The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh Faculty Senate issued a statement today in opposition to Governor Scott Walker’s budget repair bill.

“This is not a true budget repair bill aimed at responsibly closing a relatively manageable gap of $173 million (or about $32 per citizen) between Wisconsin’s payments and its revenues over the coming four months,” according to the statement. “The governor’s radical proposal is designed to significantly decrease employee compensation forever by an average of amount of close to 10 percent and it needlessly guts reasonable protections for Wisconsin’s employees…”

The UW Oshkosh Faculty Senate, an independent governance body of campus, approved the statement on Feb. 15.

The Wisconsin Legislature is expected to consider the budget repair bill this week. State budget committees began hearing testimony Feb. 15.

The current proposal aims to close a more-than $130 million deficit in the current fiscal year and also address a larger budget deficit expected in the next biennium.

• Read the complete UWO Faculty Senate Statement.
• To access the UWO Faculty Senate homepage.