In March 2025, the University of Wisconsin announced that over the summer it would work to move individuals who work in human resources, finance and research administration out of their individual departments. These individuals will be moved into new administrative regional teams which will serve all units within the College of Letters & Science, according to The Cap Times.
Eric Wilcots, the Dean of the College of Letters & Science, laid out the plan in Fall 2024 and acknowledged that it would be a significant change for the university. He believes the plan will ensure departmental operations will not cease in the case of staff leave or vacancy, according to The Cap Times. There is also an expectation that this major shakeup will open the door for improved access to career advancements, training and professional development.
But there has been significant pushback from campus labor organizations. In January, a letter was sent from union leaders to Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin, encouraging the university to reevaluate the administrative changes that it was planning to make. According to The Cap Times, the letter called for the university to have a conversation about the plan with faculty and students so the community could have its voice heard.
According to administrators, no one will lose their job during this transition, but leaders at UW do not expect to save money in the foreseeable future from the restructure. The purpose of the restructure is to help increase satisfaction of administrative services on UW’s campus and to help reduce process times and errors, UW spokesperson John Lucas told The Cap Times.
The puzzling part of the restructure is that satisfaction with administrative quality increased from 2022 to 2024, according to a university survey. It used a 1 through 5 scale, with 5 being most satisfied and 1 being least satisfied. In 2022, the average satisfaction rating was a 3.81, and in 2024 it moved up to a 3.9.
The satisfaction for all administrative activities including finance, HR, IT, communications and general administration all increased from 2022 to 2024. The only administrative activities that did not have their satisfaction rating increase were research administration and facilities, which stayed the exact same at 3.87.
Severing employees from their departments when they are doing great work and increasing satisfaction is pointless. Unless the university is able to demonstrate guaranteed positive changes which offset the negative effects of restructuring, there is no real reason to carry out this mass restructure operation.
Not only is this plan questionable to begin with, but it is also being carried out during one of the most difficult moments in higher education in recent history.
Higher education has gone through quite a shake up since the Trump administration came back into office. According to NPR, schools have lost hundreds of millions in funds, prominent student activists have been detained, according to AP News, and The New York Times reported administrative officials such as Columbia University’s former president, Katrina Armstrong resigning or stepping down.
Prominent universities such as the University of Pennsylvania and Columbia University lost $175 million and $400 million respectively for not initially adhering to the demands of the Trump administration. But after adhering to administration demands, Columbia has regained some of that money back, according to The New York Times.
UW also faces significant uncertainty in terms of federal funding cuts. On March 10, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights sent UW a warning letter. According to Fox 6, the Department of Education told UW that if it did not fulfill obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus, it would face potential consequences like losing out on federal grants and contracts.
Some prospective UW graduate students have already had their financial offers changed due to the uncertainty over federal funding for the university, according to Wisconsin Public Radio. Even students who were previously accepted to programs are losing their spots or losing funding opportunities due to this instability.
With UW on the brink of potentially losing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of federal funds, right now hardly seems like the time to undergo a major restructuring of the administration. The university should be focusing on ensuring its students are taken care of and should not rescind opportunities from students who have worked incredibly hard to get where they are.
If UW wants to restructure the administrative system they have every right to do so. But based on their survey, results suggest the current system is not only working well, but the satisfaction rate of the system is also increasing.
Right now, the university should focus on stabilizing its financial situation and graduate programs. Then, if they still deem it necessary to restructure the administration, they should take tips and advice directly from the employees as to how to properly restructure. This will ensure the restructuring is beneficial to the employees and the university, not just for the sake of increased efficiency.
