Faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are joining forces with other Big Ten universities as they face what they call “existential threats” from President Donald Trump’s administration, the Wisconsin State Journal reports.
Members of the UW-Madison Faculty Senate in a primarily symbolic vote sought nearly unanimously for Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to join in a nonbinding “mutual defense compact” authored by faculty at New Jersey’s Rutgers University. The compact asks the leaders of the Big Ten athletic conference’s 18 universities to collaborate on legal challenges and lawsuits against the Trump administration’s actions against universities, as well as on lobbying and communication to the public.
The administration’s actions against universities have included withholding funding and grants to secure compliance on various demands over academics and student conduct. and reducing reimbursements for indirect costs related to research. The UW-Madison resolution states that these represent a “significant threat” to nationwide higher education.
