It took just 32 minutes in a closed-door meeting for the Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents to fire the president of the university system.
Jay Rothman was hired to lead the UW system in 2022 as an outsider. He was a partner at Milwaukee-based law firm Foley and Lardner. Rothman was paid around $600,000 a year to lead the UW system’s 13 campuses and 160,000-plus students.
A week and a half before the meeting, the board reportedly gave the president an ultimatum: Resign or be fired.
Rothman refused to step down. In public statements, he said the board had given him no clear reason for the ultimatum.
At the April 7 meeting, board president Amy Bogost didn’t give a particular reason for firing Rothman. She cited his recent performance review without going into details.
“President Rothman was not without notice nor was the process sudden," she said in a prepared statement. "The board has engaged with President Rothman in good faith discussions over the past several months.”
Rothman has said publicly he would not fight his the termination in court.
WI Republicans call out UW Regents for firing Rothman
Following the termination, Bogost and Regent Timothy Nixon were called by Republican legislators to testify to the Wisconsin Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges. The hearing took place on April 9.
The Associated Press reported that Nixon said that "Rothman lacked urgency to address critical issues like AI, was not fully aligned with the board, tried to limit public board discussions and open records, limited board members’ interactions with lawmakers and took credit for accomplishments that were part of a 'massive team effort.'"
Republican state Assembly member Amanda Nedweski represents Kenosha County and sits on the higher education committee.
She says the Board of Regents may have ousted Rothman to bring in a leader who aligns more with their preferred agenda, which she called progressive. She calls that a failure.
“How are they best serving the State of Wisconsin if they are making decisions about who is leading the system based on their political agendas?" she asked. "We have declining enrollment in most of our campuses ... Jay was very committed to increasing participation in higher [education], not just to help the system survive, but because it’s the right thing to build the workforce here in Wisconsin.”
UW faculty union leader says Rothman 'ignored' campus voices
For others, Rothman’s firing was less of a surprise. Jon Shelton is the president of AFT-Wisconsin, which represents UW faculty.
"You really have a scenario where the UW system under Rothman ignored the voices of faculty and staff and made these political deals that set pretty devastating precedents on our campuses,” Shelton says.
Shelton points to what he calls a failed negotiation between Rothman and the Legislature in 2023 that resulted in a restructuring of diversity, equity and inclusion positions and programs across the university system.
Rothman also ran afoul of some faculty last year when he introduced an inter-campus general education credit transfer program in response to a new state law. That program included some hiring freezes, minimum teaching hours for professors and core curriculum requirements for all UW schools. Nedweski and Republicans called those changes necessary accountability measures for the universities.
Shelton and many faculty saw it differently.
“That went far beyond what the law actually required," Shelton says. "Again, I think a lot of Regents felt like they were in a position to basically make a deal in order to get this funding released that tied the hands of individual campuses. That really set a very problematic precedent in terms of academic freedom on our campuses.”
Before his firing, Rothman told the Board of Regents he was proud of his accomplishments during his time as president, including securing the largest operating budget for the system in state history, expansion projects at several campuses and pursuing a tuition promise program, which covers tuition and fees for eligible students.
In a letter to the board dated March 26, Rothman said "Education changes the trajectory of the lives of our students and is the great equalizer in our society. To play a small role in the educational journeys of our students as President of the Universities of Wisconsin is both an immense honor and privilege."
Legislator says other leadership changes at UW-Madison leave parts of system 'leaderless'
Rothman’s departure comes at a time when the flagship campus, UW-Madison, is also experiencing leadership changes.
In January, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin announced she would leave at the end of the semester to serve as president of Columbia University in New York City.
On April 13, UW-Madison Director of Athletics Chris McIntosh announced he was immediately stepping down to take on a new job as the Big Ten conference's first deputy commissioner for strategy.
Shelton, who represents UW faculty, says both Mnookin and Rothman departing creates uncertainty. But he adds that "our institutions, what makes them great, are the people who do the work every day."
"No offense to either Mnookin or Rothman, but I can’t imagine there’s one student who went to one of our institutions because they knew who the chancellor of Madison was or they knew who the president of the UW System was," Shelton says.
Nedweski, the state representative from Pleasant Prairie, says the changes are indicative of a larger issue.
“You’re losing a chancellor. They’ve fired a president. The fact that they’re sort of leaderless at the moment is reflective of the state of higher education in this state," she says.
WUWM is a service of UW-Milwaukee, which is part of the Universities of Wisconsin.
