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MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The University of Wisconsin requested that Gov. Scott Walker remove a requirement that all 26 campuses report allegations of sexual assaults to the state every year because it already submits similar information to the federal government, a UW spokesman said Friday.
The proposal to delete the annual reports to the state Department of Justice is among dozens of requirements that would be removed as part of Walker's plan to decouple the university from most state laws and state oversight. Though the budget proposal came out earlier this month, the sex assault request was explained in a summary released Thursday by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau.
UW System spokesman Alex Hummel said Friday that the university requested the change because information given to the state is duplicative of data required to be reported to the U.S. Department of Education under federal law. The university also posts the information on its website.
The governor's plan also calls for cutting out information about sexual assaults from orientation programs for new and existing UW students at all campuses, as well as removing the requirement that any employee who witnesses an assault or is told by a student that they've been assaulted report that information to the dean of students.
"Student education and mandatory reporting are important practices also built in, and those practices are going to continue on our campuses," Hummel said in an email. "We are not lessening our commitment here or at our institutions one iota."
Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick said protecting victims of domestic violence and sexual assault remains a top priority for the governor.
Walker, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, wants to move the UW system to a public authority model starting on July 1, 2016, something university leaders have wanted for years. Under that structure, the Board of Regents would set nearly all the policies — including sexual assault reporting — that are currently mandated under state law.
University leaders have said it will take months to sort out how the system will govern itself should all of Walker's changes be enacted, but regents and others have talked about retaining long-held policies related to tenure and how the campuses are governed.
Some lawmakers have expressed reservations about giving UW so much freedom, particularly over tuition rates, which would be handed over to regents after the 2016-2017 school year. Walker's budget, as explained by the Fiscal Bureau summary, would also delete requirements that the regents fund certain programs and grants targeting minority and disadvantaged students, distinguished professorships and chairs and eliminates sabbatical leave for faculty.
While there are numerous deletions, Walker would retain a number of other requirements, such as prohibiting student discrimination, requiring that segregated fees only be used for the purposes they were collected and mandating policies to accommodate a student's religious beliefs.
Much of the debate so far has focused not on how UW will govern itself but instead Walker's proposed $300 million cut — which is 13 percent of state support for UW, but only 2.5 percent of its total budget.
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