The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project (AALDP) are calling on the University of Wisconsin-Madison to end its investigation into the registered student organization Animal Advocacy, arguing the university’s inquiry into flyers promoting a beagle rescue campaign violates the First Amendment.

In a June 25 letter addressed to Interim Chancellor Eric Wilcots, FIRE asserts the university is investigating the student group over constitutionally protected political speech after members distributed flyers advertising an event related to Ridglan Farms, a Wisconsin breeder of dogs for experimentation. According to the letter, university officials alleged the flyers may have encouraged criminal activity because they included a QR code linking to additional information about the campaign.

According to FIRE’s letter, Animal Advocacy members posted flyers reading, “Help Save 2,000 Beagles, Return to Ridglan Farms, April 19th, 2026,” alongside a QR code directing readers to additional information about the campaign. FIRE states the linked materials included information about a previous beagle rescue effort as well as suggestions for legal forms of advocacy, including joining the student organization, signing petitions, donating, sharing information on social media, and contacting lawmakers and regulatory agencies.

The Google document linked by the flyer stated, “On March 15th, 100 activists rescued 22 beagles from animal abuse at Ridglan Farms, a beagle breeding and experimentation center. Now, over 2,000 people have committed to returning to Ridglan Farms to rescue the remaining 2,000 beagles. Now is when we need to ACT.”

The document also included a link to a blog post by animal rights activist Wayne Hsiung. In the post, Hsiung wrote, “Rescuers will descend on Ridglan Farms from all directions and use every nonviolent means to breach the facility walls and rescue the dogs. If the police illegally attempt to stop us, we will shield one another from their attempts to hurt the dogs, and pressure them to enforce the law and protect the dogs.” Hsiung also said, “There are only around 400 deputies in Dane County (including those serving in jails and not on patrol) and 800 spaces for inmates in Dane County jails. If we can mobilize 2,000 rescuers, they can’t arrest and jail us all.”

According to FIRE’s letter, university officials informed Animal Advocacy that the organization was under investigation because the flyers allegedly “solicited others to enter Ridglan Farms and remove animals from the property” and therefore may have violated Wisconsin laws concerning solicitation to commit burglary and the unauthorized release of animals. The letter also states that an administrator warned the organization the flyers appeared to be “soliciting or encouraging individuals to participate in criminal activity.”

In an email to The Madison Federalist, FIRE Strategic Campaigns Counsel Amanda Nordstrom said the university is mischaracterizing the student organization’s advocacy. “Political speech does not lose protection simply because it discusses civil disobedience, links to an activist’s account of past events, or urges people to get involved in a contentious cause,” Nordstrom said. She added that the flyer “pointed people to information about animal welfare concerns and advocacy opportunities. That is classic political speech, not criminal solicitation.”

Nordstrom also told The Madison Federalist that “a student group’s flyer does not become punishable simply because it links to controversial material or to someone else’s description of unlawful conduct.” She added that “students have a First Amendment right to share information, criticize institutions, and direct people to outside sources about matters of public concern,” and said, “Universities cannot discipline students merely because their advocacy points readers toward controversial ideas or activists.”

When asked whether FIRE would pursue litigation if the university ultimately disciplines Animal Advocacy, Nordstrom declined to comment on potential legal action. “FIRE’s immediate goal is for UW-Madison to do the right thing: end this investigation and make clear that Animal Advocacy will not be punished for its protected expression,” she told The Federalist. “I can’t comment on the potential for litigation, but we’re exploring all our options at the moment and will keep the public apprised of any further FIRE advocacy.”

Nordstrom also argued the case reflects a broader issue affecting campus speech. In an email to The Federalist, she said, “This case fits a broader and troubling pattern: universities too often respond to impassioned political advocacy by investigating the speakers first and asking First Amendment questions later.” She added that “students should not have to wonder whether a flyer, a QR code, or a link to controversial commentary will trigger a conduct investigation. That kind of chilling effect is exactly what the First Amendment is designed to prevent.”

Animal Advocacy President Jackson Ray defended the organization’s actions in an email to The Madison Federalist. When asked why the group distributed the flyers, Ray said, “Because there were 2,000 beagles that deserved better lives.” He added that “Free speech is a foundation of activism that allows ordinary people to fight cruel and powerful institutions.”

Ray said he was not surprised but saddened that UW-Madison had chosen to investigate the organization. Responding to allegations that the flyers encouraged illegal activity, Ray said, “The First Amendment is not a gray area, we were within our rights, and we were solely advocating for political action.”

Looking ahead, Ray said he hopes the investigation leads to greater protections for student expression. In closing his response, he said, “I hope that UW-Madison chooses the right thing and we see a new university in which students’ voices are amplified not silenced.”

The AALDP also criticized the university’s investigation. In an email to The Madison Federalist, Litigation Fellow Steffen Seitz said, “The reputation of universities as bastions of dissident speech is not without basis. But it is also true that university administrations often embrace particular dissident speech only after the fact—acting repressively at the time, while embracing dissidents only after their cause has been shown to be on the right side of history.”

When asked whether his organization has seen an increase in universities disciplining student activists involved in animal rights advocacy, Seitz told The Madison Federalist that it has not. However, he said, “While we have not seen an increase in discipline against animal rights advocates on university campuses, we suspect this is because we haven’t seen many campus animal advocates organizing adjacent to direct action campaigns like the Ridglan effort. Were that to increase, it is possible—perhaps even likely—that there would also be an increase in university repression.”

The Madison Federalist contacted UW-Madison spokesperson John Lucas on June 26 seeking comment on the investigation and sent follow-up questions regarding the university’s rationale for opening the investigation, its interpretation of the First Amendment, and the status of the case. As of publication, the university had not responded.

FIRE’s June 25 letter requests that UW-Madison respond by July 9 confirming that it will end its investigation of Animal Advocacy and refrain from imposing disciplinary sanctions on the student organization.

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A study released by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) in May found that faculty donors at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and other top universities are highly concentrated on the political left.

The report “Faculty Ideology: Measuring faculty viewpoint diversity using campaign contribution data” examined more than 100,000 faculty members at 55 prominent universities, including UW-Madison. The study concluded that faculty donors have become increasingly one-sided in recent years.

It also found that UW-Madison faculty are more politically active and concentrated than a majority of other universities analyzed. “UW-Madison faculty are a bit more likely to donate than other faculty in the analysis, and they are less ideologically diverse than many of the schools in the sample,” said author David Primo in an email to The Madison Federalist. Primo is a professor of political science and business administration at the University of Rochester.

UW-Madison ranked near the middle of the schools analyzed regarding the level of ideological diversity found among university faculty, with the 23rd lowest. Peer institutions such as the Ohio State University and the University of Iowa exhibited greater levels of ideological diversity among politically active faculty compared to UW-Madison, while the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan exhibited less.

“UW faculty who donate to campaigns look similar to schools like Stanford, [the University of] Chicago, and Georgetown in terms of ideological diversity,” Primo said.

The university has taken many steps toward increasing viewpoint diversity on campus in the last two years. “UW–Madison has hired or is exploring hires in units including, but not limited to, public affairs, political science, law, history and economics, whose areas of expertise include conservative political thought, classical economic theory, and classical liberalism,” said university spokesman John Lucas in an email to The Federalist.

Last year, the university launched the Wisconsin Exchange, an initiative to promote pluralism and ideological diversity on campus. The Exchange has since awarded grants to student and faculty-led projects, launched a postdoctoral fellowship program, and hosted events. FIRE president Greg Lukianoff spoke at an Exchange event in March. “Dissent is essential for understanding the world as it is,” he said during a moderated conversation with former chancellor Jennifer Mnookin.

Lucas said Deliberation Dinners, the Discussion Project, and the new office of First-Generation and Limited-Income Services demonstrate the university’s “commitment to the value of diversity in all its forms, including diversity of thought, perspective, identity and background.”

Furthermore, “The university has continued to actively work with its external fundraising partner, the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association, to secure the philanthropic gifts [required] to fund additional endowed faculty chair and professorship positions in disciplinary areas related to conservative thought itself.” The university agreed to create this position in a deal with the Wisconsin legislature in 2023.

The FIRE report matched the faculty members to campaign contribution records contained in the Database on Ideology, Money in Politics, and Elections, which contains hundreds of millions of federal, state and local political contributions. The study focused on faculty members in undergraduate-facing departments and excluded positions such as medical school faculty.

Using these records, researchers assigned a “CFscore,” which is an ideological measure based on patterns of political giving. The methodology allows researchers to compare faculty donors, political contributors and elected officials on the same ideological scale.

According to the study, the median faculty donor scored approximately -1.0 on the report’s ideological scale. This score is comparable to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders.

The report also found significant differences across academic disciplines. According to the study, faculty in the humanities were the most left-leaning. Business faculty were the least left-leaning, but those who made political contributions still generally leaned to the political left. Primo wrote that the least ideologically diverse and most left-leaning fields were among the most politically engaged.

The report acknowledges several limitations to its methodology. Primo noted that some faculty members may be reluctant to donate because campaign contributions are public and could reveal their political views. The report also notes that campaign contributions are only one way of measuring ideology and may not capture the political beliefs of faculty who do not donate.

“I hope the report prompts students, faculty, and administrators to think seriously about what these findings mean for teaching, research, and open inquiry on college campuses,” he told The Federalist.

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This article was originally published by The College Fix.

By Ryan Dy-Liacco

A law school faculty fellowship for “candidates of color” is open to all applicants, the University of Wisconsin-Madison told The College Fix in response to questions.

The William H. Hastie Fellowship offers “aspiring scholars” $75,000 per year for two years so they can focus on building up their academic profile. Among its most prominent graduates is Kimberlé Crenshaw, who pioneered Critical Race Theory.

A listing on ProFellow, a database for graduate students, suggests non-white people will be favored during the process.

