MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Leaders on the board that oversees the Universities of Wisconsin rebuffed the fired system president\u2019s claim that he was \u201cblindsided\u201d by their decision to oust him, telling lawmakers Thursday that he was slow to address pressing issues like artificial intelligence and feared upsetting policymakers, faculty and staff.
Members of the board of regents had said little publicly until Thursday about the surprise dismissal Tuesday of Jay Rothman as head of the 165,000-student university system. Regents voted unanimously with no public discussion to fire Rothman after a closed-door meeting.
Rothman told The Associated Press in an interview on Wednesday that he was kept in the dark about why he was being fired and his dismissal \u201cblindsided\u201d him.
But two regents who testified at a state Senate committee hearing on Thursday said Rothman knew more than he is letting on. They also said there were \u201csubstantial\u201d reasons for his being fired, and Rothman was aware of them.
\u201cThat decision was not made lightly,\u201d Regent President Amy Bogost said. \u201cIt was not political. It was not retaliatory. It was unanimous. ... We made a difficult decision for the right reasons, and I firmly stand by it.\u201d
Republican lawmakers upset over Rothman\u2019s surprise firing called the public hearing to question regents about the reasons behind the move.
Rothman lacked urgency to address critical issues like AI, was not fully aligned with the board, tried to limit public board discussions and open records, limited board members\u2019 interactions with lawmakers and took credit for accomplishments that were part of a \u201cmassive team effort,\u201d Regent Timothy Nixon said.
Nixon also said he has been pushing for the UW system to justify why it has 579 employees, something he said Rothman did not address.
Rothman \u201cdoesn\u2019t want to upset either the Legislature, the governor or the faculty or anybody else,\u201d Nixon testified. \u201cHe didn\u2019t want to upset the apple cart and, quite frankly, I think the apple cart needs some upsetting.\u201d
Regents also told lawmakers that Rothman could waive his right to confidentiality over personnel decisions if he chose, but he knows that means board members could share more than they can now. Instead, Rothman is using that confidentiality as a shield to craft a narrative \u201cthat is deliberately one-sided\u201d and harming the university, Bogost said.
\u201cThat is not a search for truth,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is strategy. ... To do the media circuit that he\u2019s on denigrates our great universities, and that makes me sad.\u201d
Nixon said the way Rothman\u2019s departure was handled, including the rejected offer that he retire or resign, is similar to what is done for CEOs of large corporations.
\u201cThis is no different than moving on to a new quarterback, no matter what you thought of the previous quarterback and what they did,\u201d Nixon said.
