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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – University of Wisconsin system president Jay Rothman was fired last month. He said he was blindsided by the board of regents. He’d also said before the April 7th meeting where he was scalped that he wouldn’t resign without being given specific reasons.
After his termination, some regents said Rothman was too cautious in dealing with issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence for the UW system. No one believes that. Under Rothman’s leadership UW Madison will launch a new college of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science. That’s not the reason for his dismissal.
Here’s what everyone knows but no one will say. Jay Rothman was a pragmatist. He knows that Republicans control the state legislature, so a working relationship with the GOP is needed to get a favorable budget for the state’s university system. Rothman was willing to make deals with Republicans. One of those deals was considered unacceptable to his board.
Rothman was willing to shut down the UW’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion office. It had already swelled to more than 300 administrative busy-bodies. Assembly speaker Robin Vos was ready to cut $50-million in funding for the university if it wouldn’t move on from DEI. Some of that money was already expected for faculty raises and to recruit new professors.
Donald Trump also had DEI in his sights. Schools that kept their DEI policies would lose federal grants. That money is critical to large research universities like Wisconsin.
Jay Rothman thought the deal made sense. The DEI office was shut down. Almost all of those employees were reassigned elsewhere within the University; their liberal agendas live on in smaller, more difficult-to-monitor ways. The UW got its funding in the state budget and kept its research grants.
But to the liberal Board of Regents, President Rothman was exposed as impure. He was unwilling to fight for all of the race-based programs that DEI represented. He caved on one of the holy-grail issues of the liberal agenda. Someone who cuts that kind of deal with their opponents must go.
There is another more-political aspect to the Rothman firing. The UW Board of Regents is dominated by uber-liberal appointees by Tony Evers. The board prefers to pick a new president before Governor Evers leaves office.
The lesson in all of this: some liberals are vengeful. Just ask Jay Rothman.
Chris Conley
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