Chancellor Mark Mone says UWM has absorbed 12 years' worth of cuts and is operating as one of the leanest research universities in the country.
But Mone told faculty and staff, UWM will have to cut deeper, if the Legislature approves Gov. Walker's proposed $300 million funding cut to the UW System and two-year tuition freeze. In exchange for the financial constraints, the governor has offered the system more flexibility from state oversight.
Here are excerpts from the Chancellor's speech Wednesday afternoon:
"We will look at recruitments, we will look at layoffs, and we will look at travel budgets and a number of other things. There are dozens and dozens of possibilities.
"At the same time, this could mean more flexibility. I think it’s fair to say that these are benefits, if they do accrue, they will not be in the short them. But there could be flexibility, there could be autonomy, more control by the board of regents on critical issues such as tenure and shared governance. That’s the understanding of the public authority, at this point.
"On a personal level, like all of us, we are deeply disturbed, tremendously concerned about the impact overall of this on our campus and all of the UW system - you can’t look at this from a faculty, from a staff, from a student, concerned citizen approach and not be.
"I’m a person who has experienced three different universities’ access to higher education, the affordability, the things we have at UWM, it’s something that is special - that is being threatened. It is something that has remarkable, adverse, unfortunate impacts.
"From a chancellor perspective, as I think about the programs that I have watched, as I think about the departments, the students, the employees, the personal impact, the human factor of this, I can’t help but be angry. I can’t help but be upset. I can’t help but really think about our mission and how we cannot continue in the same way.
"As I think about the values we all have, why we’re all here at UWM, I am deeply troubled, I must say that again. It will not advance our mission. It will not advance more broadly, where this state needs to go. I take this then, as a challenge, as a provocation, as a mandate for us to really look at the support and advocacy for UW Milwaukee, as well as the rest of the UW System.
"I think we have to stand together and we have to say, here is what we do, here is the difference we make. It’s education, but it’s much more than that. It’s the livelihood of so many of us. It’s the livelihood of the community that we reside in and the difference that we make in the region and frankly, in the world."
