Students from UW-Stevens Point and UW-Superior braved the snow to march from the Capitol to the Board of Regents’ office in solidarity with their peers across the UW System whose majors could be slashed in a recent budget cut.
UW-Superior cut 26 programs last fall, and UW-Stevens Point introduced a plan to cut a dozen more humanities majors earlier this semester. Both proposals were efforts to stem budget deficits at those schools.
Students said that the Board of Regents excluded shared governance from the decision and that the proposal violates the system’s guiding principles.
“We demand to be a part of the decision-making process which will determine the fate of our state and our desire to live, work, raise families and contribute to our communities for generations to come,” said Valerie Landowski, a UW-Stevens Point alumna. “We are at a crossroads and the integrity of the entire UW System is at stake.”
They also argued the cuts unfairly impact students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who would be unable to pursue their majors at a different university.
The demonstrators delivered a letter to the Board of Regents and occupied their office in Van Hise for 26 minutes to represent the 26 majors the Board proposed to cut.
In the letter, the protesters demanded the Board honor the role of shared governance bodies in decision-making. However, as of 2015, the system is no longer legally required to recognize those organizations.
Protesters also challenged the Regents’ commitment to the Wisconsin Idea.
“We believe Wisconsin residents should have the same rights to the affordable and diverse educational opportunities that previous generations have had,” the letter read. “The UW System Board of Regents has failed to fulfill their responsibility to their admission and the residents of Wisconsin.”
The tuition freezes and cuts to state funding are a driving force behind the proposed cuts and go against the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea, said Marlo Fields, a UW-Stevens Point student. His history major would be one of the programs cut, should the budget plan pass.
“We are here witnessing the dismantling of an idea that is a pillar of Wisconsin society,” Fields said. “Our UW System has been stolen from us and those entrusted to protect it have begun to disfigure and maim its integrity.”
UW-Madison students marched alongside their system peers, saying that a threat to one school is a threat to the entire system.
“I’m showing up here because I think it’s really important that UW-Madison students show solidarity with the rest of the system schools,” said Rena Yehuda Newman, a UW-Madison sophomore. “We’ve got to be together.”
Regents present at the demonstration said they supported the students in their advocacy and plan to continue the conversation into next fall.
“It’s really important that the students are sharing their voice,” said UW System spokesperson Stephanie Marquis. “We want to hear what they have to say. We hope that we are teaching people to be independent thinkers, and the fact that they’re here doing this is really crucial to the process.”
For students, today’s demonstration was a way to initiate those discussions, but they plan to continue advocating for equitable academic opportunities statewide.
“This is a call to action for all students,” said Fields. “Let us move forward in solidarity and reclaim our UW.”
UPDATE April 19, 2018, 12:00 p.m.: A previous version of the article referred to Stephanie Marquis as a UW System regent. Marquis is the spokesperson for the UW System.
