AB 814

This bill modifies statutory provisions relating to shared governance at

University of Wisconsin System institutions to restore these provisions to their form

just prior to enactment of the 2015 biennial budget act, Act 55.

Current law, after Act 55, specifies the division of responsibilities at UW

System institutions as follows: 1) the chancellors are the executive heads and are

vested with the responsibility of administering the policies of the Board of Regents

and, in consultation with the faculty, carrying out other policy-related

responsibilities such as designing curricula, setting degree requirements,

determining academic standards, establishing standards for faculty appointment

and promotion, and administering institutional funds; 2) the faculty of each

institution has the primary responsibility for advising the chancellor regarding

academic and educational activities and faculty personnel matters; 3) the academic

staff of each institution has the primary responsibility for advising the chancellor

regarding the formulation and review, and must be represented in the development,

of policies and procedures concerning academic staff, including academic staff

personnel matters; and 4) the students of each institution have primary

responsibility for advising the chancellor regarding the formulation and review of

policies concerning student life, services, and interests. However, this authority of

the faculty, academic staff, and students is subordinate to the authority of the Board

of Regents, the UW System president, and the chancellor, and the authority of the

academic staff and students is further subordinate to the authority of the faculty.

Although faculty have the right to determine their own organizational structure and

to select their representatives in institutional governance, they must ensure that

faculty in academic disciplines related to science, technology, engineering, and

mathematics, STEM, are adequately represented in the faculty organizational

structure.

Before Act 55, the division of responsibilities applicable to faculty, academic

staff, and students at UW System institutions was characterized as follows: 1) the

faculty was vested with responsibility for the immediate governance of the

institution and had to actively participate in institutional policy development, and

as such had the primary responsibility for academic and educational activities and

faculty personnel matters; 2) the academic staff had to be active participants in the

immediate governance of and policy development for the institution and had the

primary responsibility for the formulation and review, and had to be represented in

the development, of all policies and procedures concerning academic staff members,

including academic staff personnel matters; and 3) the students had to be active

participants in the immediate governance of and policy development for the

institution and, as such, had primary responsibility for the formulation and review

of policies concerning student life, services and interests. However, these

responsibilities of the faculty, academic staff, and students were subject to the