The following statement was published yesterday (June 3) and as of this morning had acquired 361 signatures [UPDATE: As of the next morning (June 5) the number of signatories had climbed to 459. The additional names, however, have not been added to the list that follows the text of the statement]:
We write as fortunate past winners of the most competitive research awards the University of Wisconsin–Madison provides to its scholars: Bascom Named Professorships, Hilldale Professorships, Kellett Mid-Career Awards, Romnes Faculty Fellowships, Steenbock Professorships, Vilas Associates Awards, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professorships, Vilas Early/Mid-Career Awards, Vilas Research Professorships, WARF Named Professorships, and Wisconsin Distinguished Professorships. As recipients of this support, we have been entrusted by our colleagues with responsibility to support the research mission of this great university. That mission is at risk as a consequence of actions taken by the Joint Finance Committee last Friday, which voted to eliminate long-established and universally recognized job protections for tenured faculty and to reduce the role that faculty, staff, and students play in the governance of the university.
The job protections afforded by tenure—earned not through years on the clock but by virtue of having demonstrated excellence in research, teaching, and service—ensure that faculty are free to pursue knowledge and express ideas without fear of dismissal. Such protections, pioneered at Wisconsin in a case that established the importance of academic freedom for the “continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found,” are today a fundamental principle of academic life in the U.S. and elsewhere. No scholar would readily accept a position without these protections, and no scholar should be expected to keep it. Without these protections, the University would suffer significant competitive disadvantages.
We are especially concerned about provision 39 of the omnibus motion, which authorizes the Board of Regents to terminate faculty appointments for reasons of “program discontinuance, curtailment, modification, or redirection.” This is a profound departure from current policy, which allows termination of faculty appointments only for just cause after due notice and hearing, or in the event of a fiscal emergency. If passed into law, this provision would greatly weaken any guarantees of tenure provided by the Board of Regents. In essence, state statute would say that tenure at the University of Wisconsin does not mean what it means at every other institution: a guarantee that university administrators cannot arbitrarily dismiss faculty who have earned tenure through research, teaching, and service.
Shared governance, the process by which faculty, staff, and students help to guide campus policy, has a similarly rich tradition at Wisconsin. In recent years, this process has helped to improve policy in numerous areas—from elimination of speech codes to reorganization of the Graduate School. Far from inhibiting change, shared governance is part of the way that the University of Wisconsin has effectively adapted to changing circumstances.
We call on Chancellor Blank and System President Cross to forcefully defend the institutions of tenure and shared governance. We respectfully urge the Wisconsin State Assembly and Senate to delete provisions from the omnibus motion approved by the Joint Finance Committee with respect to these institutions, including provision 39. Finally, we appeal to the Board of Regents to adopt as policy existing tenure protections and standards of shared governance.
Steve Ackerman, Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science
Sandra Adell, Professor of Afro7American Studies
Hans Adler, Professor of Modern Literature Study
John Ahlquist, Associate Professor of Political Science
Samer Alatout, Associate Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology
Daniel M. Albert, Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences
Martha W. Alibali, Professor of Psychology
Jennifer Alix Garcia, Associate Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Caitilyn Allen, Professor of Plant Pathology
Richard Amasino, Professor of Biochemistry
Richard Anderson, Professor, Medical School
Jennifer Angus, Professor of Design
Aseem Z. Ansari, Professor of Biochemistry
Robert Asen, Professor of Communication Arts
Alan Attie, Professor of Biochemistry
William Aylward, Professor of Classics
Eric Bach, Professor of Computer Sciences
Baha Balantekin, Eugene P. Wigner Professor of Physics
Bradford Barham, Professor of Agricultural and Applied Economics
Steven M. Barkan, Professor of Law
Amy Quan Barry, Professor of English
Lesley Bartlett, Professor of Educational Policy
James L. Baughman, Fetzer Bascom Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
David Baum, Professor of Botany and Genetics
Elizabeth B. Bearden, Associate Professor of English
Michael Bell, Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology
Andrew Bent, Professor of Plant Pathology
Lawrence M. Berger, Professor of Social Work and Director of the Institute for Research on Poverty
Michael Bernard, Donals Nancy Hoefs Professor of English
