The University of Wisconsin, Madison, part of the UW System, which on Tuesday fired its president Jay Rothman.gettyThe University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents fired UW President Jay Rothman on Tuesday. The unanimous vote to remove Rothman took place during a brief closed session of the board and brought to a close a dispute that broke out in public late last week when Rothman refused to resign after he said the regents had given him the ultimatum of resigning or being fired. The Board did not offer a specific explanation as to why they were ousting Rothman. It did, however, issue a statement after the meeting that said, in part it was “grateful for President Rothman’s service and recognizes the meaningful work undertaken during his tenure,” and it lauded his accomplishments — “under his leadership, the Universities of Wisconsin took important and often difficult steps to address longstanding structural deficits, putting individual universities on sounder financial footing for the future.”However, despite those and other achievements, the statement continued, “based on the annual performance review and subsequent discussions, the Board has lost confidence in President Rothman’s ability to lead the UWs moving forward.”Rothman’s firing takes effect immediately. Universities of Wisconsin Vice President for University Relations Chris Patton will serve as Acting Executive-in-Charge prior to the board selecting an interim president.Last week, Rothman had taken the unusual step of writing two letters to the board, protesting what he said was its pressure on him to resign. He claimed that he was given no reason for the threat to fire him, and he refused to step down, writing that he found the “process to be nearly (if not completely) indefensible.”MORE FOR YOUBut on Monday, Board Chair Amy B. Bogost responded with her own letter denying that Rothman was unaware of the ongoing evaluation. “The Board President is tasked to conduct an annual performance review of the System President. The Board President met with a wide variety of individuals and stakeholders including, Regents, Chancellors and other members of the Universities of Wisconsin communities,” she wrote. She added that the board had shared the results of that review with Rothman, including “multiple meetings with the full Board of Regents, including direct conversations and clear feedback regarding leadership expectations. President Rothman was not without notice, nor was this process sudden. The Board has engaged with President Rothman in good-faith discussions over the past several months.”Rothman had been president of the UW System since 2022. Prior to that he was the chairman and CEO of the Milwaukee law firm Foley & Lardner. In a statement cited by the Wisconsin Examiner that he released before the Board of Regents’ vote, Rothman maintained that the board would not give him a specific reason for losing confidence in his leadership.“It is disappointing that the first I heard any sort of defense of their position was when they communicated with the media. I am left to conclude that, at best, this reflects an after-the-fact rationalization of a decision that was previously made,” Rothman said. “At no point in the last six months was it ever indicated to me that an evaluation could lead to termination and, in fact, the most recent evaluation delivered to me by Regent President Bogost was noted by her as being ‘overwhelmingly positive.’”In the absence of further details, the decision to fire Rothman has taken on a distinct politically partisan tone. Republican lawmakers criticized the board and its process for terminating Rothman, and some called for the firing of the regents as well as vowing to reject those regents who had not yet been confirmed by the legislature. “Make no mistake about it, the firing of UW President Rothman is a blatant partisan hatchet job. Despite his efforts to enact meaningful reforms to move our world-class institutions forward, members of the Board of Regents apparently believe President Rothman should be punished for not being liberal enough,” State Senator Patrick Testin posted on his X account.Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who has appointed almost all of the members of UW Board of Regents. did not say whether he thought Rothman should should have been fired, maintaining that it was the board’s call. The union representing UW faculty said it supported the board’s efforts to “hold (Rothman) accountable for his performance.” “President Rothman’s tenure has been defined by his unwillingness to listen to the stakeholders that truly define our campuses: on everything from our faculty, staff, and students’ commitments to diversity, equity, and inclusion to UW System Administration’s disastrous efforts to impose a general education curriculum on our campuses,” AFT-Wisconsin President Jon Shelton said in a statement last week.Rothman’s tenure as system president has been marked by a number of controversies. Several of the system’s branch campuses have closed during his term because of enrollment declines and financial struggles. And he upset at least some of the regents when he agreed to roll back diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts at the university as part of a budget deal he brokered with Republican legislators in 2024.