On Monday, the University of Wisconsin’s Faculty Senate voted to accept the University Council’s proposal for the Human Resources Design plan. Their approval allows the redesign plan to move forward to other governing bodies, including the Board of Regents.

The redesign process with the new HR Design plan will address human resource issues of compensation, hierarchy, categorization and diversity at UW. The university was granted the right to submit a new plan following changes in the state budget that allow for greater flexibility on behalf of the campus.

The Faculty Senate had originally voted to postpone the motion to accept the HR Design plan in its November meeting. The body decided to withhold its decision on the plan, citing concerns with the lack of detail for a variety of issues present in the proposal.

In the month leading up to the organization’s December meeting, changes were made to the plan regarding balance and compensation, shared governance and training.

In a meeting earlier this week, the Faculty Senate also voted against an amendment proposed by Noah Feinstein, UW assistant professor of community and environmental sociology, which addressed problems with shared governance and the role of the faculty in decision power.

Interim Chancellor David Ward addressed shared governance concerns at the last meeting. Ward said he hoped to have the trust of the Faculty Senate in their judgment and would wish that issues of content would be discussed and others like governance would be handled separately.

If the HR Design plan is approved by the Board of Regents, it will move forward to planning and will be implemented starting July 1.