MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Universities of Wisconsin regents narrowly rejected a deal Saturday reached with Republicans that would have given employees a pay raise and paid for construction of a new engineering building in exchange for reductions in staff positions focused on diversity, equity and inclusion.
The regents voted 9-8 during an emergency meeting to reject the deal reached Friday after being brokered by Republican Assembly Speaker Robin Vos.
“I don’t like this precedent,” Regent Dana Wachs said during the meeting. “We need to make this a welcoming environment.” The vote was immediately panned by leaders of the Assembly Republican caucus. “It’s a shame they’ve denied employees their raises and the almost $1 billion investment that would have been made across the UW system, all so they could continue their ideological campaign to force students to believe only one viewpoint is acceptable on campus,” the GOP leaders said in a statement.
The deal would have frozen hiring for diversity positions, dropped an affirmative action faculty hiring program at UW-Madison and created a position at the flagship campus focused on conservative thought. The engineering building would have been built at UW-Madison.
“. . . created a position . . . focused on conservative thought . . . !!?!?!?!? And hired Tucker Carlson??? Bullshit.