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.
Members of AFT Local 6514, the faculty and staff union at UW-Superior, attended the meeting and addressed the harmful and wide-reaching impact of the program suspensions. Eric Edwards, Sociology Professor and Chair of the Social Inquiry Department, said the cuts “would cause permanent damage to the reputation of UWS. This irresponsible decision will lead to both current students leaving and fewer students deciding to come here. Further, it will cause faculty and staff to leave."
Faculty, staff, and students were blindsided by the program suspension announcement in October. Applauding the board’s decision to draft this resolution, AFT-Wisconsin President Kim Kohlhaas drew a contrast between the board’s actions and the UWS administration.
“This board has had open debate with community input,” noted Kohlhaas. “Changes at UW-Superior will have an economic impact on the entire community, and the community needs to have a voice in this decision.”
The resolution is expected to be sent to UW-Superior Chancellor Wachter, Governor Walker, the Board of Regents, UW-System President Ray Cross, Representative Sean Duffy, U.S. Senators Tammy Baldwin and Ron Johnson, and all Wisconsin state legislators.
A copy of the full resolution can be found here.