Universities of Wisconsin Unveils New Workforce Development Plan

Tuesday, November 7th, 2023 -- 10:01 AM

(AP) The Universities of Wisconsin unveiled a $32 million workforce development plan Monday in an attempt to recover funds that were cut by the Republican-controlled Legislature earlier this year in a fight over campus diversity programs.

The Legislature’s budget committee voted in June to eliminate 188 diversity, equity and inclusion positions within the university system and slash UW’s budget by $32 million, which is the amount Republicans estimated would be spent on so-called DEI programs over the next two years.

Democratic Gov. Tony Evers used his partial veto power to protect the DEI positions, but he was unable to prevent the $32 million cut. The budget Evers signed into law in July allows UW to recover the funding if it can show the money will be spent on workforce development and not DEI.

The spending plan UW President Jay Rothman announced Monday would direct funds to four “high-demand” fields: engineering, health care, business and computer science. The plan allocates $2.5 million each year to UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee, and $1 million to each of the system’s 11 other universities.

The proposal must be approved by the UW Board of Regents, which was set to meet Thursday, before going to the Legislature’s budget committee.

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