.”

The compromise brokered with Republican legislative leaders this week hinges on approval by the UW Board of Regents, the GOP-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. The Regents are scheduled to vote on the deal Saturday.

Both the pay raises and the engineering building were blocked for months by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, R-Rochester, who objected to campus spending on diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI.

Democrats blasted the deal, saying UW was sacrificing DEI efforts in exchange for buildings.

“We ask the question, who was at the table making negotiations on behalf of our black and brown students on campus?” the Wisconsin Legislative Black Caucus said in a statement. “Who decided to undervalue our students and staff of color by setting a price tag on their inclusion on our campuses?”

What’s included in the deal for Republicans?

Alarmed by the growing administrative size of campuses and a focus on DEI, Republicans have sought to rein in UW system hiring.

Under the deal, from 2024 through 2026, the UW system would maintain its total number of positions. Growing campuses may hire more people so long as the number of jobs across the system holds steady.

The position cap does not apply to faculty, staff who directly support students or research, part-time student employees and jobs funded through gifts or grants.

The UW system would also restructure one-third of its 130 DEI positions to jobs supporting success of all students. None of the 43 people in the restructured positions would lose their jobs, Rothman said.

UW-Madison would end its “Target of Opportunity” program at the end of the 2023-24 school year. These programs have been used in higher education for decades primarily as a way to diversify faculty ranks through direct recruitment as opposed to a broader search process. Instead, the university would launch a different hiring program for faculty who have demonstrated their ability to work with underrepresented students.

“I want to be clear that this set of arrangements neither gets ride of DEI nor is it business as usual,” UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin told the Journal Sentinel. “We are open to making changes to better serve our whole community. And so we have agreed to partly reimagine how we go about that work to further emphasize their importance of student success for all students.”

GOP lawmakers also believe there are too many progressive professors on campus promoting liberal views. Under the deal, the UW system would develop a mandatory online orientation on free expression for incoming students. In addition, UW-Madison would seek donor gifts to fund a faculty position focused on conservative political thought, classical economic theory or classical liberalism.

Another demand among Republicans has been for more transparency in the admissions process. UW-Madison would agree to guarantee admission to the top 5% of Wisconsin high school students. Other UW campuses would have to accept the top 10% of in-state students.

What’s in the deal for UW?

The deal would infuse universities with cash for capital projects and withheld pay raises for employees.

A legislative committee Vos co-chairs approved pay increases for other state employees in October. But the group declined to take up raises for UW employees despite some other Republicans voicing support. The deal calls for the committee to approve a 4% raise in 2023 and a 2% raise in 2024 for most UW employees by Dec. 31.

The $32 million Republicans cut from the UW budget earlier this year would be released back to campuses to spend on nursing, engineering and other workforce needs.

The deal calls for changing how the money from Wisconsin’s tuition reciprocity agreement with Minnesota is managed. Currently, the difference between what a Minnesota student pays to attend a UW system school and the Wisconsin in-state tuition rate is funneled into the state’s general fund. Universities would keep the money under the new terms, which would add roughly $11 million to campus coffers based on 2020 enrollment data.

On the construction front, UW-Madison would receive approval to renovate several dorms and nearly $200 million in state money for a new engineering building.

The $347 million project was the top priority across the UW system. The GOP decision to block it baffled the state’s business community because the building would allow the College of Engineering to expand its capacity from 6,350 students to 7,500 students. About 8,550 students applied last year for one of 1,200 spots in the freshman class.

UW-Whitewater would receive $78 million to renovate two academic buildings, a request Rothman said was made by Vos, who is an alumnus of the university.

The UW system would also receive $45 million in one-time money to demolish some aging facilities.

“No one is going to look at this agreement and love every piece of it,” Mnookin said. “But I do think this approach to bridging a divide makes sense. This compromise allows us to hold on to our core values and that includes our commitment to diversity, our commitment to belonging for all of our students, our commitment to inclusive excellence and our ability to move forward with all parts of our mission.”

This story will be updated.

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KellyMeyerhofer.