Philosophy in Wisconsin: St. Norbert College & UW-Milwaukee-Waukesha
The two tenure-track assistant professors in the department of philosophy at St. Norbert College in Wisconsin were among 12 faculty at the school informed last week that they’d be losing their jobs at the end of this term. And just yesterday the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee announced it would be closing its Waukesha campus.
The cuts at St. Norbert are part of an attempt by the administration to close a $5 million deficit blamed on an enrollment decline, the Green Bay Press Gazette reports.
Philosophers Jaime Edwards and Sydney Keough, both untenured assistant professors, will be losing their jobs.
The termination of their employment is effective at the end of the current term.
Elsewhere in Wisconsin, roughly 45 faculty at the Waukesha campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee were told yesterday they’d be out of a job at the end of Spring 2025, as the campus is closing. It will be the fifth University of Wisconsin branch campus to close recently.
Philosophers Timothy Dunn, Dean Kowalski, Tait Szabo—all tenured—will be losing their jobs.
According to UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports, “there simply weren’t enough students to sustain a two-year campus in Waukesha.”
UPDATE: Professor Szabo of UW-Milwaukee-Waukesha, writes that he has sent Chancellor Mone the following questions:
Wis. Stat. s. 36.22(12) (and Regent Policy Doc. 20-24.II.A) covers Alternative Appointments in case of program discontinuance. Where tenured CGS faculty are qualified to teach courses in the institution currently covered by non-tenured adjuncts, will tenured CGS faculty be retained and appointed to those courses? Failure to do so not only would set a dangerous precedent that should worry all tenured faculty at UWM as well as anyone in academia who may consider accepting tenure-track or tenured employment at UWM, but it would also arguably be in violation of Wisconsin statutes and Regent policy.
Regent Policy Doc. 20-24.II.C-F requires that layoffs or termination of faculty members due to program changes proceed through a faculty committee appointed for that purpose (which does not apply to CGSTT, as that was not its charge) and F-I require a report to the Board of Regents and approval by the Board. None of this has occurred, so isn’t it premature to send notices of termination to tenured faculty (which is covered under part J, after all those other steps)?
The College of General Studies (CGS) contains several programs: First-Year Bridge, Pre-Engineering, the UW Flexible Option, Continuing Education, Online, and the AAS Degree. In fact, the 2023 Washington County Work Group found that only 17% of students enrolled at UWM at Washington County completed the Associate’s Degree. The Chancellor announced only the discontinuance of the Associate’s Degree, but not the other CGS programs. No CGS faculty are specifically appointed to the Associate’s Degree program. Therefore, is it not the case that laying off tenured CGS faculty by appealing to a program discontinuance would constitute a misapplication of Wisconsin statute and Regent policy?
Tait, my friend and colleague, great job. Statutes should still mean something.
For the record, given the opportunity to answer my questions during today’s UWM Town Hall, the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, and Provost chose not to answer the questions beyond the Chancellor stating that “all relevant policies and procedures will be followed” while at the same time talking as though the laying off of tenured faculty is already settled.
Keep fighting Tait. I embarrassingly served on the Tenure Task Farce (sic) many years ago, failing to preserve the strong tenure we used to have at UW against a deck stacked by the majority state republicans in the formation and processes of the committee. But as you astutely point out, there are significant steps that must be taken before the dismissal of tenured faculty. The Regents today are very different under Governor Evers’ appointments, so don’t lose all hope.
For what it’s worth, this is the statement I made at the faculty senate meeting on Thursday:
A few years ago, the state of Wisconsin and the UW Board of Regents adopted policy changes that significantly weakened tenure. On May 10th, 2016, UWM faculty voted unanimously in favor of a resolution of no confidence in those changes. Until this week, those changes had been merely on paper. Chancellor Mone’s decision to lay off approximately 40 tenured faculty demolishes the status of tenure in Wisconsin. No longer is it merely possible in principle to lay off tenured faculty in cases of financial emergency or program discontinuation, it may become actual practice. Precedent is about to be set. Will Faculty resist this change or be complicit in this continued assault on tenure and higher education. I know there are some faculty who believe their tenure is different than ours, but there is no such distinction in policy. Ask yourselves, who’s next? UWM lists 213 programs. Who’s next? Languages? Philosophy? Fine Arts? Who’s next?
Powerfully and beautifully said.