David Bethea, Professor of Slavic Languages
David Bordwell, Professor Emeritus, Communication Arts
Katherine Bowie, Professor of Anthropology
Patricia Brennan, Moehlman Bascom Professor of Nursing; Professor of Industrial Engineering
Rachel Brenner, Professor of Jewish Studies and Hebrew Literature
Dominique Brossard, Professor and Chair, Life Sciences Communication
David A. Brow, Professor of Biomolecular Chemistry
Gudrun Buhnemann, Professor of East Asian Languages and Literature/Languages and Cultures of Asia
Barry Burden, Professor of Political Science
Keith Busby, Professor of French Emeritus
Samuel Butcher, Professor of Biochemistry
Nicholas Cahill, Professor of Art History
Weibo Cai, Associate Professor of Radiology and Medical Physics
James D. Callen, D.W. Kerst Professor Emeritus of Engineering Physics
Christian Capitini, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Pascale Carayon, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Cynthia Carlsson, Associate Professor of Medicine/Geriatrics
Mary Carnes, Professor of Medicine
Russ Castronovo, Professor of English
Silvia Cavagnero, Professor of Chemistry
Qiang Chang, Associate Professor of Medical Genetics and Neurology
Alta Charo, Warren P. Knowles Professor of Law and Bioethics
Monika Chavez, Professor of German and Second Language Acquisition
Li Chiao, Ping Professor of Dance
Menzie Chinn, Professor of Public Affairs and Economics
Moo Chung, Associate Professor of Biostatistics
Bernard Cohen, Emeritus Professor of Political Science
Charles Cohen, E. Gordon Fox Professor of American Institutions
J. Michael Collins, Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Human Ecology
Jane Collins, Professor of Community & Environmental Sociology
Clifton Conrad, Professor of Higher Education
Joshua Coon, Professor of Chemistry and Biomolecular Chemistry
Susan Coppersmith, Professor of Physics
Kate Corby, Associate Professor of Dance
William J. Courtenay, Hilldale Professor Emeritus, C. H. Haskins Professor of History
Michael Cox, Evelyn M. Mercer Professor in Biochemistry
Elizabeth Craig, Professor of Biochemistry
Fleming Crim, Professor of Chemistry
William Cronon, Frederick Jackson Turner & Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies
Cameron Currie, Professor of Bacteriology
John Curtin, Professor of Psychology
Julie D’Acci, Bascom Professor Gender and Women’s Studies
Thomas Dale, Professor of Art History
Ellen Damschen, Associate Professor of Zoology
Gianola Daniel, Sewall Wright Professor, Animal Science, Dairy Science, Biostatistics and Medical Informatics
Sridhara Dasu, Professor of Physics
Stephen Dembski Professor of Music
Dennis DeMets, Professor of Geoscience
Erik Dent, Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Suzanne Desan, Professor of History
Patricia G. Devine, Professor of Psychology
Aparna Dharwadker, Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Theatre Studies
Anthony Di Sanza, Professor of Percussion
John Diamond, Associate Professor of Education
Charles Dill, Professor of Music History
Robin A. Douthitt, Emeritus Professor and Dean of Human Ecology
Donald A. Downs, Alexander Meiklejohn Professor of Political Science, Law, and Journalism; Glenn B. and Cleone Orr Hawkins Professor of Political Science
Gregory Downey, Bascom Professor of Journalism & Mass Communication and Library & Information Studies
Henry John Drewal, Professor of Art History & Afro-American Studies
Ian D. Duncan, Veterinary Medicine
Colleen Dunlavy, Professor of History
David Eide, Professor of Nutritional Sciences
Jordan Ellenberg, Professor of Mathematics
Felix Elwert, Associate Professor of Sociology
Roxann Engelstad, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Nan Enstad, Professor of History
Ivan Ermakoff, Professor of Sociology
Paul Evans, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Christina Ewig, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies and Political Science
Michael Ferris, Professor of Computer Sciences
Constance Flanagan, Professor of Human Ecology
Jeremy Foltz, Professor of Agricultural & Applied Economics
Raymond Fonck, Professor of Engineering Physics
Cary Forest, Professor of Physics
Malcolm Forster, Professor of Philosophy
Lewis Friedland, Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
Susan Friedman, Professor of English and Gender and Women’s Studies
Joan Fujimura, Professor of Sociology
Mimmi Fulmer, Professor of Voice and Opera
Anna M. Gade, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies
Barry Ganetzky, Professor of Genetics
Christine Garlough, Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies
Scott Gehlbach, Professor of Political Science
Sam Gellman, Ralph F. Hirschmann Professor of Chemistry
Aristotle Georgiades, Professor of Art
Thomas J. Givnish, Henry Allan Gleason Professor of Botany
Timothy Gomez, Professor of Neuroscience
Shaoqin Gong, Professor of Biomedical Engineeering
Diane Gooding, Professor of Psychology
Padma Gopalan, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering
Michael Graham, Professor of Chemical Engineering
Lisa Gralnick, Professor of Art
Claudio Gratton, Professor of Entomology
Beth Graue, Professor
Jonathan Gray, Professor of Communication Arts
Christina Greene, Associate Professor, Afro-American Studies Dept.
