The defiant president of the University of Wisconsin system has resisted calls for his resignation, risking expulsion, but he’s been given no reason for his impending termination.
Jay Rothman, the head of the public Badger State higher-education network since 2022, shot back at the board of regents last month for him to resign or retire from the post after a “unidentified majority” had lost confidence in his leadership.
The former chairman and CEO for Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner LLP rejected the board’s threat that they were “prepared to terminate my employment despite all that has been accomplished,” he said in a March 26 letter, obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
University of Wisconsin president Jay Rothman said in letters obtained by The Associated Press that he has been informed he must either resign or be fired. APRothman claimed that the board never gave him any “articulate reasons” for the perceived loss of confidence and didn’t provide explanations for its determination.
“It also appears that whatever conclusions were reached, the concerns were vetted without the benefit of any recent in-person or even virtual meeting of the entire board,” Rothman wrote.
The board held a private emergency meeting on Wednesday night to discuss personal matters, seemingly related to Rothman’s future at the helm of the 13-campus, 164,600-student institution.
“The Board is responsible for the leadership of the Universities of Wisconsin and is having discussions about its future,” Board President Amy Bogost told the outlet, declining to discuss personal issues.
Rothman has been president of the university since 2022. APBogost and Vice President Kyle Weatherly had requested to meet with Rothman in March when they dropped the news that the board was considering firing him.
“I write today to state my intentions around my future, in a respectful manner, while making clear the accomplishments that span greater strategic direction, financial stewardship, student success, support for our people, and so much more,” Rothman wrote.
“I have given my heart and soul to the mission of the University of Wisconsin since my first official day as president,” he said. “I was, therefore, surprised that, during our conversation, you indicated for the first time without prior discussion or notice that an unidentified majority of the Board of Regents has lost confidence in my leadership despite all that my team and I along with our universities have accomplished.”
Rothman issued a stern rebuke of the board, saying he was not resigning as a “matter of principle.”
“In light of the current circumstances, I do not believe my resignation at this time is in the best interests of either the University of Wisconsin or the state of Wisconsin,” he said.
After sending a second letter to the board on Wednesday, Rothman revealed the board had threatened to meet over the weekend to discuss his potential ouster further.
“I find this process to be nearly (if not completely) indefensible,” he added.
Rothman previously considered resigning in 2023 when the board rejected the Republican-controlled state house deal over the University of Wisconsin system’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts.
His ouster would create an additional vacuum in leadership in the Wisconsin education institution that already has to fill the vacancy for chancellor at the flagship Madison campus and in Eau Claire.
UW-Madison Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin is set to leave her post at the end of the spring semester to become the 30th president of New York’s scandal-plagued Columbia University.
The elite Manhattan university, which has faced intense scrutiny over its handling of hateful anti-Israel protests on the leafy Morningside Heights campus, said Mnookin was selected after an “extensive national search” that was conducted by the institution’s board of trustees and faculty.
With Post wires
