A Senate committee has delayed a vote on 10 nominees to the Board of Regents after Regent President Amy Bogost and a fellow regent provided more insight into the firing of former UW President Jay Rothman. 

Bogost testified at the Senate Universities and Technical Colleges Committee hearing yesterday alongside Regent Timothy Nixon ahead of a planned vote on Gov. Tony Evers’ unconfirmed appointees. The hearing came after the Board of Regents unanimously voted to fire Rothman on Tuesday, drawing criticism from Republicans. 

Bogost and Nixon praised Rothman for his work on the state budget and getting a 2023 diversity, equity and inclusion deal with the Legislature across the finish line. But they also raised concerns about Rothman’s “command and control” management style and his leadership stifling the universities’ ability to innovate. 

Bogost said Rothman would have to waive confidentiality if lawmakers want to learn more about the reasoning behind his termination. She charged Rothman with launching a public campaign for his job that’s harmed the very institutions he claims to support. 

“Every day spent relitigating this decision to the media is a day that undercuts the faculty, the students and the staff and the reputation of our universities. I will let the public and this committee decide if that is a mark of true leadership,” Bogost said of the former head of the Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner law firm.

Meanwhile, Nixon said Rothman’s claim he didn’t know why he’d been fired “has all of the substance of the shadow of a starving pigeon.” He said while the “command and control” approach may have worked in the beginning, on other accomplishments Rothman was “a bit like the rooster crowing and then taking credit for the sunrise after.” 

While Bogost avoided going into specifics around Rothman’s termination due to the confidentiality issue, Nixon cited several concerns, including a lack of innovation at universities, the 579 administrative employees at UW and a lack of guidelines or guardrails on artificial intelligence. 

Nixon said Rothman had been blocking establishing an AI policy since November. Bogost also mentioned tackling AI as a key concern for the universities. 

Nixon also expressed frustration that Rothman discouraged regents from having individual conversations with legislators and relied too much on closed meetings. 

Chair Rob Hutton, R-Brookfield, had criticized the Board of Regents for firing Rothman and not being more transparent about the decision, labeling the move “secretive maneuvering.” 

Following the hearing, Hutton told reporters he decided to delay a vote on the regent appointments in order to request more information from Bogost for the committee to review, such as documentation related to concerns about Rothman and his performance. 

“So I thought it was a little bit premature to do that,” Hutton said of the planned vote. 

If the committee does move forward with the nominations, Hutton said senators will discuss within their caucus and leadership whether to come back for a floor session. The Senate adjourned for the session last month. 

Dems on the committee criticized Republicans for the hearing, which Sen. Chris Larson, D-Milwaukee, said was called to “drag a few appointments in front of us to score political points.”

In a statement released during yesterday’s hearing, Evers defended Rothman’s firing and said GOP lawmakers “should resist their temptation to turn this into a political conversation, because it isn’t one.”