“The two-year law school Fellowship reflects a commitment to diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and especially encourages applications from candidates of color and other underrepresented communities in the legal academy,” the description states.

This differs from the current description on the university’s website, which reads:

The Fellowship reflects the Law School’s commitment to creating opportunities for people who might not otherwise have the chance to become law professors. It began as an effort to address discrimination and the lack of diversity in the legal academy.

Reached for comment, the school says its own website “accurately describes the William H. Hastie Fellowship, which is open to all qualified candidates, as the description clearly states.”

“The listing from ProFellow does not accurately list the criteria for the program,” Jennie Broecker, the associate director of communications for the law school, told The Fix on May 15. “We are requesting that ProFellow remove or correct the information on their website.”

The ProFellow description still lists the “candidates of color” preference as of May 26, when The Fix checked.

The school has included racially discriminatory language in recent history. In February 2023, the law school described the program as “a leader in guiding and increasing opportunities for lawyers of color and other underrepresented communities to become law professors.”

However, ProFellow’s description appeared verbatim on UW’s own official website as recently as September 2023—less than three years ago.

Archived versions of the Hastie Fellowship webpage show that the “especially encourages” language was consistent from at least 2020 through September 2023. This time frame means that, in the past, UW used a racially discriminatory description longer than it has used the current race-neutral one.

The language is reflected in its selection of fellows.

A College Fix examination of all previous fellows found that the UW-Madison Law School has never accepted a white male candidate into the program.

Of the 48 unique fellows selected over the program’s 53-year history, 47 identified as or were identifiable as minority candidates — only one, a white woman who served from 2022 to 2024, was not a person of color.

A civil rights attorney criticized the university’s use of racially discriminatory language.

“I see this as trying to pay lip service to the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] guidance that encourages employers to post jobs widely or to encourage diverse candidates to apply,” Shawna Bray told The Fix via a phone interview.

“I do think it crosses a line when it says, ‘especially encourages,’” Bray, general counsel with the Center for Equal Opportunity, said. This wording “raises a red flag,” Bray said, “and it’s probably why they seem to have deleted it.”

Several recent Supreme Court cases may have contributed to the change in language.

Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard struck down race-based considerations in college admissions as unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment in a 2023 decision. Two years later, Ames v. Ohio Department of Youth Services affirmed federal civil rights law applies to members of majority groups as well as minorities.

“Ames clarified what has always been true under the Civil Rights Act, which is that you cannot discriminate against the majority any more than you can discriminate against a minority,” Bray said.

She said the Supreme Court allowed for a “little carve-out” for racial discrimination in higher education, which then people “mistakenly” believed “also applied to employment decisions,” Bray said.

“That was never okay. Never allowed. Never legal.”

Hastie Fellowship began as DEI hiring initiative

The Hastie Fellowship’s racial focus was not incidental—it was its original purpose. Since its founding, the program’s mission has always been to increase minority representation in the legal academia.

Confirmed this in a 2013 Wisconsin Law Review article, “The Hastie Fellowship Program at Forty: Still Creating Minority Law Professors,” the program’s mission has always been to increase minority representation in the legal academia.

The author, Thomas Mitchell, was a Hastie Fellow in 1994–1996 and former faculty chair of the Hastie Fellowship Committee.

He wrote that Professor Jones created the program in 1973 “[t]o provide advanced legal training to exceptional minority students to quality [sic] them for, and encourage them to undertake, the teaching of law.” Professor Jones’ autobiography shows that the program’s original name was “The William H. Hastie Minority Teaching Fellowship Program.”

As Mitchell writes, “By his [Jones’] actions, he showed us what it means to be a law professor who makes a real difference within and outside of the academy.”

Undergraduates at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have been required to take a course in “Ethnic Studies” to graduate for decades. While the university has updated its general education requirements to reflect a new system-wide policy, “Ethnic Studies” has been retained under a new name: “Civics and Perspectives.”

This fall, Civics and Perspectives course offerings include “Intersectionalities, Self Awareness, and Social Actions for Social Change,” “Mental Health, Self-Awareness, and Social Justice: Working in Diverse Communities,” “The Politics of Education Injustice in the US,” “Race, Intersectionality, and Equity in Education,” “Diversity, Oppression, and Social Justice in Social Work,” and “Buddhism and Anti-Racism.”

In July 2025, the Wisconsin State Legislature approved Act 15, which required the UW System to ensure that general education credits can transfer between UW institutions. The system established six Core General Education categories in response, but let individual universities decide what counts toward them.

While every University of Wisconsin institution had some form of an ethnic studies requirement, it was not formally included as one of the six categories. However, UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Parkside, and others opted to map them into the Civics and Perspectives category.

“UW-Madison mapped its prior general education categories to the Core General Education categories defined by the Universities of Wisconsin and designated courses based on those criteria,” director of public affairs Gillian Drummond told The Madison Federalist via email. The university did not change its graduation requirements, it only shifted its existing requirements to fit under the new categories. Students who enrolled prior to summer 2026 are not subject to the changes, and they will continue to follow their individual institutions’ older general education requirements.

“Courses that meet the Civics and Perspectives definition may be given that designation,” Drummond said. UW-Madison’s Core General Education Requirements policy, which has been approved by the Faculty Senate, defines Civics and Perspectives as:

Instruction designed to increase understanding of the circumstances, conditions, experiences, cultures, literatures, arts and contributions of persistently marginalized racial or ethnic groups in the United States that equip students to respond constructively to issues connected with our pluralistic society. Students in these courses learn to draw connections between historical and present-day circumstances and consider perceptions and cultural assumptions when examining questions and making decisions.

The determination of which courses count toward Civics and Perspectives “will follow existing governance processes and are currently being reviewed by the ad hoc committee that was formed to address Act 15 core general education requirements,” according to Drummond.

While this is separate from the Ethnic Studies Subcommittee, it has reached many of the same designation conclusions. In Summer 2026, there are 54 Ethnic Studies courses and 54 Civics and Perspectives courses – 52 of them overlap. In Fall 2026, there are 159 Ethnic Studies courses and 147 Civics and Perspectives – 144 of them overlap. This count is based on the Course Search and Enroll application, which double-counts cross-listed courses.

The Civics and Perspectives description contains nearly identical language to the university’s description of Ethnic Studies. However, Ethnic Studies courses have more extensive goals. These include ensuring “that students can identify and question the racial power dynamics that undergird social and political institutions” and challenging “students to think about their own racial and ethnic identities in relation to others.”

Courses do not need to be entirely focused on race or ethnicity to satisfy the requirement. Classes such as “Women and Gender in the U.S. Since 1870” and “Introduction to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer+ Studies” also count toward it.

“Civics and Perspectives courses explore different perspectives and experiences to help develop critical thinking, writing, ethical reasoning, cultural literacy, and communication skills that employers have consistently told us they value,” Drummond said.

WHAT DO STUDENTS LEARN IN ETHNIC STUDIES/CIVICS AND PERSPECTIVES COURSES?

The Madison Federalist obtained the syllabi for the courses that satisfied the Ethnic Studies requirement in 2025 or spring 2026 via an open records request. The content of the syllabi revealed ideologically lopsided readings, controversial assignments and language that suggests some instructors view the classroom as a platform for their political views.

Even courses with innocuous names are filled with progressive ideology. In the nursing course “Culturally Congruent Practice,” students must complete an “action-oriented” essay that “is an opportunity for you to practice STARTING THE CONVERSATION about a social justice issue in real life.” They also must write about a “self-defining experience” associated with their race. Students can also earn three extra credit points for completing a “social justice event reflection.”

In “Culture, Language, and Communication,” students had to complete a “cultural self-assessment” and “consider how others view the different aspects of your identity, as well as how your cultural and social identities influence your view of others, especially others with different levels of ability.”

Students are asked to write about their own identities in many of the courses. In “Black Research Approaches: Qualitative Methods and Collaborative Praxis,” students must write a “positionality statement” that “illustrates both your multiple identities and how those identities intersect with the research you want to do/are already doing with Black communities.” In “Race and the Developing Child,” students “will reflect and write up their own racial, ethnic, and cultural story.”

In “Multiculturalism and Social Justice”, students completed an “Intersectionality and Your Identity Project” worth 20 percent of their grade. In it, they gave a class presentation where they “reflect on how power shapes the various aspects of your identity, including gender, class, sexual orientation, race, age, and ability.” In another assignment, students must identify how they “will continue to engage with issues of social justice after this class.”

In “Dimensions of Latin@ Mental Health,” students complete a #MySocialIdentity project where students give a presentation to discuss “your racial and/or ethnic identity, what factors contribute to your worldview, who you feel most comfortable around, suspected blind spots about how you think about race or ethnicity, and experiences that have influenced your identity within your own racial or ethnic group.”

While it is difficult to precisely determine the degree of ideological lopsidedness, prominent conservatives are rarely included in course materials. For example, one work by Thomas Sowell is used in “Race, Ethnicity and Black Population Health in the United States,” but he is otherwise missing from the reviewed courses. Other notable scholars such as Glenn Loury and Heather Mac Donald are entirely absent.

Meanwhile, Nikole Hannah-Jones of The 1619 Project is cited in “Dimensions of Latin@ Mental Health,” “African American History since 1900,” “Black Education Studies: Blackness in U.S. Public Schools,” “Introduction to the City,” and “Inequality, Race, and Public Policy.”

Feminist writer bell hooks is cited in “Introduction to Theatre for Social and Cultural Awareness,” “Asian American Feminisms,” “Theorizing Intersectionality,” “Women in Ethnic American Literature,” “Introduction to African American Studies,” “Artistic/Cultural Images of Black Women,” “Multiculturalism and Social Justice,” “Art and Visual Culture: Women of the African Diaspora and Africa,” “Black Women’s Political Behavior,” “Race, Sex, and Texts,” and “History of Race and Inequality in Urban America.”

