The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents met Friday for the second day of a two-day meeting to discuss the effects of financial aid cuts, increasing student success at college and the implementation of the diversity program Plan 2008.

UW System President Kevin Reilly announced to the regents that a letter was sent by Wisconsin’s Congressional Delegation to President Bush concerning the ill effects financial aid cuts would have on Wisconsin students.

Reilly said 5,500 of Wisconsin’s neediest students in public and private higher education programs are at risk of losing their Pell Grants because of Bush’s proposal to decrease the budget of the program.

Additionally, Bush’s budget proposal terminates the Perkins Loan, the Leveraging Education Partnerships Program and the Upward Bound and Talent Search programs. According to Reilly, the elimination of the Perkins Loan could translate to as many as 19,000 UW students losing more than $40 million in financial aid. The move comes as a challenge to Reilly’s own commitment to a program of student access and Wisconsin success.

“All of these programs work together to increase access,” Reilly said. “These cuts would exacerbate the growing gap between our neediest students and those who have the ability to pay.”

Also covered in the meeting, the Committee on Baccalaureate Expansion [COBE] submitted a report to both Reilly and Dan Clancy, president of the Wisconsin Technical College System, suggesting 13 strategies aimed at increasing student success and the quality of education within the UW System.

“Ultimately, by increasing the number of bachelor’s degree holders in this state, we will see an increase in the average per capita income and an improved overall economy for Wisconsin,” Reilly said.

Regents also discussed the implementation of Plan 2008: Educational Quality Through Racial and Ethnic Diversity, a statewide diversity initiative that was implemented in 1998. Universities are reaching their second phase for the plan, and the regents were asked to approve initiatives aimed at closing the achievement gap existing between students of color and white students.

Regents passed a resolution adopting a system-wide diversity accountability report card with measurable goals that will track the progress made by University of Wisconsin System administration and the institutions, according to a release.

The resolution also calls for a system-wide Diversity Award, a refocus of the evaluation of chancellors’ work on diversity initiatives and a description of the accountability process.

Regents are expecting a finalized set of plans in March from campuses charting the course they will take to reach diversity goals.

Regents also honored two members of the UW System administration leaving their posts. Senior Vice President for Administration David Olien’s and Vice President for University Relations Linda Weimer’s posts have been eliminated and combined as the new executive vice president position recently filled by UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Donald Mash.

“I view education as the most important subject we as people can be engaged in,” Olien said.

Weimer added working with students was one of the rewarding aspects of her tenure.

“We are in the dream-realization business,” she said. “We can make a difference.”

Regents also appointed Donald Betz as the new chancellor for UW-River Falls, approved a revision to include gender identity or expression in the UW System nondiscrimination policy and authorized the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center to lease space from the University Research Park.