Daniel Greenspan, Professor of Cell and Regenerative Biology
Sabine Gross, Professor of German
Sara Guyer, Professor of English
Willy Haeberi, Professor Emeritus of Physics
Susan Hagness, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Robert Hamers, Professor of Chemistry
Cheryl Hanley-Maxwell, Professor of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education
Daniel Hausman, Professor of Philosophy
Sebastian Heinz, Professor of Astronomy
Pamela Herd, Professor of Public Affairs and Sociology
Noah Hershkowitz, Professor Emeritus of Engineering Physics
Mark Hetzler, Associate Professor of Music
Francine Hirsch, Professor of History
John Hitchcock, Professor of Art
Judith Houck, Associate Professor of Medical History and Gender and Women’s Studies
Robert Glenn Howard, Director, Digital Studies; Chair, Department of Comparative Literature and Folklore Studies; Professor of Communication Arts
George Huber, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Rania Huntington, Associate Professor of Chinese
Jeremy Hutton, Associate Professor of Classical Hebrew Language and Biblical Literature
Janet Hyde, Professor of Psychology
Anthony R. Ives, Professor of Zoology
Steele, James, Professor of Food Science
Rick Jenison, Professor of Psychology
Jiming Jiang, Professor of Horticulture
Song Jin, Professor of Chemistry
William P. Jones, Professor of History
Stephen Kantrowitz, Professor of History
David Kaplan, Patricia Busk Professor of Quantitative Methods, Department of Educational Psychology
Sunduz Keles, Professor of Statistics and of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics
Lynn Keller, Professor of English (Martha Meier Renk Bascom Professor of Poetry)
Richard Keller, Professor of Medical History and Bioethics
Nancy Keller, Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Bacteriology
Douglas Kelly, Professor French and Medieval Studies Program
Nancy Kendall, Associate Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Professor of Anthropology
Jesse Lee Kercheval, Professor of English
Adam L. Kern, Professor of Japanese Literature and Visual Culture
Anatoly M. Khazanov, Ernest Gellner Professor of Anthropology (Emeritus)
Laura Kiessling, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Young Mie Kim, Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
James F. Kitchell, Professor Emeritus of Zoology
Bruce Klein, Professor of Pediatrics, Medical Microbiology and Immunology, and Internal Medicine
Sanford A. Klein, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Heinz Klug, Professor of Law
Irena Knezevic, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Laura Knoll, Associate Professor of Medical Microbiology
Neil Kodesh, Associate Professor of History
Judith Deutsch Kornblatt, Professor Emeritus of Slavic Languages and Literature
Rudy Koshar, Professor of History
Joseph Koykkar, Professor of Dance (Music Director)
Thomas R. Kratochwill, Professor of Educatiional Psychology
Thomas Kuech, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Thomas G. Kurtz, Professor Emeritus of Mathematics and Statistics
Max G. Lagally, E.W. Mueller Professor of Materials Science
Robert Landick, Professor of Biochemistry and Bacteriology
Ullrich Langer, Professor of French
James E. Lawler, Arthur and Aurelia Schawlow Professor of Physics
Mary N. Layoun, Professor of Comparative Literature
James Leary, Professor of Folklore and Scandinavian Studies
Stacey Lee, Professor of Educational Policy Studies
Caroline Levine, Professor and Chair of English
Richard Lindroth, Professor and Assoc Dean for Research
Ruth Litovsky, Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders
Tom Loeser, Professor of Art
David Loewenstein, Helen C. White Professor of English and Humanities
Wei-Yin Loh, Professor of Statistics
Tomislav Longinovic, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Mark L. Louden, Professor of German
Stephen Lucas, Professor of Communication Arts
Gary Lupyan, Assistant Professor of Psychology
Monica Macaulay, Professor of Linguistics
Maryellen MacDonald, Professor of Psychology
Thomas Rockwell Mackie, Professor of Engineering Physics
Luis Madureira, Professor of Spanish and Portuguese
Katherine Magnuson, Professor of Social Work
Florencia E. Mallon, Julieta Kirkwood Professor of History
Melanie Manion, Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs
Ann Smart Martin, Professor of Art History
Jonathan Martin, Professor of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Thomas F. J. Martin, Professor of Biochemistry
Suresh Marulasiddapa, Professor of Immunology
Michael Massoglia, Professor of Sociology
Kenneth Mayer, Professor of Political Science
Dan McCammon, Professor of Physics
William H. McClain, Emeritus Halvorson Professor, Molecular Biology
Laura McClure, Professor of Classics
Alfred W. McCoy, Fred Harrington Professor of History
Janet Mertz, Elizabeth McCoy Professor of Oncology
Beth Meyerand, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Medical Physics
Jan Miernowski, Professor of French
Charles Mistretta, Professor of Medical Physics, Radiology, and Biomedical Engineering
Judith Mitchell, Professor of English
Julie Mitchell, Professor of Mathematics and Biochemistry
Gregg Mitman, Vilas Research and William Coleman Professor of History of Science, Medical History, and Environmental Studies
Colleen F. Moore, Professor Emerita, Psychology
John W. Moore, W.T. Lippincott Professor of Chemistry
Deane Mosher, Professor of Biomolecular Chemistry and Medicine
Donald Moynihan, Professor of Public Affairs
Regina Murphy, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Julia Murray, Professor Emerita of Art History, East Asian Studies, and Religious Studies
Steven Nadler, Professor of Philosophy
Gilbert Nathanson, Professor of Chemistry
Dan Negrut, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Adam Nelson, Professor of Educational Policy Studies and History
Gregory Nemet, Associate Professor of Public Affairs and Environmental Studies
John D. Niles, Frederic G. Cassidy Professor of Humanities (Emeritus)
Robert Nixon, Rachel Carson Professor of English
Daniel Noguera, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Robert Nowak, McFarland-Bascom Professor in Engineering
Lynn Nyhart, Professor of History of Science
Dave O’Connor, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Jon Odorico, Professor of Surgery
Kris Olds, Professor of Geography
Pamela Oliver, Conway-Bascom Professor of Sociology
John Orrock, Associate Professor of Zoology
Mario Ortiz, Robles Professor of English
Marisa Otegui, Professor of Botany and Genetics
Ryan Owens, Professor of political science
C. David Page, Professor of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics
David Pagliarini, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry
Sean Palecek, Milton J. and Maude Shoemaker Professor of Chemical & Biological Enigineering
Ann C. Palmenberg, Professor of Biochemistry
Lauren Papp, Associate Professor of Human Ecology
Jonathan Patz, Professor of Environmental Studies and Population Health Sciences
Joel Pedersen, Professor of Soil Science
Jon Pevehouse, Professor of Political Science
Brian F. Pfleger, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Brenda Gayle Plummer, Professor of History
Seth Pollak, Letters & Science Distinguished Professor of Psychology
Bradley Postle, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry
Pamela Potter, Professor of German
Carol Pylant, Professor Emeritus of Art
Ronald Radano, Professor of Music
Volker Radeloff, Professor of Forestry
Eric Raimy, Professor of Linguistics
Ronald Raines, Professor of Biochemistry
John Ralph, Professor of Biochemistry
Jennifer Ratner-Rosenhagen, Merle Curti Associate Professor of History
Sherry Reames, Professor Emerita of English
Tom Record, Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry
Jennifer Reed, Associate Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Rolf Reitz, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Thomas Reps, Professor of Computer Sciences
Daniel Rich, Professor of Medicinal Chemistry
Karyn Riddle, Associate Professor, School of Journalism & Mass Communication
Stephanie Robert, Professor, School of Social Work
Mary Louise Roberts, Professor of History
Sue Robinson, Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
Timothy Rogers, Professor of Psychology
Joel Rogers, Sewell Bascom Professor of Law and Sociology
Guilherme Rosa, Professor of Quantitative Genetics, Department of Animal Sciences, Department of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics
Patricia Rosenmeyer, Professor of Classics
Roland R. Rueckert, Emeritus Prof Biochemistry & Molecular Virology
Paul Sacaridiz, Associate Professor of Ceramics