“Anti-racist” scholar Ibram X. Kendi is also cited in “History of Race and Inequality in Urban America,” as well as “Youth, Education, and Society” and “Black Campus Fictions.”

In many of the syllabi, instructors use language that suggests they view the classroom as a place for activism. “Introduction to Theatre for Social and Cultural Awareness” refers to students as a “community of scholar-artist-activists” who “will develop tools to apply to the practice of theatre in a variety of fields (acting, directing, design, scholarship) as well as tools for community engagement and advancing awareness and equity in everyday life.” The land acknowledgment in “Immigration, Education, and Equity” says “we will regularly engage with decolonial theories” and help “grow social action.”

The syllabus for “American Indian Women” vows to “promote decolonial practices in our classroom” and says decolonization is a “guiding principle in American Indian and Indigenous Studies.” “Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in American Education” permits the use of generative artificial intelligence in a limited capacity, but warns that AI “replicates the prejudices and violences that shape our societies, particularly the white supremacy and colonialism that this course seeks to disrupt.”

In “Social Work in American Indian Communities – The Indian Child Welfare Act,” students are told in the syllabus that making certain arguments will result in a failing grade. It says, “Zero points will be given for responses that do not demonstrate understanding of ESR Learning Outcomes. For example, responses that clearly indicate ‘the past has not affected present day circumstances regarding race and racial inequities in the U.S.’” The syllabus for “Introduction to Language and Ideology” says, “We will approach these questions in an anti-racist framework, showing that perceptions towards certain English varieties are grounded in bias against certain demographic groups and not in linguistic facts.”

In “Latina/Latino/Latinx History,” students answer questions such as “How have queer people, sex workers, and men that have sex with men been excluded by immigration law and their communities on both sides of US-Mexico border?” One of that course’s learning outcomes is to “build an intersectional critical lens of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class as it relates to Latinx/e communities.”

While Ethnic Studies/Civics and Perspectives is impossible to evade, students can easily receive a passing grade if they choose the right class, as many instructors gave the overwhelming majority of students full marks in their courses.

In Fall 2025, 85 percent of students received As in “Youth, Education, and Society” and “Jazz in 20th Century America,” according to Madgrades. Nine out of 10 students in “Race, Ethnicity, and Inequality in American Education,” “Inequality, Race, and Public Policy,” or “Race, Intersectionality, and Equity in Education” received an A. In “Anthropology and Education,” every single student received an A.

Stephen Macedo, a professor of politics at Princeton University, spoke about his newest co-authored book, “In COVID’s Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us,” at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on May 4 in a lecture hosted by the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy. Macedo discussed the policies surrounding COVID-19 and how they reflected institutional dysfunction in the United States during the pandemic.

Macedo began by recalling early events of the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 and the fears felt by many. He explained the need for an “honest and critical” assessment of the policy decisions that were made. He referenced uncertainties and fears that contributed to the urgency early in the pandemic, many stemming from overwhelmed hospitals and climbing mortality rates.

According to Macedo, there were decades of pre-COVID pandemic planning studies conducted on the use of non-pharmaceutical interventions, such as border closures, mask mandates and school closures. Macedo cited one particular study from the World Health Organization (WHO) from November 2019 that emphasized the low quality of evidence and effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions.

“Some measures were not recommended in any circumstances, including the most severe pandemic, and those measures included contact tracing, quarantine of exposed individuals, entry and exit screening, and border closures, things we all did with short order under COVID,” Macedo said.

Macedo also referenced additional pre-pandemic research from institutions such as Johns Hopkins University and the United Kingdom, which also warned about the limited evidence surrounding non-pharmaceutical interventions.

“It almost certainly will not be possible to contain or eradicate a new virus in its country of origin or on arrival to the UK. The expectation must be that the virus will inevitably spread, and that any local measures taken to disrupt or produce the spread are likely to have very limited or partial success at a national level, and cannot be relied upon even as a way to buy time,” Macedo said, citing a UK study from 2011.

Policymakers failed to acknowledge the lack of scientific evidence available, according to Macedo. He noted that billions of people were subjected to lockdowns within a matter of weeks, a response he argued was unprecedented given the lack of evidence backing these measures.

“By early April 2020, half the world’s population, 3.9 billion people, were living under some form of lockdown,” Macedo said.

Macedo also pointed out the role of political polarization in shaping the pandemic policies in the United States. He explained that Democratic states implemented stricter and longer restrictions during the pandemic, while Republican states were more likely to lift restrictions earlier. He suggested that these differences weren’t linked to measurable public health outcomes, but rather reflected broader political divides that influenced decision-making.

Macedo also argued that “truth-seeking” institutions, including science, journalism and universities, did not appropriately consider dissenting perspectives during the pandemic. He described this as a failure within these institutions, as differing viewpoints were often discredited or dismissed.

“Under the influence of polarization and politicization, we argued that disagreement was prematurely moralized and dissent was treated intolerantly,” Macedo said. He believed these institutions need to prioritize viewpoint diversity moving forward.

Macedo also highlighted the negative effects of pandemic policies in early education, noting “unprecedented drops in student learning in both reading and math, reversing roughly two decades of progress.” He also argued that prolonged school closures during the pandemic contributed to a loss of trust in educational institutions, pointing to the increase in school choice programs in Republican states.

“Chronic absenteeism rates doubled, now at one third of K-12 students nationwide, and losses greater in high-poverty districts, and for black and Hispanic students,” Macedo said.

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Beyond early education, there have been depressed rates of church attendance and volunteering, depopulation in business districts and large drops in mass transportation use, according to Macedo. He also noted negative effects on our social fabric, including increased mental health consequences and loneliness, especially in places with stricter lockdowns. Macedo said these outcomes make up a set of social costs that weren’t considered in early pandemic decisions.

Macedo concluded his lecture by emphasizing the importance of reflection moving forward, asserting the need for more openness, humility and tolerance of differing viewpoints in policy and public discourse.

Rev. Patrick Gilger, an assistant professor of sociology at Loyola University Chicago, gave a lecture at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School on April 6 about the “Birth of the Modern Catholic Self” and the role the Jesuit order played in bridging the divide between secular and spiritual concerns.

Gilger began his talk by discussing his first encounter with Jesuits when he was 17 years old at Creighton University, and at the time, he was not Catholic. “These people on campus, my fellow students, weren’t faking it or being posers,” Gilger said. “They were real people … with a combination of integrity and authenticity.” He describes the Jesuits he met as having a holy sense of competition. They were “integrated people living in a disintegrated world” through “spiritual direction and spiritual exercises.”

When Gilger first arrived at Creighton, he did not know how to pray, but he got the chance to learn. “At first I felt silly sitting there trying to talk to what felt like nothing,” he said. While in novitiate - the training to enter the religious order - Gilger and his fellow brothers learned Ignatian spiritual exercises that were written by St. Ignatius of Loyola, and he gave specific instructions for talking directly with God. These exercises taught them to live and see the events of the gospel through imagination and prayer. Over time, Gilger came to appreciate prayer, and under the influence of the Jesuits, he became a novice after four years.

“What is spirituality?” Gilger asked. He explained that it is “a style of life in the world built upon organizing thoughts, behaviors, producing experience based on the trinity resurrection, orienting us to achieving certain goods.”

Gilger built on this definition by discussing the great spiritualities, especially to the five main orders: Benedictines, Franciscans, Jesuits (Ignatians), Carmelites, and Dominicans. The spiritualities are “the infinite coming into relation with the finite” because humans cannot fully grasp God’s message.

All of the big five spiritualities would emerge at different times. The Benedictines emerged during the adoption of Christianity in Rome, the Franciscans during the growth of European markets, and the Jesuits and Carmelites during the democratization of information. This was near the beginning of the Protestant Reformation and the general religious revolution.

Gilger explains that the Ignatian spirituality came to be “God’s gift and answer to the question of modernity.” It gave a way to build a modern self while still being Catholic, which was the central dilemma during that time.

There were four main revolutions that Gilger discussed. The first was the religious revolution, which led to the privatization of religion. The second is the scientific revolution, which introduced new various ways of thinking and the democratization of knowledge. The third is the Industrial Revolution, which led to capitalism and made people even more restless and anxious about the world around them. Lastly, the political revolution split the Church and state, leading to the rise of democracy and the changing experience of the modern world.

All of these revolutions made people more individualistic and led them to dream of building and controlling the world, according to Gilger. These movements fundamentally transitioned people from a “porous self” to a “buffered self,” which are philosophical states coined by philosopher Charles Taylor.

A porous self is “open to spirits, superstitions, enchanted forests, and fairy tales,” and it seeks spiritual protection through the Church or other religious methods. The buffered self is in control of their own life and shielded from the spiritual world. Gilger explains that we are now buffered selves because the world is now, as Gilger said, “disenchanted”.

Both Ignatius and Gilger believed that there can be an “individual and traditional” Catholic. The modern Catholic self shares similarities, but it does not consider itself autonomous. It is aware of a lack of action and of the collaboration required with the spirits moving through it. Ignatius was crucial in forming a faithful modern Catholic self, and he refined the spiritual directions and exercises to be suitable for a modern world so humans could be “imitating the conduct of the master.”

During the time Ignatius was writing, many spiritual directors were spreading new ideas beyond the monasteries to people in the cities. Ignatius worked to systemize what was already established by taking classes and reading books under the guidance of a spiritual director, while also tailoring it to the person undergoing the exercise.

Gilger explained how Ignatius helped make the exercises accessible outside of hierarchy, but he also had to deal with many new problems in the modern world. He said Ignatius “made the process of the spiritual exercises, now a triadic relationship between God, the director, and the directed, thereby strengthening the exercise and the effect. The director is not just controlling experiences, but they are to be adapted to the person and the moment.”

