Wisconsin University System President Compares Professors To Railroad Brakemen

Ray Cross, Wisconsin's University System President, compared tenured professors to "railroad brakemen" in an email obtained by The Cap Times. The tone and language don't endear Cross to his critics.

Wisconsin University System President Compares Professors to Railroad Brakemen

WikiMedia

Ray Cross, president of the University of Wisconsin System, wrote an email saying that tenure should not be a "job for life."

Cross compared faculty members to railroad brakemen who were kept working years after they were no longer needed.

The email provides insight into Cross's role in helping to shape the new layoff policies that concern faculty members. The email was obtained by The Cap Times as Cross and the board face a tsunami of no-confidence votes as faculty across Wisconsin fight the new policies.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker supported Cross in a statement saying, "The bottom line is funding stands at an all-time high."

Cross claimed in his email that tenure was designed to protect freedom of speech and the right to pursue truth and was not a "guarantor of a job for life."

Several system professors told The Cap Times that Cross's email confirmed their suspicions about his stance on tenure. Richard Grusin, an English professor at Milwaukee, said it "makes it clear that Cross sees being able to fire tenured faculty as the real value of removing tenure from state regulations."

No Confidence Votes

Faculty at three University of Wisconsin campuses held no-confidence votes regarding Cross and the system's Board of Regents. The Journal Sentinel reported the vote came about at Milwaukee, Eau Claire and Green Bay over the board's approval of systemwide layoff policies for tenured faculty.

Many affected professors said the new arrangements fall far short of the protections which were in position before the Wisconsin Legislature took tenure out of the state's statutes. They also don't measure up to the policies recommended by the American Association of University Professors.

Cross responded by releasing a statement in which he said he will work close with faculty, but that he also has to "work in partnership with state officials.

"This state is counting on us, working together, to improve the quality of life and economic prosperity."

Wisconsin attorneys are burning the midnight oil as they review employee compliance law to determine how the law may, or may not, affect the system's faculty.

Wisconsin professors do not want research limited by 18 people appointed by a governor with an apparent anti-education agenda. Hundreds of technological and social advances that are depended on have been made thanks to the research conducted by professors who felt free to work without the risk of losing their job.

If educators are not protected from disagreeing with the agenda of their "boss" — whether that is Dow Chemical or Governor Walker — the consequences go far beyond just one individual's paycheck.