Madison, Wisconsin.. The president of the 165,000-student University of Wisconsin system is Attempts to fight By the Board of Guardians to force him to retire or face expulsion.
Sudden effort to remove Jay Rothman Details of the position he has held since 2022 were detailed in letters Rothman sent to regents over the past week and obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Here’s what to know about the situation:
The President of the Universities of Wisconsin oversees the entire university system, which includes the main campus in Madison, 12 other universities and several other satellite campuses.
The President reports to the 18-member Board of Guardians. Vice presidents and chancellors who manage campuses, including the main campus in Madison, report to the president.
The President also oversees staffing in the system’s administrative offices and directs the work performed there.
Rothman is the eighth president of the UW System, which was created in 1971 by the state Legislature.
It was a surprise that the Board of Regents wanted to remove Rothman.
Details emerged in two separate letters Rothman sent to the guardians he met. No public concerns were expressed by the judges about Rothman’s performance. According to Rothman, no guardian explained to him why they wanted to leave him.
“When I asked you to explain the reasons for the Board’s conclusion and apparent lack of confidence in me, I merely noted that each trustee has his or her own view on this matter,” Rothman wrote in a March 26 letter to the board chairman. “No concrete reasons were provided for the council’s decision.”
The AP contacted all 18 board members on Thursday, and they did not respond to emails or had no comment.
It is unclear whether the board can dismiss the president without cause. A university spokesman was checking what the law allows.
Rothman said in his letter to the board chairman that he “was not provided with any objective reason or reasons for the board’s decision to lack confidence in my leadership.”
For this reason, Rothman said: “I am not prepared, in principle, to resign.”
The Board of Guardians met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss personnel matters. But until the AP obtained Rothman’s messages on Thursday, there was no doubt that the meeting was about his future.
In a letter sent Wednesday to two regents, Rothman said they told him that if he did not resign, they were prepared to meet over the weekend to remove him.
Rothman spent his career as an attorney, rising to become chairman and CEO of a Milwaukee-based firm Foley & Lardner Law Firm Before his appointment as UW president. Foley & Lardner has 1,100 attorneys and 22 offices nationwide.
Trustee Karen Walsh, who led the presidential search committee, in 2022 called him a “servant leader” who builds consensus. She declined to comment when contacted Thursday.
Rothman holds a bachelor’s degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee and a law degree from Harvard University.
Rothman’s tenure was marked by his efforts to increase government funding amid federal cuts, debates over free speech on campus amid pro-Palestinian protests, and declining enrollment that led to the closure of eight campuses.
Rothman raised the possibility of resigning in 2023 when the Board of Regents decided to do so Reject a deal It reached out to the Republican-controlled Wisconsin Legislature on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts. Council later She withdrew her vote He agreed to the deal.
The conflict over Rothman’s future comes as the university will need to replace the president of its main Madison campus this year. Counselor Jennifer Mnookin He leaves to take over as president of Columbia University.