Mark Saffman Professor of Physics
Jenny Saffran, College of Letters & Science Distinguished Professor of Psychology
Joseph Salmons, Lester W.J. “Smoky” Seifert Professor of Germanic Linguistics
William Sandholm, Professor of Economics
Ellen Sapega, Professor of Portuguese
James Schauer, Professor of Engineering
Elaine Scheer, Professor of Art
Sissel Schroeder, Professor of Anthropology
David C. Schwartz, Prof. of Chemistry and Genetics
Laura Schwendinger, Professor of Music
Andreas Seeger, Professor of Mathematics
Mark Seidenberg, Professor of Psychology
Timo Seppalainen, Professor of Mathematics
David Williamson Shaffer, Professor of Educational Psychology
Dhavan Shah, Maier-Bascom Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
Hemant Shah, Professor of Journalism & Mass Communication
Lawrence Shapiro, Professor of Philosophy
Jude Shavlik, Professor of Computer Sciences and of Biostatistics & Medical Informatics
Irina Shevelenko, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures
Gary Shiu, Professor of Physics
Karl Shoemaker, Associate Professor of History and Law
Eric Shusta, Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering
Alan Sidelle, Professor and Chair of Philosophy
Marc Silberman, Professor of German
Brad Singer, Professor of Geochronology and Igneous Geochemistry
James Skinner, Hirschfelder Professor of Chemistry
Kristen Slack, Professor of Social Work
Wesley Smith, Bjorn Wiik Professor of Physics
Elliott Sober, Professor of Philosophy
Gurindar Sohi, Professor of Computer Sciences
Paul Sondel, Professor of Pediatrics, Human Oncology and Genetics
Shannon S. Stahl, John and Dorothy Vozza Research Professor of Chemistry
Emily Stanley, Professor of Zoology
Frederick Stonehouse, Associate Professor of Art
Scott Straus, Professor of Political Science and International Studies
Izabela Szlufarska, Professor of Materials Science & Engineering
Paul Terry, Professor of Physics
Clifford Thurber, Professor of Geophysics
Basil Tikoff, Professor of Geology
Aili Tripp, Professor of Political Science and Gender & Women’s Studies
Matthew D. Turner, Professor of Geography
Monica Turner, Odum Professor of Ecology (Zoology Dept)
Rand Valentine, Professor of Linguistics
John Valley, Charles R. Van Hise Professor of Geoscience
Manon van de Water, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature and Interdisciplinary Theatre Program
Stephen Vaughn, Professor, SJMC
Kate Vieira, Assistant Professor of English
Richard D. Vierstra, Stanley J Peloquin Professor of Genetics
Anne Vila, Professor of French
Peter B. M. Vranas, Professor of Philosophy
Michael Wagner, Associate Professor of Journalism and Mass Communication
Thad Walker, Professor of Physics
Donald Waller, J.T. Curtis Professor and Chair, Department of Botany
Lee Palmer Wandel, Professor of History
Anja Wanner, Professor of English
Douglas Weibel, Professor of Biochemistry
David Weimer, Edwin E. Witte Professor of Political Economy
Howard D. Weinbrot, Vilas Research Professor Emeritus; Ricardo Quintana Professor of English Emeritus
Gary Weismer, Professor and Chair of CS&D
Susan Ellis Weismer, Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders
James C. Weisshaar, Professor of Chemistry
Urban Wemmerlov, Kress Family Professor of Productivity and Quality
Stefan Westerhoff, Professor of Physics
Joseph Wiesenfarth, Prof. Emeritus English Dept.
Jack Williams, Professor of Geography
Justin Williams, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Neurological Surgery
Jack Williams, Professor of Geography
Paul Wilson, Professor of Engineering Physics
David A. Wood, Professor of Computer Sciences and Electrical and Computer Engineering
Erik Olin Wright, Professor of Sociology
John Wright, Andreas Albrecht Professor of Chemistry
Sau Lan Wu, Professor of Physics
Wei Xu, Professor of Oncology
Susan Yackee, Professor of Political Science and Public Affairs
Louise Young, Professor of History
M. Crawford Young, Professor Emeritus of Political Science
Hyuk Yu, Professor Emeritus of Chemistry
Susan Zahner, Professor of Nursing
Martin Zanni, Meloche7Bascom Professor of Chemistry
Ellen Zweibel, Professor of Astronomy & Physics
Brava and Bravo to these professors- As the widow of Anatole Beck, I’d like to add that of course, his signature would be there if he were able!
Sincerely, Eve-Lynn Siegel
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