Gilger explained that around the time of Vatican II, the Spiritual Exercises in the modern Catholic Church were done in groups rather than individually. After that, the exercises began to address people’s specific desires and became more of a self-help manual, not the radical change it had been before.

Now, people are seeking stable ground, avoiding conflict, and offering critiques of order and agency. Gilger says this was resolved by Ignatius long before these modern problems emerged, and now the problem is the divides in the internal structure of Roman Catholicism. He believed both worlds are needed to be a modern Catholic self.

Gilger concluded by saying that directors should act like a pointer on the balance when the directee communes with the Holy Spirit. He told the audience to “act against temptations, to break the balance” and “be unafraid of what we will find.”

Parishes across the country are experiencing a large increase in young adults converting to both Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity. This trend has been seen in Madison, as Saint Paul’s Catholic Student Center and nearby Orthodox parishes have reported recent surges in conversions.

While some profess that this is a sign of a “religious comeback” in America, others are skeptical about how strong this religious wave really is. To get a better sense of the increasing number of converts to Catholicism and Orthodox Christianity in Wisconsin’s second-largest city, perspectives and data from both religious communities must be taken into account.

The Madison Federalist interviewed the staff involved in the Order of Christian Initiation of Adults (OCIA) program at Saint Paul’s, located near the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s campus. Saint Paul’s serves both students at UW-Madison and other young professionals in the area, so the staff said the number of people in their OCIA program has greatly grown over the last few years.

In the past, Saint Paul’s confirmed around 10 to 29 people into the Catholic Church every year. This year, they reported over 100 confirmations. The OCIA program has been breaking new records in confirmations every year since 2023. In 2025, they recorded more than 80 confirmations, and in 2024, more than 70.

Saint Paul’s staff explained that a large reason behind the increased confirmation numbers is that “it really comes down to travel sports.” Due to the increase in travel sports participation, they reported that around half of those confirmed each year were raised Catholic, but delayed their confirmation. The other half of the people in the OCIA confirmation program are converts to Catholicism. Around half of these converts are typically coming from a Protestant background, with the exception of a few converting from Orthodox Christianity. The other half of converts are those coming from non-Christian backgrounds, which have included individuals raised atheist, Hindu, Jewish and Muslim.

Many young adults in their program express a yearning for community and structure in their lives. The staff described this as a sign of the “loneliness epidemic” often experienced by Gen Z. While the staff said they have been noticing more young men becoming interested in Catholicism, conversions have generally been evenly split between the sexes. A staff member also pointed out that most female converts come from another faith. Another common theme among all of their converts is that they are “looking for something beautiful and true.”

While they are seeing an increase in people interested in the Catholic faith and the Church’s history, they are skeptical that increased confirmation numbers are a sign of a comeback of traditional Christianity, because many data points do not take into account the number of people disengaging with the faith each year.

The staff said they believe the “Catholic comeback in America” is “overstated,” especially due to the high number of people who left the faith during the COVID-19 era. Despite people leaving Catholicism, they hope to finally see more people coming into the church, which used to be scarce. From their experiences, converts are less likely to leave the Church in the future than those raised in the faith.

The staff members also believe that many people are being drawn to Catholicism from popular conservatives in public and media discourse, most notably Vice President JD Vance. In addition, they consider social media content — ranging from apologetics to Catholic influencers — to be a large factor that is drawing young people into the Church.

There are three Orthodox churches currently located in Madison. Fr. Gregory Jensen at Ss Cyril & Methodius Orthodox Church, located south of UW-Madison’s campus, reached out with an article he had previously written about young adult conversions, particularly concerning young men.

Jensen’s article, “Men Flocking to Orthodoxy: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” was published last year, and he said that there is not “enough data to support the idea that this is a mass movement.” The Orthodox Church in America largely serves immigrant communities and their children and will likely remain as a small fraction of the population.

Despite his claim, he wrote that there is increasing interest in liturgical tradition among young people, particularly young men, who have primarily not been raised Orthodox Christian. For those drawn to the Orthodox Church, he rejects the idea that it is the “masculine church,” as many women during the Soviet Union remained steadfast in their faith during a time of persecution.

Fr. John Chagnon at St. Ignatius of Antioch Orthodox Christian Church paints a slightly different picture. “We too have experienced the surge of young people, but also others coming in,” Chagnon said.

Significant portions of his congregation consist of former evangelical protestants and former atheists. He said that he used to be an Anglican pastor before converting to Orthodox Christianity. While most of their converts come from a protestant background, there have been a few converts from Catholicism over the years.

The number of converts flocking to St. Ignatius has been interesting to him since the church does not partake in “sheep stealing.” They only provide an option to those who seek them out. Additionally, teens as young as 15 and 16 years old have shown interest in conversion, whereas most converts are between the ages of 18 and 35.

Chagnon said that he prefers to take a more individualized approach for each convert, so chrismation and baptism dates can vary. This month, they will have around 15 to 20 people entering the Orthodox Christian faith.

The church has seen some young women converting to the faith, but the majority of their converts have been young men, especially those who are single. “Some of the young guys coming in have been so into their video and digital world – that it is hard for them to have actual relationships [with others],” Chagnon said.

He believes many of their converts come to them due to experiences with the Orthodox faith online, which can be both good and bad. Their young adult converts have reported a feeling of “emptiness” without a faith that adheres to tradition, instead of trying to appeal to current culture.

“Tradition is not the worshipping of ashes, but the passing on of fire,” and people are drawn to the “steadiness of the Orthodox Church,” Chagnon said. While Orthodox Christians are currently still a sliver of Wisconsin’s population, there is growing optimism about the future of the Orthodox Church in the state.

While it may be too early for some to describe this as a true religious revival, there are certainly shifts happening among young people in our society. Despite those raised in the Catholic or Orthodox faith slowly disengaging with traditional Christianity each year, Chagnon believes that the COVID-19 pandemic was a strong reminder of our own mortality, and it likely led more people to search for a deeper meaning in their lives.

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Conservative journalist and activist Christopher Rufo believes higher education may be changing for the better. “I know for a fact that we are in a better place than we were five years ago,” he told The Madison Federalist. “But the question is really: Are they sufficient structural changes long-term? The answer to that is obviously no, so we will have to do much more moving forward.”

Rufo gained national prominence for his reporting on critical race theory and DEI in governmental institutions, especially universities and public schools. Rufo has been instrumental in reshaping how the right approaches higher education reform, including advising Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. He is currently a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

Rufo sat down with The Federalist for an exclusive interview before speaking at the University of Wisconsin-Madison on April 22. He was hosted by the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership and the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy in an event titled “Making Universities Great Again.”

According to Rufo, higher education is facing a crisis of its own making, and conservatives in government should not shy away from using their power to fix it. “A lot of these institutions that have been fattening themselves in ideology and in politics are going to be put on a crash diet. They won’t be able to do what they’ve been doing moving forward,” he said. “And I think ultimately that’s what it’s going to take for these institutions to actually have a moment of seriousness.”

“Universities have essentially been printing taxpayer dollars for a half century, with no limitations. That can’t go on forever,” Rufo said. He believes federal and state governments are in a unique position to make change because “student demographics [will] start tipping and declining” in the coming years. As the percentage of the U.S. population aged 18-22 decreases, colleges will need to compete for students like never before. “I think you’re going to see a lot of people get much smarter in a much faster fashion than we’ve seen so far.”

DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION

While the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement was closed in 2025, most of its employees were retained, and many departments continued to list DEI as a priority on their websites. An art exhibit sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives – which still claims to be part of the defunct central DEI office on its website – took down a flier advertising Rufo’s event and claimed it marked “the active presence of reactionary discourse on campus.”

According to Rufo, the continued presence of DEI on college campuses is widespread. He pointed to the New College of Florida, where he was a trustee, as the model for change. “We just fired everyone and said the DEI office is gone and all the employees are gone. That’s what you ultimately have to do.” Rufo said reform takes “decisive leadership.”

He believes conservatives “decisively won the debate in the realm of public opinion,” and even many within the university system recognize that DEI went too far. “When people are running away from their own ideas, when they’re trying to hide their own actions, and when they are denying their own previously stated beliefs, that shows you that public opinion has shifted dramatically against them.”

“The question is for legislators and administrators to translate public opinion into an administrative reality.” However, he wondered whether “toughness even exists in academia.” He believes that the university “chancellors, presidents, provosts” have largely been unable to drive meaningful change, so “political leaders” must fill the leadership void.

STATE-LEVEL SOLUTIONS

The Thompson Center conducted a recent survey about faculty political ideology, which found that the overwhelming majority of UW-Madison professors identify as progressive. According to the survey, nearly one-third of faculty said they would be less likely to support hiring a candidate with conservative views on abortion or immigration.

In states such as Texas, North Carolina and Ohio, state legislatures have addressed the viewpoint discrimination problem by creating civics education schools. At the Arizona State University and Florida State University, their respective civics school directors are former members of the UW-Madison political science faculty. Rufo believes the civic school model is “great,” but “there’s limitations of it.”

“One thing I’ve learned is that some of these centers are run better than others, without naming names,” he said. “Leadership is hard because you’re entering a larger institution that is generally hostile, and then you are also trying to manage and protect yourself and protect your scholars and create something under challenging conditions.”

“The key benefit for the civic schools is that you have a clear administrative unit that can do hiring, that can do course offering, and that can, in some cases, [offer] majors, and in fewer, but increasing number, of cases, train graduate students.”

To Rufo, their most important aspect is the creation of “a faculty pipeline” for right-leaning academics. “For many years, even Ivy League, conservative faculty members were telling their graduate students or their potential graduate students, ‘Don’t do this, because on the other side of your PhD, no matter how good your scholarship is, it’s a very brutal hiring environment.’”

