In addition to the deep cuts to UW System funding, Gov. Scott Walker's proposed budget deletes the requirement for University of Wisconsin System schools to report sexual assaults on campus.
An analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau released Thursday revealed that under Walker's plan, the UW System Board of Regents would no longer submit its annual report on sexual assault to the state Legislature.
The budget also removes the state requirement for UW System employees who witness a sexual assault on campus or receive a report from a student to report the crime to the dean of students, as well as the requirement for each UW System institution to report statistics on sexual assaults annually to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
The news was first reported by Jezebel Friday morning, with reporter Natasha Vargas-Cooper calling the statutory change a "non-fiscal bombshell" and depicting Walker a "conservative werewolf."
But Walker spokeswoman Laurel Patrick says the change came at the request of UW System officials, who already report sexual assault information under federal requirements.
"State statute changes were required to give UW System full authority status and the UW System requested the deletion of provisions of duplicative reporting requirements as part of the move to the authority," Patrick says in an email. "In this case, UW System requested this report requirement be removed because there is already a federal reporting requirement related to sexual assault and harassment on campuses."
UW System spokesman Alex Hummel writes in an email that the state statutory changes "in no way lessen our commitment" to reporting sexual assaults on campus. Instead, the change allows the UW System to focus on one report.
"Many requirements proposed for removal from state statutes are duplicative of federal requirements and reporting standards we comply with and are deeply committed to, such as those within the Clery Act and Title IX," he says. "The related practices, services and values are embedded within our institutions."
Ian Henderson, director of legal and system services for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, says removing the UW System's state reporting requirements "sends the wrong message."
"Having a state report is a way for the average citizen to find out what's going on on UW System campuses," he says. "Rather than eliminating the report, we would like to see an effort to strengthen it."
Walker's proposed budget includes a number of deletions relating to 33 current law provisions that "require or permit the Board of Regents to take a specific action." In addition to the sexual assault reporting procedure, the budget would remove the assurance of shared governance, minority and disadvantaged student programs, required research and public service programs and restrictions on the use and allocation of state funding. "In most cases, the UW System Authority Board of Regents would have the authority to take the actions described," the LFB analysis reads, "although the Board would no longer be specifically required or authorized to do so by law."
