Vos, Republicans expected to cut $32 million from diversity programs in UW System

MADISON, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Republicans in the statehouse are planning to cut tens of millions of dollars from the University of Wisconsin System in order to end diversity and inclusion programs.

The decision by Assembly Speaker Robin Vos will be carried out by the state's Joint Finance Committee.

Governor Evers and other Democrats slammed the decision, saying it will continue a chain reaction of negative consequences that will further harm the state.

Democratic State Sen. Chris Larson of Milwaukee said, "It's going to have a long-lasting scar on the future of the workforce of the state of Wisconsin, unfortunately."

Larson called potential cuts in funding for the UW System devastating, after Vos told the Associated Press Tuesday he wants to cut all funding that would be used for diversity initiatives.

Vos told the AP, "I want the university to grow and succeed, but if they are obsessed with spending all the scarce dollars that they have on programs that are clearly divisive and offer little public good, I don't know why we'd want to support that."

Democrats quickly slammed Vos, and the plan.

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is the system's most diverse campus. It's in Senator Larson's district. He said, "Robin Vos is more interested in leveling some strange political scores based off of what's happening in right-wing media than actually responding to what the world is right now. Which is diverse."

Democratic State Sen. Kelda Roys of Madison said, "It's clear he's got a personal vendetta against UW."

UW Madison is in Roys' district. She said, "I don't think we should be cutting the budget of our institutions of higher ed when we have a huge workforce shortage and we need to be getting more workers into the economy."

Governor Tony Evers said the cuts would be short-sighted and disastrous.

In a statement, he said, "Make no mistake, Speaker Vos and Republicans' short-sighted move to gut our UW System by tens of millions of dollars is about one thing—Republicans' decade-long war on higher education institutions in our state."

The statement continued to say the cuts "will only hurt our kids, our state's economy, and our state's workforce in the process."

In response to threats of budget cuts, the UW System president has floated the idea of tuition hikes for all undergraduates.

Larson said, "We're starting to lose one of those pillars that really holds up Wisconsin above other states."

A spokesperson for the UW System said they would wait to comment until after the committee took action.