The Universities of Wisconsin President, Jay Rothman, was fired in a special meeting by the Board of Regents on Tuesday, April 7th. Rothman served as president of the 165,000-student system since 2022, after leaving as CEO of Foley and Lardner, a Milwaukee-based business.
The vote came as a unanimous decision among the board after 20 minutes in a private meeting. This was following a meeting on the prior Tuesday, where the board discussed personal matters. Chris Patton will act as a chief-in-executive until an interim president can be appointed. This comes as Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin of UW-Madison plans to leave next month to become the president of the University of Colombia.
Prior to his firing, Rothman had elected President Eric Wilcots, a dean of UW-Madison, to serve as interim Chancellor until a permanent president can be appointed. Before the decision, Bogost, a member of the board, had shared with Rothman the annual report of his performance as president, but did not publicly share the report. Rothman has made comments following the board’s decision, calling it a disappointment, and “he was proud of accomplishments during his time in charge including having “secured the largest revenue increase from the state in two decades, eliminated structural deficits at our universities, maintained affordability, increased student enrollment for three consecutive years, secured funding for student mental health services, focused on the First Amendment rights of our students (and) expanded continuing education programs to meet workforce needs.”
Republican State Rep. Amanda Nedweski stated that she believes timing has influenced the board’s decision due to Gov. Tony Evers announcement that he would not run for another term in November, as all of the members were appointed by Evers. She also believes the board has been trying to oust him because of his willingness to interact with Republican lawmakers.
Contrary to lawmakers, the Facility Union has been in full support of the board’s decision. Some described Rothman as unwilling to listen to the stakeholders that truly define our campuses: on everything from our faculty, staff, and students’ commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion to UW System Administration’s disastrous efforts to impose a general education curriculum on our campuses,” according to AFT-Wisconsin President Jon Shelton in an interview on Thursday.