The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents fired President Jay Rothman during a meeting Tuesday evening during which they neither took public comment nor gave a reason for Rothman’s dismissal.
In a surprising and sudden move, the University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents voted unanimously 17-0 Tuesday to fire system President Jay Rothman.
The board convened a special meeting via Zoom at 5 p.m. and entered closed session to discuss terminating Rothman’s employment before reconvening in open session for the vote, according to the meeting notice released the previous day.
Rothman, who has led the 25-campus system serving approximately 165,000 students since January 2022, refused the board’s request that he resign or retire. In letters sent to regents in late March and early April, he said he had been informed that a majority of board members had lost confidence in his leadership but was given no substantive reasons.
“Since to date you have not provided any substantive reason or reasons for the Board’s finding of no confidence in my leadership, I am not prepared, as a matter of principle, to submit my resignation,” Rothman wrote in a March 26 letter to Board President Amy Bogost.
In the letters, Rothman outlined his record. He said he secured the largest state operating budget increase for the system in two decades, eliminated financial deficits at campuses ahead of schedule, closed several two-year branch campuses, and launched a direct admissions program for Wisconsin high school students. He also cited fundraising for buildings and facilities, expansions of financial aid and mental health resources for students, and new flexible credit-transfer options.
Rothman, 62, previously served as chairman and CEO of the Milwaukee law firm Foley & Lardner and had no prior higher education administration experience when the regents hired him.
The board first discussed personnel matters in a closed emergency meeting on April 1. Rothman said in a follow-up letter dated April 1 that two regents told him during a meeting that if he did not resign, the board was prepared to act quickly to terminate his employment. The board’s preferred timeline for his departure had been the end of 2026, he wrote.
During Rothman’s tenure the system closed multiple branch campuses amid declining enrollment. It also reached a 2023 compromise with Republican lawmakers that limited the use of diversity, equity and inclusion statements in faculty and staff hiring to unlock millions in withheld state funding. Rothman had previously indicated he might resign if that agreement failed.
State Rep. David Murphy, R-Green Bay, chairman of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities, said the process raised concerns.
“This lack of transparency is unacceptable,” Murphy said. “President Rothman deserves to know exactly why the Board has lost confidence in his leadership.”
The board has not released a public explanation for the termination. Under Wisconsin law, the system president serves at the pleasure of the regents and can be removed without cause or appeal rights.
No successor was named Tuesday. Rothman did not immediately comment after the vote.
Just before the Regents’ special meeting, in a move to put pressure on the board to save Rothman’s job, the Senate Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges, chaired by Sen. Rob Hutton (R-Brookfield) noticed issued a hearing for Thursday, April 9. According to the agenda published, the committee is to consider the appointments of 10 regents whose nominations by Gov. Tony Evers have not yet been confirmed by the Senate.
The question now is – will Senate Republicans vote down, or essentially fire, Gov. Evers’ nominees who just fired Rothman?
Sen. Hutton released a statement after the firing. “Instead of focusing on major structural and curriculum reforms throughout the entire system, the Regents seem determined to stray into back room maneuvering that further diminishes the reputation of the UW brand and undermines its long-term mission of preparing our students for an ever-changing marketplace.”
