In her monthly New York Times column, AFT President Randi Weingarten highlights the massive gap between President Trump’s rhetoric and reality. While the well-to-do are doing very well in the current economy, working Americans have been left behind. Weingarten demands leaders take action to benefit all Americans by ensuring accessible, affordable healthcare for all; reining in college debt; and adequately funding public education. Read the full column.
Madison, WI – Members of several AFT higher education locals and students filled the Capitol on Wednesday to call on lawmakers to recommit themselves to the Wisconsin Idea by working with faculty, staff, and students to strengthen the quality of our UW-System. Students from UW-Stevens Point have largely led the organizing efforts after their campus announced in March that it would be cutting 13 majors in the humanities, arts, and social sciences.
Superior, WI – The UW-Superior faculty have overwhelmingly voted “no confidence” in the UWS administration in response to the recent announcement to suspend and put on warning approximately one-third of all majors and minors at UWS. The vote was open to all faculty and took place from Wednesday-Friday this week. The vote, which read, “As a response to the October 31, 2017 administrative decisions to suspend majors/minors, I vote no confidence in the UW-Superior administration,” passed by a 59% margin.
Superior, WI – In a unanimous vote, a committee of the Douglas County Board of Supervisors voted to forward a resolution calling on UW Regents and Governor Walker to rescind program suspensions and warnings at UW-Superior. The resolution will be voted on by the entire Douglas County Board on the 21st. This resolution comes as students and community members mount increasing pressure on the administration to reverse their October 31st announcement to suspend 25 programs and put 15 others on warning.
MATC AFT LOCAL 212 CALLS-OUT HYPOCRISY IN WALKER-TRUMP TECH COLLEGE VISIT
The union representing the state’s largest group of skilled trades educators slammed President Trump’s and Governor Walker’s tour of Waukesha County Technical College (WCTC) as nothing more than a politically-motivated public relations stunt.
The AAUP and AFT-Wisconsin stand together in condemning the attacks on higher education that the Wisconsin Legislature included in its biennial budget, which Governor Walker signed into law last Monday. We call on the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents and the UW System and campus-level administrations to work with their faculty and academic staff to reconstitute the language previously included in Chapter 36 into system-wide and campus policies.
Madison, WI: Statement from AFT-Wisconsin President Kim Kohlhaas, a teacher in the Superior School District, on Scott Walker’s announcement of his presidential campaign:
Governor Scott Walker’s proposed 2015-17 budget for the state of Wisconsin, introduced earlier this year, was jam-packed with shameful attacks on working Wisconsinites. Since then, Republican majorities on the legislature’s Joint Finance Committee (JFC) have been finding ways to make a bad budget even worse. Now that the JFC has wrapped up budget deliberations, its budget proposal will be taken up by the state Senate and Assembly, then head to Governor Walker’s desk for his signature. Here's what AFT-Wisconsin President Kim Kohlhaas had to say:
Madison, WI: Responding to the Wisconsin Joint Finance Committee’s expected vote to slash $250 million in UW System funding and remove legislative protections for academic freedom and shared governance, union members in the UW System condemned the funding cuts and called on System and campus administrations to protect academic freedom. “Today’s move by JFC Republicans to pay for Scott Walker’s tax breaks for his wealthy donors by slashing public education is shameful,” said Eleni Schirmer, a UW-Madison graduate student and co-president of the Teaching Assistants’ Association, AFT local 3220.