Chancellor Frank:
As Vice-Chairman of the Senate Universities and Technical Colleges Committee, I was contacted by an individual affiliated with UW-STOUT sharing their concerns regarding the cost of your upcoming investiture events and a speaker participating in the “Celebration Week Events”.
First, it has been shared with me that the costs for your investiture (scheduled for October 14, 2022) and Celebration Week Events is approximately $100,000. LINK: Chancellor’s Investiture | University of Wisconsin – Stout (uwstout.edu)
I am requesting that you share with me the expected total costs and sources of funding for both your investiture and Celebration Week events being held on October 10-14, 2022.
It is my understanding that you were appointed Chancellor at UW-STOUT in 2020 and wonder why the need to have an investiture in October 2022, I am assuming a decision to not hold this event in 2021 was made due to the excessive Covid-19 policies at your campus. As you certainly know, students at UW-STOUT lost out on opportunities for all sorts of experiences at your campus during the implementation of those unnecessarily heavy-handed restrictions. As, those students have suffered harm and lost opportunities over the last two years, it seems as a matter of fairness that you as Chancellor might opt to share in those consequences by not having an investiture after such a lengthy period after your appointment.
During Celebration Week, the campus has declared Tuesday, October 11th as “Embracing Diversity Day” and announced that the keynote speaker will be Dr. Roger Kuhn of San Francisco, California. UW-STOUT describes his keynote speech this way:
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Roger Kuhn
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Great Hall – Memorial Student Center
All faculty, staff, students, and community members are invited to hear Dr. Roger Kuhn, a Poarch Creek Two-Spirit Indigequeer soma-culture sex therapist and sexuality educator who currently resides in San Francisco, CA, and Guerneville, CA.
Dr. Roger Kuhn’s website describes his work as centering on: “Soma-Cultural Psychotherapy, Sex Therapy, and Sexuality Studies.” Dr. Kuhn’s work has also been described as exploring “the concepts of decolonizing and unsettling sexuality and focuses on the way culture impacts and informs our bodily experiences.”
I am requesting that you share with me the total costs associated with Dr. Kuhn’s appearance, the source of funding for his costs, and a copy of any contracts or agreements with him relating to this event.
While I am certain that Dr. Kuhn’s views and presentation will represent a part of the campus community, I looked at the full week of events and found no other speakers during “Celebration Week” or “Embracing Diversity Day” that would truly exemplify a campus committed to diversity in its many forms. Is there a reason why your campus is not embracing a diversity of viewpoints more representative of the people of Wisconsin? Why only the focus on the most left-leaning perspectives on gender, sexuality and sexual orientation?
UW-STOUT is the only designated polytechnic university in the state, but apparently campus leaders feel the need to focus on making sure students, faculty and staff hear from a keynote speaker from San Francisco on soma-culture sex therapy.
Why the lack of speakers in this weeklong series of events more representative of the people of Wisconsin and their more traditional views on life, society, education and politics? I can assure you that most families sending their students to UW-STOUT selected that campus because it is one of the few in the UW System with a real focus on programs that will lead to a career in business and industry. I also doubt that many of those parents that helped their children select UW-STOUT are interested in the corrosive left-leaning indoctrination so invasive at nearly every campus in the UW System.
I look forward to your prompt response with the information requested in this email.