Now, the faculty at civics institutes say they have a new problem: “We have a huge supply of positions open, and we’re struggling to hire.” Rufo believes the “pipeline problem” can be partially addressed by civics schools themselves as they begin to produce more graduates.

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION

Rufo believes the Trump administration’s efforts to reform higher education “have stalled” since Elon Musk “left the administration.” Since that point, “I wouldn’t say that they’ve taken a heavy hand ... I would say the opposite.”

“I realized, having worked with the various agencies, on education, on civil rights law, on federal grant making, on DEI, those were issues that were kind of de facto delegated to Elon,” he told The Federalist. “The problem is that after Elon left the administration, a lot of the progress on the basket of issues that might be associated with anti-woke politics just kind of stopped.”

“That doesn’t mean there aren’t good people. There are many good people at the Department of Education, at the Department of Justice, at the White House Domestic Policy Council, at HHS, all these various agencies, they’re good people,” Rufo said. However, “Having Elon on the team, driving managerial disruption is much better than not having Elon on the team and having salaried functionaries trying to kick the machine into gear. They just can’t do it.”

STUDENT JOURNALISM

Rufo believes that student journalists can play a major role in exposing discriminatory practices in higher education. “The immediate cause is shedding light on what is happening around you for the people that live, work, and play around you,” he said. Because of this, journalists provide an important “service to the public, at least within your domain.”

He also views college newspapers as an important talent pipeline, as “the talent and instinct and craft” developed on campus “might be put to service on a larger playing field in the future.”

“All of these conservative-leaning student papers around the country seem to be magnets for not only talent, but a particular kind of talent,” Rufo said. “That demands a higher level of courage than your peers and competitors. And that’s something that holds true on the big stage.”

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An art exhibit hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) includes pieces that depict Bucky Badger wearing a Ku Klux Klan outfit, former Chancellor Rebecca Blank carrying a noose, and a man holding Donald Trump’s severed head with the White House burning in the background.

Alongside Da Hoodzeum, the OMAI presented a pop-up called In Direct Action: A Decade of Activist Art at UW-Madison, which is hosted at the School of Education Gallery. It began on April 5 and ends on April 24.

The “In Direct Action” exhibit features art created from activism and political movements over the past 10 years at UW-Madison. The exhibition contains walls of political t-shirts, sweatshirts and student artwork, such as posters and signs that were used in various protests. In addition to the student work, there are displays of historical relics - newspapers, flyers and everyday objects - from the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army.

The gallery also includes a flier for an upcoming campus event featuring conservative activist Christopher Rufo. The event will be hosted by the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership and the Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy (CROWE), where Rufo will discuss higher education reform on April 22. However, the exhibit says the flier is included because it marks “the active presence of reactionary discourse on campus.”

CROWE director Ananth Seshadri gave a statement to The Madison Federalist via email. “I strongly support the university’s role in hosting student-created art and historical artifacts, even when the content is provocative or controversial,” he said. “Free expression is foundational to a university.”

However, he felt that “true dialogue requires openness to counterarguments,” and “exhibits like these feel more like ideological reinforcement than an invitation to debate.”

The exhibit features a large cardboard caricature of former Chancellor Blank holding a noose with the caption “MAKE UW GREAT AGAIN.” Seshadri believes this is “profoundly distasteful, especially following her recent passing.” The use of this imagery “as protest art is a striking illustration of selective outrage.”

Even though Seshadri found the caricature “misguided,” it is protected by free speech, which Chancellor Blank heavily defended. “True commitment to free expression requires consistently defending even speech we find deeply objectionable,” he said.

Seshadri believes this exhibit “risks deeper division.” One of the pieces of clothing that was displayed read “All white people are racist.” This message “promotes a sweeping racial generalization that is not supported by evidence and substitutes collective racial guilt for individual accountability.”

He also believes the controversial exhibit is a sign that, “We need to get back to basics – excellence grounded by sifting and winnowing.”

Rufo tweeted in response to the Federalist’s reporting, “This is insane, left-wing activists at the University of Wisconsin are calling for assassinations.” He called for a strong security presence at his speech.

The OMAI “integrates traditional academics and cutting edge arts activism” and “empowers transnational leaders with new tools for inclusive community building.” It was a unit of the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Educational Achievement until the DDEEA was dissolved last year. Many former DDEEA staffers were retained by the university and kept their job titles, including in the OMAI.

The gallery description recognized the controversial nature of some of the pieces. It said, “You may question what belongs in a museum, what counts as history, what feels ‘appropriate.’ But ask yourself: Why does this disturb you– while monuments to slavery, colonialism, and state violence remain normalized? Why does this feel out of place—but Abraham Lincoln standing atop Bascom Hill does not?”

The Lincoln statue has faced criticism and calls for removal from left-wing activists in the past. A 2023 editorial from The Badger Herald suggested the statue was “racist memorabilia” and that “unfettered admiration of Lincoln is disappointing.” Before that, in 2020, calls for the statue’s removal grew so loud that then-Chancellor Blank released a statement defending its continued presence.

According to a video by The Badger Herald, Da Hoodzeum is a pop-up museum based in Wisconsin that centers on Black history and cultural movements. The pop-up was founded by activist Mike Davis, and it is “a home for over 4,000 artifacts” dating back to the 1800s to the present.

University spokesman John Lucas, said the Da Hoodzeum exhibit does not represent the views of UW-Madison or the School of Education, but they “support free expression, including conversations about difficult, complex, and sometimes polarizing issues.”

“While some of the imagery may portray violent themes, UW-Madison condemns acts of violence of any kind,” Lucas said.

The exhibit has not received any university funding, and Lucas is not aware of any complaints or reactions to the exhibit.

The OAMI did not return a request for comment from The Federalist.

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Professor Nicholas Eastman, a lay Dominican, gave a lecture on March 23 about the life of Father Vincent McNabb and the Catholic Land Movement as part of the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy’s Order and Influence series.

Eastman began his talk by discussing the end of McNabb’s life, explaining that on the day he died, he summoned a friar to make arrangements for his funeral. He emphasized that he did not want a brass coffin but rather an ordinary wooden box like he slept on every day. McNabb spent 25 years preaching at Hyde Park Marble Arch, and is sometimes called “the Gandhi of Kentish Town.”

Nearly all of London was familiar with him, and every lecture began with him wearing the same uniform with his strong and eccentric personality. McNabb also gave intricate instructions for after his funeral to ensure he will be preaching even after death.

He was born in 1868 in County Down, Ireland, and his family moved to Newcastle when he was 14. McNabb then joined the Dominican order during a time of renewal for the church in England.

There were many historic events, such as Bede Jarrett’s opening of the Blackfriars Dominican priory in Oxford in 1921, and Pope Leo XIII’s release of Aeterni Patris in 1879 and Rerum Novarum in 1891. Eastman continued by explaining that McNabb entered the order in 1885, earned his lector in sacred theology at the University of Louvain in 1894, and completed his STM in Rome in 1916.

Eastman discussed the significance of Rerum Novarum, explaining that it marked the launch of modern Catholic Social teaching. It rejected socialism and communism, enshrined the natural right to property, and advocated for a return to family and land. Sometimes called the workers’ charter by those of the time, it was profoundly influential on McNabb. He would frequently cite it in his speeches to the people of London.

For McNabb, industrialization, urbanization, and capitalism were contrary to the Gospel. He believed family was above the state, and the right to private property was rooted in providing for the family, which included growing or raising food.

“All men have the right to some property,” McNabb said. The earthly life of Jesus is important for understanding how we should act or strive for in our lives. The small town of Nazareth was his home, where Jesus began his ministry, not an important city like Rome or Alexandria. This shows that there is some virtue in living and existing in a small rural community.

The message of God is best understood by those who live in such environments. For McNabb, only a small community offers the possibility of real family life, saying, “The desire for home and family is written on the human heart.”

Eastman explained how McNabb stressed the distinction between things and tokens. Things are made of the land, and they do not lead to infinite desires. In contrast, tokens are more abstract and lead to infinite desire. Eastman used the example of Jesus multiplying the fish and loaves. The people had their fill of food, and there were even leftovers, explaining how the story would not have been the same if Jesus had begun to multiply money, in which case the people would have been greedy and never satisfied.

Eastman explained the distinction between things and tokens that McNabb emphasized. McNabb called for the economics of poverty, effectively to consume as little real wealth as possible and to produce as much as possible of real worth; both of these, he argued, are cultivated by family living and working on the land.

He also argued that the gospel was against big farming and herding, as shown in the parable of the rich man and the possessed swine herd. Eastman then continued explaining how Luke 12:21 is a great example of this. The core of McNabb’s argument was “to save civilization, by urban exodus and return to agrarianism, and back to the land.”

McNabb believed the best way to preserve a moral civilization was by turning away from the modern urbanized world and returning to the more agrarian and rural lifestyle of their ancestors. Eastman explained that an example of this was in Ditchling, Sussex, which was like Nazareth to McNabb. In this place, many third-order Dominicans set up a little village and tried their best to live off the land in an ever-changing world.

McNabb would even serve as a spiritual advisor of sorts to their small group for a time. McNabb saw the movement’s failure before passing away in 1943. The world was in the midst of war, and the tides of urbanization and industrialization had become established as the future. Eastman continued, explaining that McNabb “was not stupid” and “he understood practically that the tide had not turned.”

He saw that he had not changed minds, but he still fought for the ideals of the Catholic Land Movement until the end of his days. Despite having papal and ecclesiastical support, the movement lacked sufficient material support and was too opposed to the societal trends of the time, and it ultimately failed.

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Eastman concluded his talk by discussing the Catholic Land Movement in America today. He explained that, in some ways, there is now a resurgent interest in the movement in the U.S., with approval from Pope Leo XIV and Archbishop Grob. He explained that now more than ever, the relevance of choosing Nazareth or social chaos is more frank than ever.

