Ray Cross says he'll resign if UW budget cuts, loss of shared governance maintained by Legislature - Dan Simmons, Wisconsin State Journa

In early January, University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross wrote to UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Mark Mone that the coming fight over Gov. Scott Walker’s proposal to slash System funding and spin it off from state control — then known only to the highest-level UW officials and some high-ranking lawmakers — would be bruising but necessary. “This will not be easy and we will get consider(able) push back from our faculty and staff,” Cross wrote to Mone on Jan. 6 in an email obtained by the State Journal. “However, this is something we might not get a shot at for another 20-30 years.” Wednesday, the early warning proved prophetic. Cross, facing withering criticism, told a UW-Milwaukee gathering of employees and students that he’d resign if he can’t substantially reduce the $300 million cut and preserve cherished employee protections including shared governance, tenure and academic freedom. http://host.madison.com/news/local/education/on_campus/ray-cross-says-he-ll-resign-if-uw-budget-cuts/article_8700af0f-1953-5d7f-861b-b58650d58dd7.html