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