AFT-Wisconsin Higher Ed Council
Statement on Shared Governance
Shared governance is the set of practices outlined in WI Chapter 36.09 under which faculty, staff,
and students in the UW System participate in significant decisions concerning the operation of their
institutions. At a recent meeting between the UW Board of Regents and state legislators, Assembly
Speaker Robin Vos declared that changes to shared governance practices were a matter of “when,
not if.” To make clear what kind of changes legislators intend, Vos asserted that faculty
participation in decision-making “hurt[s] the system” and that university chancellors must “truly be
the chief executive officers.” Having already stripped faculty of collective bargaining rights,
legislators are now going after their only other means of exercising a democratic voice on campus.
This assault on shared governance is wrong for the UW System and the people of Wisconsin.
Wisconsin's shared governance practices have been central in building the UW schools into a
world-class educational system. Broad participation of faculty, staff, and students in decisionmaking serves to invest them in the success of their colleges and universities and thereby enhance
their commitment and productivity. Furthermore, robust shared governance is essential to
maintain high educational quality while reducing college costs; to provide checks and balances for
greater administrative accountability; to preserve the academic integrity of the UW System; to
prevent the pressures of commercialization from distorting its educational mission or eroding
standards and quality; and to uphold the ideals of academic freedom and democratic practice.
Therefore, rather than allowing shared governance statutes to be weakened, legislators should
protect the existing body of shared governance law. In addition, legislators should vigorously
support the efforts of faculty, staff, and students to fully exercise their shared governance rights in
the face of all efforts to undermine them. Consistent with the original aims of WI Chapter 36.09 and
subsequent judicial decisions, we call on the state legislature and Governor to guarantee all
university employees and students a voice in decision-making in a manner appropriate to their
institutional functions and responsibility. High quality education at low cost is the responsibility of
all UW employees and students.