UW-Milwaukee faculty at branch campuses to be laid off under little-used policy

The closure of two University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee branch campuses will lead to the layoffs of tenured faculty members under a policy that's previously been applied just once.

"Laying off any employee who has devoted their career to public higher education is awful, but laying off tenure-line faculty is truly setting a grave precedent for the future of the UW system," said AFT-Wisconsin, which represents unionized faculty and staff at UW campuses.

The sheer number of the faculty layoffs, expected to be in the dozens, as well as the precarious nature of other branch campuses that might face similar fates of closure in the coming years, has caught the attention of multiple faculty groups.

"We’re going to be closely monitoring whether UWM follows this policy because if it doesn't, it wouldn’t bode well for other campuses," said Micahel Bernard Donals, president of PROFS, a UW-Madison faculty advocacy group.

Here's what to know:

What is tenure?

Tenure offers protection for academic freedom, the principle that professors creating knowledge and expressing ideas should be free to do so without the threat of intimidation or retaliation.

How many UWM faculty face layoffs?

There are about 45 tenured or tenure-track faculty working at UWM's Washington County and Waukesha campuses, according to the university.

The Washington County campus will close at the end of this school year, with the Waukesha campus following in spring 2025.

Tenure changes trace back to 2015

The Republican-controlled Legislature and then-Republican Gov. Scott Walker removed tenure from state law in 2015 — a move that sparked backlash, drew national attention and led to a series of symbolic no-confidence votes in the UW System president.

A UW Board of Regents policy that replaced the law in 2016 added program elimination as a reason to lay off tenured faculty. This is what UWM Chancellor Mark Mone applied to justify the faculty layoffs.

Before 2015, if an academic program or department was phased out, tenured faculty had to be placed in a different position and could only be laid off if there were a campuswide financial emergency.

Policy previously applied for UW-Platteville professor

The board approved laying off a UW-Platteville associate professor after the university's School of Education discontinued the early childhood program. A string of university committees and councils approved the elimination of the program in a process that began in 2019.

The school's director made a “good faith” effort to find the faculty member a new job, offering a position at a different campus. The professor declined the offer and the layoff took effect in May 2022.

No guarantees of job at UW-Milwaukee main campus

The little-used policy says layoffs should be invoked only "in extraordinary circumstances and after all feasible alternatives have been considered."

UWM spokesperson Angelica Duria said branch campus employees will be considered for jobs on the main campus "as availability and funding allows." UWM will work closely with Waukesha County Technical College on employment opportunities and has offered buyouts to branch campus faculty members who are ready to retire.

Data show UWM faculty ranks have fallen every year since 2018. In addition, declining enrollment has strained the university's finances.

Faculty role limited in layoff process

UWM has not yet issued a program discontinuance proposal to begin the process but anticipates doing so over the next few weeks, Duria said.

That proposal kickstarts the process. Various UWM faculty groups will recommend whether to discontinue the program housing faculty in both of UWM's branch campuses.

But the layoff policy allows for the chancellor to go against the faculty recommendation if there are "compelling reasons."

Kathleen Dolan, who leads UWM's University Committee, said the faculty's limited role in the process was because of changes Republicans made in 2015.

"It is merely advisory," she said. "It is merely a recommendation. We have no power to stop this."

Contact Kelly Meyerhofer at kmeyerhofer@gannett.com or 414-223-5168. Follow her on X (Twitter) at @KellyMeyerhofer.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW-Milwaukee faculty at Waukesha and Washington County campuses face layoffs