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STATEMENT FROM UW OSHKOSH CHANCELLOR ANDREW J. LEAVITT, June 5, 2015:

Campus Community:

Last Friday the Legislative Joint Finance Committee (JFC) voted on revisions to the Governor’s proposed 2015–17 State Budget. The motion reduced the $300 million budget reduction by $50 million, bringing the UW System reduction to $250 million over the next biennium. The JFC motion also contained, among other changes, modifications to shared governance and tenure.

This week we have worked with UW System and the Board of Regents to understand what, if any, impact this will have to our UW Oshkosh budget reduction and to better understand the state statutory changes put forth in the motion. As this work continues I am sharing important updates from this week’s Board of Regents meeting to help keep you informed:

I understand the concerns and frustrations regarding both shared governance and tenure. Today the Board of Regents voted to include tenure into UW System policy as it stood in state statute and the UW System-charged tenure review committee will continue their work.

I want to reiterate my unequivocal support for the long-standing tradition and rich culture of shared governance at UW Oshkosh and the critical role I believe tenure plays in an academic environment. One of the most important aspects of the UW Oshkosh culture that drew me to this campus was the commitment to effective and responsible shared governance.

We will work together and respond to changes in state statute and UW System policy in a way that best fits our campus. I want to remind you that we have the opportunity to leverage UW Oshkosh policy, if needed, to support the work we do and to keep what we see as valuable processes in place. We also have the opportunity to look at what we could do better on our campus and use this as a time to update and improve current policy and processes.

We need to keep the dialogue open and transparent as we work through these changes. I have scheduled eight additional Chancellor Breakfast Forums over the next two months. You will see invitations soon and I encourage attendance for you to stay both informed and involved as we move forward.

Thank you,
Chancellor Leavitt