The UW Board of Regents on Thursday voted in favor of a decade-old policy allowing universities to lay off faculty members, with the result that almost three dozen faculty at UW–Milwaukee’s branch campuses will lose their jobs, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.
The policy allows the board to lay off faculty whose programs have been eliminated or due to financial difficulty. The move was nearly unanimously approved, with dissent coming only from state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jill Underly. Regents cited inadequate state support of the UW system behind their decision, which some said they felt compelled to make after branch campuses were merged with four-year schools without a workable plan to keep the campuses viable.
The news follows UW–Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone’s announcement earlier this month that the layoffs would move forward, pending the regents’ approval.
