UW System President Rothman Refuses to Resign

The University of Wisconsin system's president, Jay Rothman, is refusing to resign amid a surprise push by the board of regents to remove him from the position he has held since 2022, according to letters he sent to board members last week. The effort, which caught university and state officials off guard, centers on the board's stated loss of confidence in Rothman's leadership, though no specific reasons have been provided publicly.

Rothman detailed the situation in a March 26 letter to board president Amy Bogost, recounting a meeting where he was informed that a majority of the 18-member board wanted him to leave. He wrote that when he requested explanations, Bogost replied that each regent had their own perspective but offered no tangible reasons. "Since to date you have not provided any substantive reason or reasons for the Board's finding of no confidence in my leadership, I am not prepared, as a matter of principle, to submit my resignation," Rothman stated. In a separate April 1 letter to two other regents, he echoed the complaint, noting they also declined to elaborate and that the board had denied his request for a discussion session.