Address centers diversity, equity, inclusion initiatives, funding challenges
University of Wisconsin Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin delivered the State of the University address Monday afternoon at the first Faculty Senate meeting of the 2023-24 school year in Bascom Hall.
In her address, Mnookin highlighted the university’s successes while recognizing ongoing challenges. She also shared some concrete initiatives of her administration.
“We want to do new things, create new knowledge across so many disciplines, and we want to do it to help make this state and the world a better place,” Mnookin said.
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Mnookin spoke about difficulties the university is facing, emphasizing UW System budget cuts by the Wisconsin State Legislature and attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Mnookin specifically referenced the United States Supreme Court decision earlier this year which reversed affirmative action, ending race-conscious admission programs.
The Republican-led legislature also cut the UW System budget by $32 million this summer, leaving the system roughly half a billion dollars short of their funding request. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos sought this cut to eliminate DEI positions across the UW system, according to The Badger Herald.
“The state budget results are certainly disappointing for anyone who cares about higher education and our incredibly important goal in keeping the state strong and healthy,” Mnookin said. “This is our 175th year — we started the same year that this state was created, and our strength and this state’s clearly go hand in glove. To face a modest budget cut in a time of plenty and at a moment when the national dialogue around higher education is critical, is perhaps not shocking, but nonetheless disappointing.”
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The UW System’s number one budget priority was a new College of Engineering building. The state legislature rejected this priority even though the building has the strongest support UW has ever had from the industry for any building project in recent years, Mnookin said.
The university currently has $110 million committed for the project, but this money will not stick around, according to Mnookin. It will be divvied up among other projects if the legislature doesn’t provide their share of the monetary support the university needs for the building, wasting the strength of the private support the university currency has for this project, Mnookin said.
In regards to campus DEI efforts, Mnookin said UW leaders have been engaging in constructive discussions with the Black Power Coalition. The Coalition was created after a racist video from a UW student circulated last spring.
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Mnookin has appointed an ad hoc working group on Black inclusion, with not only campus but wider community input, she said. The group is tasked with assessing past inclusion efforts and potential initiatives to make campus more inclusive, with a particular focus on the experiences of Black students, according to UW News.
“There’s an extraordinary amount of evidence to support the idea that diversity on campuses like ours supports excellence,” Mnookin said. “That inclusive excellence is something that needs to remain and be a very important shared goal as we work to create a culture of belonging for all.”
Mnookin’s concluding thoughts focused on UW’s purpose moving forward, referencing the Wisconsin Idea and how it has guided the university over 175 years.