He argued, however, that despite efforts and some support, “there are still many barriers, including a lack of material support from the hierarchy and laity.” This is alongside other barriers, such as insurance and legal barriers, and the cost of land. Eastman concluded by saying that the movement today faces “new challenges and old problems, however, now it may yet find success.”

Congressman Tony Wied was hosted by the College Republicans of the University of Wisconsin-Madison on March 6 to discuss current events and campus issues.

Wied emphasized how brave it is for college students to be outwardly conservative at UW-Madison. “I think we’re obviously in the minority here in the school,” he said. “It’s really important at your age, of course, that you are interested.”

Wied is fairly new to politics and has represented Wisconsin’s 8th district since November 2024. He discussed his experience campaigning and getting used to the political climate of Wisconsin. He was not originally a politician, but he has long been interested in politics. He said his primary election was “very difficult,” noting he was not used to the negative ads running against him on TV. Despite this, Wied won both the primary and general election.

Wied is originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin and is a graduate of St. Norbert College. He owned a chain of gas stations in northeastern Wisconsin, but he sold them and pursued politics.

As a member of Congress, “Every day is kind of different, but it’s actually a lot of fun,” Wied said. “I’m basically touring the district.” He said one day he would be in Appleton, and the next day he is at hospitals, schools or businesses to meet with many different types of people.

After Wied spoke on his background and personal experience, he took questions from UW-Madison students on various topics.

The War in Iran

Wied was supportive of the Trump administration’s approach to Iran, and he believed this “very decisive action” was needed and the best way to keep our country safe. “There is no question that Iran has been a problem for a long time,” he said. “It’s been around 47 years since the Mullahs took over, and they’ve been a state sponsor of terror for a long time.”

“There’s been a lot of war, and I think people are fatigued with it,” he said. “The president is not interested in forever wars, either.”

Wied said his “hope is that it’s over sooner than later.”

Social Issues

Wied ran his first race against OB-GYN Kristin Lyerly, who specializes in abortion. He said that Lyerly tried very hard to portray him as anti-abortion in an attempt to win the election, but it didn’t help her beat Wied. “I’m very much pro life,” Wied said. “I think having children is the greatest joy in my life.” However, he said that he is “not going to make that decision” because abortion “is a state issue.”

The other major social issue he discussed was LGBT rights. “I don’t believe that a man should go into a girl’s bathroom, and I don’t think that boys should play in girl sports,” Wied said. “I have friends that are gay … I think there’s absolutely no problem with that. People are people, and you should love everybody.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re male, female, what God you believe in, what your ethnicity is,” he said. “I think it’s character, and so I think that’s important that we talk about that too.”

Immigration

The open border was a “clear problem during the Biden administration” according to Wied. He said that millions of people came across the border in four years, but within a year of Trump’s administration, the problem is nearly solved.

“I think the border was the biggest issue in the election in ’24,” Wied said. “That got more people to vote.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement are now apprehending illegal immigrants and focusing on those that were committing crimes. Wied said that the Obama administration also used ICE and deported millions of people without incidents or protests.

“What happened in Minnesota, obviously, was a big deal,” he said. Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey have both criticized ICE, which added to the polarization. “We had all of the protests and people all around as they were doing their missions, where normally local police kind of helps with that,” Wied said. “They provide crowd control, but there normally isn’t an incident.”

“It was definitely, I think, caused a lot by the politicians, and it is a very political issue,” he said.

Affordability and Cost of Living

Wied said affordability is currently the number one issue for the upcoming midterm elections. “Ultimately, the reason we have rising prices and the reason that we have inflation at all, like what we’ve had, is because we spend more than we bring in,” he said.

“I think we should have a balanced budget amendment,” he said. However, “it’s going to be very difficult.”

The U.S. hasn’t had a balanced budget since the Clinton administration, and around 70 percent of government spending is on welfare programs, like Medicaid. “That’s very scary, so that’s unsustainable,” Wied said.

Republicans had a “great tax policy this year,” which “puts more money back into people’s pockets.” People are receiving tax returns now because of No Tax on Tips, No Tax on Overtime and the child taxpayer credit. Because of this, people are getting “thousands of dollars more of refunds, and you’re not withholding as much on your payroll this year.”

“It’s really difficult to drive costs down” and “bring deflation.” Wied said this difficulty is due to the “disastrous policies for the last four years under the Biden administration.”

Polarization

Lastly, Wied discussed polarization and how he handles differing political opinions. He believes that “Trump derangement syndrome is real” and “it’s never really the policy.” Democrats “just don’t like him, and just don’t like his approach.”

“I think people want more bipartisanship. They want us working together more, but no matter what we bring up right now, on the Democrat side, they’re just against it.”

Despite political differences, Wied said he has a lot of friends on the Democrat side in Congress. “I think it’s better to have really good relationships with people, but if you’re arguing, it should just be on the policy.”

Wied worked with Tammy Baldwin on a community funding project for the Green Bay Fire Station. “Neither of us agree on anything, but we agree on this,” he said. He emphasized the importance of “continuing to reach across the aisle on issues that matter to the public.”

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The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents unanimously voted to fire Jay Rothman from his position as UW president on Tuesday, April 7.

This decision followed a closed-door meeting with the Board earlier in the day. Rothman was asked last week to either resign or be fired, which he believed was not in the best interest of the UW System. He said the regents never gave a clear reason why he should leave.

Rothman began his tenure as the ninth president of the UW System in 2022. In that position, he oversaw 13 public universities across Wisconsin. The UW System serves 164,600 students and awards nearly 37,000 degrees each year.

“He worked hard to bring the best to the campuses, students, faculty, and staff,” the Board of Regents said in a statement following the firing. “Despite these accomplishments, 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.”

A separate statement challenged Rothman’s claims that the removal was sudden and without clear cause. “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,” the statement said. “At a time of profound change in higher education, this decision is about the future. The Universities of Wisconsin must be led with a clear vision that both protects and strengthens our flagship.”

Rothman’s firing has left Republican lawmakers furious. State Rep. Dave Murphy responded before the Board’s decision and said the “lack of transparency is unacceptable.”

“The Board owes Wisconsin taxpayers, students, and families a full explanation,” Murphy said.

Republican State Sen. Patrick Testin released a statement on X. “Make no mistake about it, the firing of UW President Rothman is a blatant partisan hatchet job,” he said. Rothman’s firing was him being “punished for not being liberal enough.”

Republican State Sen. Rob Hutton also responded in a statement, saying the Board of Regents were “distracted by politics and unable to concentrate on addressing the big picture challenges.”

“Instead of focusing on major structural and curriculum reforms throughout the entire system, the Regents seem determined to stray into backroom maneuvering that further diminishes the reputation of the UW brand,” Hutton said.

Governor Tony Evers, who previously served on the board, did not take a position. “It’s their call,” he said.

Chris Patton, the vice president for university relations, will temporarily serve as acting executive-in-charge. The Board of Regents said it has “immediately moved forward in its work to identify the successor.”

Rothman’s exit comes just months after University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin was announced as the next president of Columbia University.

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Last month, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the La Follette School of Public Affairs hosted Greg Lukianoff, president and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), as part of the recently-launched Wisconsin Exchange. In a conversation titled “For Me, but Not for Thee: Free Expression in Higher Education,” Lukianoff joined Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin to examine the changing role of universities amid a challenging campus climate.

FIRE has become a leading watchdog for free speech on college campuses, tracking policies and incidents nationwide to ensure students and faculty can express controversial ideas without fear of censorship.

Partisan politics have increasingly infiltrated higher education. Both students and faculty often struggle to engage meaningfully and constructively with those holding differing political or ideological viewpoints. The Wisconsin Exchange program aims to counteract this trend by fostering dialogue among students of diverse identities and political backgrounds, promoting civil debate as a shared and necessary value.

Lukianoff’s commitment to free speech comes from familial experience. His father grew up under authoritarian rule in Yugoslavia and witnessed censorship firsthand.

Joining FIRE allowed Lukianoff to protect free speech more broadly, producing nonpartisan evaluations of institutional policies and actions.

Lukianoff opened with what he called his “elevator pitch” and declared that free speech is essential on campus. He argued that limiting civil discourse is not only a constitutional violation, but a practice that chills intellectual exchange.

He took an epistemic approach and explained that knowledge grows not only by discovering what is true, but also by being proven wrong. Exposure to differing opinions is essential for intellectual growth. “You have ideas in your head, you have inclinations, you have opinions, you have aversions; this is some of the most important data, some of the most important information in the world,” he said, emphasizing that growth and development can only emerge in the practice of dissent. On college campuses, this means engaging with uncomfortable ideas - not avoiding them - is essential to intellectual and personal growth.

He warned against seeing free speech as a one-way street. “It seems really tempting to want to punish the bad opinions or ignorant opinions of your enemy. But that’s a tool that works like poison gas. You think you’re destroying your enemy with it, but then the wind changes direction and it blows back on you.” He stressed that defending free expression requires defending the speech of all - even those with whom one disagrees.

Lukianoff acknowledged that FIRE has faced pushback from both sides of the political aisle. “It’s harder to find the people who just get it in their bones, who get it as a principle, and that just takes a lot more work,” he said. “It used to be that we would see more threats to free speech coming from the left, although plenty from the right. But it’s really been completely lopsided in the past year. The situation fundamentally changed.”

He also critiqued attempts to re-institutionalize campuses, noting that coercive faculty and excessive political homogeneity stifle intellectual diversity. Coupled with rising social media use and algorithm-driven platforms, society has become increasingly consumer-driven, a phenomenon that trickles down into individual expression. “We should be experimenting with different models of social media that create better environments for dissent,” Lukianoff said. “Social media for truth seeking… it may sound unrealistic, but it can be done.”

