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19 key moments of Jay Rothman’s tenure as UW system president
- STATE JOURNAL
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The UW Board of Regents meets Tuesday to discuss whether to fire Universities of Wisconsin President Jay Rothman, who has led the 165,000-student and 13-university system since 2022. It’s been his first experience in higher education administration, and he’s earned a salary of $600,943.
He is the former CEO and chair of Foley & Lardner, an international law firm.
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(19) updates to this series since Updated
UW Board of Regents President Amy Bogost said the board is “responsible for the leadership of the Universities of Wisconsin and is having discussions about its future.”
Rothman is refusing to quit, telling the head of the Board of Regents that he hasn’t been given any reason why the regents want him to leave.
The number of students at the UW system branch campuses offering classes on their campuses next year increased at three and fell at two.
A substantial drop in the number of international students offset other enrollment gains, Universities of Wisconsin leaders said.
The UW system has become "tuition-dependent due to lagging state funding" in previous years, President Jay Rothman said.
But as the hearing dragged on, it became clear there was a fundamental disagreement what diversity, equity and inclusion even means.
The Board of Regents previously rejected President Jay Rothman's request to have almost unilateral authority to appoint vice presidents.
Gow was fired as chancellor, and later as a faculty member, after Universities of Wisconsin officials discovered he had been making pornographic videos with his wife.
Under the new policy, university leaders can issue public statements only on matters that directly affect university operations and their core mission.
It was the first time the Regents have considered using its decade-old policy allowing universities to lay off faculty members whose program has been eliminated or because of financial difficulty.
UW system officials already have closed four other two-year schools since 2023 and plan to close UW-Milwaukee's branch campus in Waukesha.
For the first time in the Universities of Wisconsin system's history, a school has depleted its reserves and needs a loan to balance its budget.
Joe Gow, the longest-tenured chancellor within Universities of Wisconsin system, was already planning on retiring at the end of the school year.
Ahead of the vote, UW system chancellors pleaded with the Regents to approve the deal, arguing their campuses would be further hurt if the deal did not pass.
"We think a new name, our new identity, reflects the collective role our 13 public universities play in the economic and social fabric of Wisconsin," System President Jay Rothman said.
Vos' announcement came after Democratic Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a budget provision cutting 188.8 positions from the System's diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
The petition, signed by nearly 1,400 people, asks the University of Wisconsin System to consider shifting the Richland Center campus' leadership away from UW-Platteville to UW-Madison.
Newly-appointed system President Jay Rothman recommended extending the freeze for a ninth straight year, saying it would be funded using a $25 million allocation of federal pandemic relief funds.
The UW Board of Regents will choose between a Milwaukee law firm CEO and one of its own chancellors to be the next president of the UW System.
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Jay Rothman has led the 165,000-student and 13-university system since 2022.
Jay Rothman has led the 165,000-student and 13-university system since 2022.
Rothman had refused to resign, saying the Regents didn’t provide a reason for their loss of confidence in him.
Rothman had refused to resign, saying the Regents didn’t provide a reason for their loss of confidence in him.
