By Virginia Zignego

College Writer

The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents met Thursday and Friday and voted to ease credit transfer from the technical college system. They also voted to sell a Tyson Foods bond in support of the striking workers at its Jefferson County plant.

The board’s Education Committee approved a plan to make the transfer of credits between the UW System colleges and the Wisconsin Technical College System easier. Technical-college-system students can now transfer up to 72 credits to UW campuses at Madison, Milwaukee or Nicolet. The transfer requires faculty approval at the particular college to which the student is transferring.

In addition, the board’s Business and Finance Committee voted to sell off a bond from Tyson Foods worth $200,000 and ban further investments in the company. UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee had recently decided to not use Tyson’s products on the respective campuses. Tyson Foods has been involved in a labor-strike dispute for the past 10 months.

“The board wouldn’t have done this if university campuses hadn’t already acted on valid issues that were raised,” Regent Vice President David Walsh said. “But don’t read too much into it; we’re not going to check out every other company UW has dealings with. This is not precedent for further actions.”

At the board’s annual public forum on investments in November, students from UW-Madison and UW-Milwaukee expressed their support for the campus’ actions.

“I wasn’t surprised when the committee decided to sell the bond. The messages from students who testified at the forum were pretty conclusive that this was something they supported,” Regent Beth Richlen said. “It’s good news for students who come to testify at forums; their voice is being heard.”

Both Walsh and Richlen said the regent salary-adjustment issue was not discussed at the meetings and they did not expect it to be in the future.

According to a UW System press release, the board also heard from various speakers on topics ranging from financial aid to EdVest, Wisconsin’s college savings program.

EdVest is managed by Strong Investments, which has made headlines lately with its fund-mismanagement scandal.

The board heard a proposal for a differential tuition program at UW-Platteville. Under the proposal, students from Illinois and Iowa who enroll in engineering or other fields would pay a lower tuition rate, although still more than in-state tuition.

The release also states that the board heard from several regents and university officials who expressed concern that the number of financially needy students has declined, while the number of students from wealthy families has risen 5.7 percent in the past 10 years.

Walsh noted that as the agenda for the board will be set in three weeks, the board does not know what will be on the agenda for next semester’s meetings.

Richlen said she foresees “more discussion of long-term policies, hopefully solutions to the budget problems and possibly [the hire of] two new chancellors.”

Richlen summarized the meetings by saying, “It was one of the pretty regular meetings. The board didn’t act on a lot of stuff. And everyone knew credit transfer was going to happen.”