Echo chambers and algorithmic platforms create short-term social pressures, increasing self censorship among students fearful of social consequences. This dynamic, combined with institutional pressures and lingering campus restrictions, helps explain why UW-Madison, despite a 126-spot improvement in FIRE’s College Free Speech Ranking, still received an “F” for overall free speech. Surveys, policy analysis and documented interactions revealed that students continue to feel discomfort expressing their views. Mnookin expressed concern over the evaluation, but Lukianoff remained firm: “You still have 40 percent of your students saying that violence can be okay in some circumstances in response to speech. And you can do better. ”

Looking forward, Lukianoff emphasized that fostering free expression on campus requires more than policy changes or rankings - it requires cultivating a culture of intellectual curiosity, courage, and engagement. UW-Madison has begun taking steps to build this kind of community, striving to encourage robust debate rather than suppress it. As Lukianoff reminded listeners, the protection of free speech is not just a legal or institutional responsibility - it is a commitment to the core principles of democracy itself. Only by defending the right to dissent, welcoming differing viewpoints and fostering an environment where ideas can clash without fear can universities truly live up to the Wisconsin Idea of “fearless sifting and winnowing.”

For students and faculty alike, the challenge is clear: embrace debate, defend dissent and ensure the campus remains a place where ideas can collide without fear.

The Right Honourable Boris Johnson, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2019 to 2022, spoke to The Madison Federalist in an exclusive interview before his March 23 speech at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Johnson said he viewed “division” as the greatest threat the West faces. “I think it’s obvious to me that there’s a group of countries that include Russia, Iran, China, North Korea, that are hungry to displace the United States as the hegemonic power in the world,” he said. “Everybody in the West needs to understand that and prevent it from happening.”

He was skeptical of the United States and Israel’s recent military actions in Iran but said “it’s too early to say” how the situation will resolve.

He said they are “not necessarily what I would have advocated from what I see at the moment, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that good can’t come out of it.”

“Clearly, there’s a lot of people who are very worried about the effect it’s having on the world economy, and they include me,” he said. “Inflation is up, interest rates are up, millions of ordinary people face being impoverished because of a war whose objectives are unclear and whose exit strategy is unknown. That’s the problem.”

“I think that it was always predictable and indeed predicted that Iran would respond to being bombed by closing the Strait of Hormuz. So I didn’t quite understand why President Trump said that nobody talked about what was going to happen.”

However, he emphasized that the Iranian regime is run by “very bad guys” who “do terrible things.”

“If this leads to change in Iran, which it might well do, then that would be a good thing,” Johnson said.

He is concerned about the students and young people who “get out and demonstrate in favor of Hamas” or “the Ayatollahs.” Johnson said Western nations cannot survive “if we don’t know ourselves.”

“I think young people should look at how young people behave in the autocracies. What do they want? They want to come here. They want to come to the University of Wisconsin, Madison. They’re looking at us on the internet with real envy.”

Johnson also discussed artificial intelligence, which is one of his favorite topics. “I love it. I think it’s great. It’s a great tool. I think it’s a brilliant adventure,” Johnson said. “There are lots of functions where we just don’t have enough pairs of hands,” so AI can be used to solve many problems.

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Johnson was surprised, and disappointed, to learn that students often use AI to cheat on assignments. “Do they? The rotters!,” he said. “Academics will have to find alternative means of discriminating between candidates and other ways of assessing intellectual progress, because, clearly, you can just produce a computerized essay that’s indistinguishable from what was previously thought to be a standard essay.” He believes professors will “have to find a new way of determining the originality of thought and memory and learning.”

Johnson viewed concerns about workers being replaced by AI as overstated. He said Europe and the United States have an “aging population” so artificial intelligence could help boost a shrinking workforce.

Johnson was hosted at UW-Madison by Young Americans for Freedom and the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership.

The Associated Students of Madison passed a controversial resolution prohibiting the organization from “doing business in any way with companies complicit in apartheid and genocide, including Israel’s genocide of Gaza” and calling for the UW System to do the same. It has sparked condemnation from Jewish students, UW Hillel, and UW-Madison itself.

On Wednesday, March 25, the ASM voted 15-5-3 on a resolution that calls for divestment from companies that engage in “discriminatory practices such as apartheid, genocide, and militarized violence.” It accuses Israel of “genocide” and “maintaining a system of apartheid,” but does not reference any violence by Hamas or the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Other states or organizations called out in the resolution include the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. Israel was referenced 15 times in the resolution, which is more than any other states. Iran and Venezuela are mentioned in the resolution, but only to criticize the United States’ “unprovoked” military action that removed their respective dictators from power.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting, Jewish UW student Ariav Hayempour said “The bill proposed will hurt Jews and Israelis of all identities on this campus.” He said, “A lot of antisemitism is excused because it’s shrouded in language related to Israel. When the Jewish community tells you what you’re doing will hurt me and is hurting me, we’re met with a shrug in silence.”

Hayempour asked, “How can one claim to believe in inclusion and equality, but selectively pick which groups deserve that?”

After Hayempour concluded, a large group of Jewish students applauded his speech and walked out of the room together. Reuven Weinstein, a UW-Madison student, told The Federalist, “We reconvened at the Hillel on campus for dinner and enjoyed the beautiful weather rather than sitting in a stuffy room for hours listening to accusations and attacks from strangers and so-called friends alike,” he said. “As Jews, we are not strangers to hatred, but we rise above it and fight back by speaking up for ourselves, not putting up with hate, and living our lives freely and without fear.”

During open debate between ASM representatives, Michael Harry noted that China and its treatment of the Uyghurs was not mentioned once in the resolution. Elizabeth Anderson felt that the resolution contained unnecessarily controversial language. Jianda Ni said the university should adopt more morally responsible investment practices, but that the resolution’s focus on Israel could increase the risk of harm for Jewish students.

At the previous week’s ASM meeting, a message from ASM representative Gabo Ochoa-Samoff that read “”the proportion of zios rises as the speakers list goes on” was leaked from a group chat. Multiple speakers condemned Samoff for using the term, and he apologized during open debate, noting that he is Jewish.

ASM representative Amitabha Shatdal proposed an amendment that would have struck references to specific countries in the resolution. ASM chair Landis Varughese did not allow the amendment to go to a vote because he felt it was too substantial. Shatdal said, “This kind of action on the behalf of our chair does not seem becoming of an impartial representative.” Varughese pushed back, saying, “You guys can overrule what I do via two thirds [vote.]”

The resolution, which cites links from Qatari media organization Al Jazeera and multiple left-wing interest groups, was endorsed by organizations including BLK Power Coalition, Students for a Democratic Society, and Mecha de Teejop. Sex Out Loud endorsed the resolution and said, “As a sex-positive student organization, we know that we cannot truly celebrate autonomy, empowerment, and equity until the liberation of all people is achieved.”

The resolution also criticized UW System index funds for including corporations that “contract with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to develop data systems, surveillance, and policing tools used in immigration enforcement and deportation operations.”

After the resolution passed via a roll call vote, the room erupted with cheers. UW-Madison released a statement shortly after and said it was disappointed that ASM “passed a resolution on Wednesday that issued a number of flawed, unrelated and illegal demands.”

READ MORE FROM THE MADISON FEDERALIST:

UW-Madison Professor Defends Iranian Bombings of American Service Members, Congratulates Khamenei on “Martyrdom”

UW Grants Housing Accommodation to Jewish Student After Legal Threat

As Antisemitism Rises, New Campaign Confronts Hate On Campus

“Wisconsin state law prohibits state and local government agencies from adopting their own rules or policies that would involve them in a boycott of Israel,” the statement said. “Despite the fact that ASM leadership was counseled by university attorneys on the clear illegality of that specific part of the resolution, ASM Student Council nonetheless voted to pass it.”

At the previous ASM meeting, UW-Madison Dean of Students Christina Olstad informed the ASM that the university viewed the resolution as in violation of Wisconsin state statute 20.931, which prevents state agencies from boycotting Israel.

ASM representative Roman Fritz contended that the resolution was not illegal. He read a statement from attorney Oren Jakobson that said, “Refusing to deal with or terminating business relations with any nations, organization, business, or person practicing or condoning through its actions discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, creed or sex is at times lawfully mandated – see Wisconsin Statute 36.29(1) – and at all times lawful.”

In an emailed statement to The Madison Federalist, UW Hillel director of community relations Aaron Seligman said the organization is “deeply disappointed that ASM voted to pass the antisemitic BDS resolution.” He continued, “BDS campaigns are not constructive policy discussions. They are efforts to normalize antisemitism and target Jewish students. We will continue to support a thriving Jewish community at UW-Madison.”

Professor Chad Goldberg told The Federalist that he was grateful for the university’s “unequivocal statement condemning antisemitism.” He is proud “of the Jewish student leaders who organized, showed up to the ASM meeting, and spoke out with clarity and courage.” Goldberg, who serves on the board of directors at UW Hillel, said he fully endorsed the organization’s statement.

“I do not believe this resolution reflects the views of the majority of students at University of Wisconsin–Madison,” said Sophie Genshaft, the president of Hillel’s student organization on campus. She told The Federalist, “Student government is meant to address issues that directly impact student life, and this resolution instead takes a stance on a complex international issue that many students neither feel represented by nor asked about. It’s a misalignment of priorities and does not accurately capture the full range of student perspectives on this campus.”

While some of those who spoke at the ASM meeting in favor of the resolution identified themselves as Jewish, Genshaft said the response “has been one of deep frustration and concern” across the Jewish community. “This resolution has made many Jewish students feel singled out and uncomfortable on their own campus. While individuals may hold a range of views on Israel, what is unifying right now is a clear need to stand together for freedom, democracy and also against the growing normalization of antisemitism.”

