For the past two decades, the UW system has been under attack: budget cuts combined with increased inflationary pressures have forced our faculty, staff, and students to do much more with much less. Republican legislators have weaponized common-sense resources for student success like Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and, now, administrators in both UW System and on campuses across the state are responding by closing campuses (Richland Center, Marinette, and now Waukesha), and laying off faculty and staff who have devoted their lives to meeting the needs of our students and contributing to the common good. Hundreds of faculty and staff across the state (from UW-Oshkosh and UW-Green Bay to UW-Milwaukee and UW-Platteville) have lost their jobs, depriving our students of the teaching and support they need to be successful.

AFT local unions in the UW system have been organizing to defend public higher education because our working conditions are University of Wisconsin System students’ learning conditions. American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin locals sounded the alarm on disastrous changes to state statute in 2015 that eliminated tenure, as well as faculty, staff, and student governance rights from state statute. Our locals organized a statewide drive to Fund the (Tuition) Freeze in 2017, organized against Point Forward’s potential gutting of curriculum at Stevens Point in 2018, and, just last year, our locals organized to defend DEI positions from the corrupt bargain UW system administration made with Republicans in the legislature.

Wisconsinites need to take a stand against the otherwise permanent austerity our political leaders have imposed on us and the disastrous choices of so many of our administrators. Just last fall, the UW system president, for instance, suggested chancellors should make “difficult” decisions to reduce curricular offerings for “low-income” students. In this context many AFT locals—including Green Bay, Oshkosh, Whitewater, River Falls, and the Teaching Assistants Association at Madison—have asked our chancellors to engage in a process called “meet and confer” to exchange ideas about making our workplaces better and ensuring our students have the resources they need to be successful.

Click on the image below to show your support for higher education for everyone!