Gov. Tony Evers announced tonight he has fired Regent Timothy Nixon over an alleged altercation with staff providing support for an official university meeting.
Evers appointed Nixon, a commercial lawyer at Godfrey & Kahn, to the Board of Regents in 2024 for a term through 2031. The state Senate hadn’t confirmed the appointment.
“It is my expectation that UW Regents I appoint behave themselves with decency and decorum, and that they treat people with dignity and respect at all times,” Evers said. “Unfortunately, today, a regent failed to uphold that basic standard.”
Reached by phone, Nixon said he served at the pleasure of the governor and would “let the governor fill in any details the governor wants to fill in.”
“I don’t feel the need to defend myself. I don’t plan on it,” Nixon said. “The governor’s made a decision and that’s fine.”
Nixon said he’d been asked to leave a public forum held this afternoon with UW-Madison chancellor finalist and current University of Connecticut President Radenka Maric.
“I don’t know about altercation. That’s an interesting word,” he said. “But no, they asked me to leave and I did.”
Evers said he will keep the appointment open to allow Gov.-elect David Crowley to appoint a replacement to fill the remainder of Nixon’s term.