The University of Wisconsin Faculty Senate will consider a resolution to formally oppose Provost Paul DeLuca Jr.’s plan to significantly restructure the graduate school and research enterprise, according to a document obtained by The Badger Herald.

The resolution — to be presented to the Faculty Senate at its Nov. 2 meeting — surfaced one day after Chancellor Biddy Martin publicly expressed adamant support for the proposal in a letter addressed to all faculty, staff and students.

As it stands, the proposal would create a new position of vice chancellor for research, splitting roles currently performed by the dean of the graduate school.

Administrators have justified the proposal as a response to several serious safety and compliance violations in recent years that have threatened the continued success of the research enterprise.

“The proposal for reorganization arises in response to … a number of safety and compliance problems that have led to investigations and fines by major federal funding agencies and have required crisis-like efforts on the part of the university administration to avoid harsher sanctions,” Martin said in the letter.

In particular, UW’s animal care and use operations narrowly avoided losing accreditation after a series of three site visits by the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care put the university on increasingly severe probations, DeLuca said.

“It took me six months of extraordinary work and a $10 million investment from [the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation] to get the facilities to a point where we thought we had a possibility of getting AAALAC accredited,” DeLuca said.

He added there is at least $250 million per year in grants that use animals, which would have been lost with the accreditation.

Additionally, DeLuca said UW got to a point last semester where the institution lacked approval for 295 biological safety protocols, which are required for every biological experiment.

UW only survived a National Institutes of Health review by spending at least $250,000 to hire an outside consulting firm to come in and help manage the protocols.

Despite such instances, professor William Tracy, chair of the Faculty Senate’s University Committee, said he does not see a connection between the problems cited and solutions being proposed.

He added he is aware of at least one case that has been referenced for which a single faculty member was solely responsible.

Tracy added he believes UW’s bottom-up organization of the research enterprise is likely the basis for its continued success, as it empowers researchers to pursue projects without restrictive oversight.

In the past 20 years, UW has ranked in the top five nationally recognized research universities.

DeLuca first presented the proposal to the University Committee in mid-July, asking them to keep it to themselves.

After deliberation, the University Committee decided it was not in favor of the proposal and wrote DeLuca a strong letter saying so. Continued discussion with the provost proved unproductive when he proceeded with the original plan, Tracy said.

Due to widespread faculty apprehension about the proposal, the process has been slowed to increase the roll of Shared Governance, according to Martin’s letter.

Several committees have been established to review the proposal and make recommendations, including a faculty ad hoc committee, as well as a committee appointed by the Academic Staff Executive Committee.

“Should the deliberations of these committees take significantly longer than currently anticipated, we may well have to take interim steps — short of complete reorganization — to address some of the most compelling problems,” Martin said in the letter.

The final decision to move ahead with implementation of the proposal can be executively made by the chancellor, according to DeLuca.

But the resolution argues that because the administration’s proposal was developed without any input from Shared Governance bodies, it clearly “contravenes” Chapter 36 of Wisconsin state statutes and Faculty Policies and Procedures, which define the role and responsibilities of the faculty as part of the institution.

“[DeLuca] has provided no data or analysis in support of the graduate school reorganization plan even though faculty has consistently requested that information and justification at town hall meetings and in other discussions,” the resolution said.

DeLuca was not available for comment late Thursday to discuss the Faculty Senate resolution.