Following the introduction of a UW-Madison faculty senate resolution of no confidence in UW System President Ray Cross and the Board of Regents, faculty around the UW System were vocal in their call for accountability at the top of the System.
The first version of the employee handbook for the Ashland school district was created with extensive input from members of the Ashland Federation of Teachers (AFT local 1275) and the Ashland Federation of Paraprofessionals (AFT local 4232), with representatives of each union sitting on a handbook committee with the administration. However, the following year, union members were surprised to see substantial changes made without any opportunity for employee input. Members of both locals met to discuss the issue, and decided to organize their coworkers and take the issue to the next district school board meeting, where they would petition the board to re-form the handbook committee as a permanent working group.
Faculty, staff, graduate employees, and students from across the University of Wisconsin System gathered on Friday, February 5, to rally in defense of tenure, quality education, and academic freedom before the Board of Regents gathered to review draft policies on faculty tenure.
As members of the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents gathered to consider new tenure policies for the UW System, AFT-Wisconsin and the American Association of University Professors issued the following joint statement (PDF):
The status of the University of Wisconsin System as one of the world's premier public university systems is under threat. As the UW System Board of Regents contemplates the end of meaningful academic freedom, AFT-Wisconsin members around the UW System - academic staff, faculty, graduate employees, university staff - are mobilizing to defend the quality of public higher education in Wisconsin. Take a stand for UW System students - sign the petition today!
Madison, WI: With Wisconsin at the center of a national debate over tenure, academic freedom, and funding for public higher education, members of the AFT-Wisconsin Higher Education Council announced a series of events to be held across the UW System in November examining the theme of “The Wisconsin Idea in Crisis.” “The Wisconsin Idea is a simple one,” said Richard Leson, a UW-Milwaukee associate professor of art history and the president of AFT local 3535, The Association of UW Professionals. “It’s the idea that the University of Wisconsin System should improve the lives of all Wisconsinites—through high quality education, research for the public good, and constant community outreach. As members of the AFT-Wisconsin Higher Education Council, my colleagues and I—academic and university staff, faculty, and graduate employees—are deeply troubled by efforts of radical politicians to weaken one of the preeminent public university systems in the world. That’s why we will be holding events on UW System campuses across the state—at Eau Claire, Stout, Madison, Green Bay, Stevens Point, and Milwaukee—to draw attention to the existential crisis that we in the UW System are confronting.”