Jewish students also started a petition that has gathered nearly 400 signatures to condemn the resolution.

Ian Braun, a Jewish freshman, told The Federalist that some who support the resolution “genuinely believe in the things that this bill says and will do,” but “antisemitism is a factor.” Erika Klein, another Jewish student, believed the ASM is “compromising the safety” of Jewish students on campus and argued that BDS resolutions are correlated with spikes in antisemitism.

The university said “resolutions that call for actions that would violate the law do not warrant further engagement.” It noted that ASM resolutions do not set policy for UW-Madison, the Board of Regents, or the Wisconsin Foundation and Alumni Association.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s faculty lobbying organization presents itself as a voice for all UW-Madison professors, but it has overwhelmingly taken progressive policy stances on issues including male participation in women’s sports and race-based practices in higher education.

The Public Representation Organization of the Faculty Senate (PROFS) was founded in 1976 by the UW-Madison faculty senate. Its goal is to advocate “on behalf of UW-Madison faculty before state legislators, the governor, the Board of Regents, members of Congress and the public.”

The executive committee of the faculty senate serves as the PROFS Board of Directors, while the Steering Committee directly oversees PROFS activities and determines the organization’s positions.

In the 2023 to 2024 and 2025 to 2026 legislative sessions, PROFS lobbied for or against 78 bills. It lobbied against 30 bills, 28 of which were Republican. Of the 48 bills it lobbied in favor of, 24 were bipartisan, 6 were Republican and 18 were Democratic. In 2025, PROFS total lobbying expenditures exceeded $60,000.

Senate bills and assembly bills are distinct, even if they cover the same topics. The Federalist counted them separately because Wisconsin’s official lobbying system does so. However, the overwhelming majority of bills PROFS registered support for or against in the assembly had a similar bill counted in the senate.

The lobbying group opposed AB 446 and SB 445, which would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. These were the only bipartisan bills opposed by PROFS in the last two legislative sessions. PROFS opposed no Democratic bills in the same timeframe.

PROFS lobbyist Jack O’Meara, who has a background in Democratic politics, said he was surprised by the disparity in a phone interview with The Madison Federalist. “I didn’t know that until you just told me,” he said.

PROFS’s listed priorities include “competitive compensation,” “faculty governance,” “protection of tenure,” “state support for the university’s operating and capital budget,” “federal support for research,” and “retirement and other employee benefits.”

However, it has taken stances on a wide array of public policy positions. It lobbied against AB 102, which would have prohibited male students from playing on women’s sports teams. O’Meara told The Madison Federalist that the organization’s steering committee “didn’t like the way it was drafted.”

PROFS also lobbied against SB 652, which would have changed “race-based programs or requirements in higher education” to serve “disadvantaged students rather than minority students.” It lobbied against AB 377, which would have established English as the official language of Wisconsin.

PROFS registered against a bill that would give UW academic staff greater say in institutional governance. It opposed a bill that would have prevented undergraduate tuition at UW institutions from increasing more than the consumer price index. Furthermore, it opposed a bill that would establish free speech and academic freedom standards across the UW System.

O’Meara noted that PROFS works with Republican and Democratic legislators. He pointed to the 2019 Mark Cook Bill and their recent work with Senator Rachel Cabral-Guevara on a bill to change the fall start dates of University of Wisconsin institutions.

“Some groups make a big deal about claiming to be non-partisan and yet register against every single Republican initiative. PROFS seems to keep their focus on higher education and they have registered in favor of bills that I have authored,” Cabral-Guevara told The Madison Federalist via email. “It is helpful for legislators to hear from more than just the university administrators in Bascom and Van Hise. I’ve worked with PROFS in the past to develop and tweak legislation. It’s natural for us to have disagreements about the direction UW should be going in. While PROFS job is to bring the concerns of only UW professors to the Capitol, as an elected leader, my job is to hear from people on all sides of an issue.”

However, state representative Amanda Nedweski told The Federalist, “In my experience, PROFS has far more often supported Democrat-authored proposals while opposing reforms introduced by Republicans.”

PROFS recently worked with Democratic lawmakers to introduce a bill that would make it illegal for anyone to possess a firearm on a public university campus, even if they have a concealed carry license.

On campus, feelings about PROFS are mixed.

Political science professor emeritus Donald Downs told The Federalist via email that he was never a member of PROFS, but he did work with the organization. “They were earnest and honorable, and cared about academic freedom, especially when attacks came from outside the institution,” he said. However, “They were less on board about some internal threats, but were not hostile to those who were concerned about restrictions based on political correction. I always saw them as necessary but not always sufficient to defend academic freedom from all attacks, and was glad they were present and to work with them.”

A conservative professor who spoke to The Federalist under the condition of anonymity to avoid professional repercussions was more critical. “While PROFS presents itself as the voice of the faculty, UW–Madison’s faculty hold a much wider range of views than the organization’s lobbying suggests. Many of us simply want to focus on teaching, research, and maintaining high scholarly standards without ideological litmus tests. PROFS does not represent that broader faculty perspective, nor does it represent mine.”

O’Meara said, “We consider ourselves representing all faculty. Some faculty choose to contribute as members.” He said that fewer than half of the UW-Madison faculty are members of PROFS.

The professor said PROFS functions as “a strongly left-leaning advocacy group” that frequently supports policies against his understanding of “academic excellence and intellectual freedom.” Nedweski also felt that “the line between being a faculty advocacy group and acting as a progressive political organization has become increasingly blurred.”

PROFS Board of Directors chair Annie Jones and Steering Committee President Michael Bernard-Donals did not respond to questions sent via email from The Madison Federalist about how PROFS determines which bills it will support. O’Meara said he is not involved with those internal deliberations.

Both O’Meara and Nedweski believed that PROFS’s overall lobbying efforts were less influential than the university’s. “In terms of their influence on higher education policy, I would say it’s very limited compared to the UW System’s government relations office,” Nedweski said.

University spokesman John Lucas told The Federalist via email, “UW-Madison meets with PROFS to discuss issues of common interest but the group is an independent non-profit, with its own views and perspectives. No UW-Madison funding goes to support PROFS.” Notably, PROFS does have an office in Bascom Hall and a wisc.edu website.

“A faculty advocacy organization should prioritize academic merit and excellence, genuine viewpoint diversity, color-blind hiring policies, and the protection of scholars who hold dissenting views,” the anonymous professor said. “It should also advocate for performance-based funding that fairly recognizes UW–Madison’s outsized contributions rather than subsidizing weaker institutions, while working to build constructive goodwill across the political aisle instead of consistently framing one party as an adversary.”

Editor’s note: Nedweski is a former neighbor of the article’s author.

UW-Madison announced on Monday, March 9 the appointment of John Zumbrunnen as provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin praised Zumbrunnen’s principled leadership and strong commitments to the Wisconsin Idea, shared governance, student success and excellence in research and teaching.

“Both in his service as interim provost and in several preceding leadership roles here at UW–Madison, John has earned the broad trust of our students, faculty, and through his thoughtful engagement on a wide range of complex issues,” Mnookin said in a campus-wide message.

Zumbrunnen, a political science professor since 2008 and former department chair, stepped into the interim provost role last summer. He co-founded the Division for Teaching and Learning, helped lead the Wisconsin RISE initiative to address grand challenges through interdisciplinary research and oversaw the creation of the university’s new AI-focused college.

As interim provost, he managed budget pressures, new faculty workload policies and the sunset of the Division of Diversity, Equity & Educational Achievement. Support programs were redistributed, but many student cultural centers, scholarships and key services remain in place.

The two other finalists in the provost search were Anna Stenport from the University of Georgia and Charles Martinez Jr. from the University of Texas-Austin. All three finalists - Zumbrunnen, Stenport and Martinez - have previously expressed their support for DEI programs on college campuses.

“We should never rest on that continuous and fearless process of sifting and winnowing we talk so much about,” Zumbrunnen said in an emailed statement to The Federalist.

The university maintains diversity as a core value, including viewpoints, identities and backgrounds. Zumbrunnen helped implement recommendations from the Student Experience Group report, which focuses on tailored support, continuous assessment and resource stewardship to expand pathways for all students.

He has publicly affirmed the commitment to free speech while addressing concerns about bias, and he participated in a campus forum on antisemitism, resilience and inclusive higher education environments in 2024.

In late February, the three provost finalists pitched their plans for the role. Zumbrunnen tied his vision to former Chancellor Charles Van Hise’s declaration to never be content. He stressed preparing students for a dynamic world through rigorous education that prioritizes quality and impact over raw numbers. “It’s not about ‘will we attract 8,500 students here?’ It’s about what students do we want to attract here, and what experience do we want them to have?”

Zumbrunnen also advanced the Wisconsin Exchange program, which builds civil dialogue, viewpoint diversity and respectful debate across political divides. “The Wisconsin Idea is not just a principle. It’s not just pride. It is a challenge to us,” he said.

Zumbrunnen’s knowledge of campus operations and shared governance set him apart in the national search. During public presentations, he addressed political pressures on higher education values and the need to build trust amid disagreements.

Stenport, dean at the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Georgia, previously held an appointment in the Gender and Women’s Studies department at the University of Illinois. She emphasized multidisciplinary collaboration to foster inclusion and strengthen college identity, linking it to the Wisconsin Idea through public service and a “one health” approach.

Martinez, Dean of the College of Education at UT-Austin, drew on his family’s immigrant experience to describe universities as “door-openers, not gate-keepers.” He focused on affordability, social mobility and tying research directly to the Wisconsin Idea. His departure from UT-Austin sparked controversy amid state debates over higher education priorities.

As provost, Zumbrunnen provides continuity as the campus begins its chancellor search following Mnookin’s departure to Columbia University. With Eric Wilcots serving as interim chancellor, the new provost will help guide academic priorities at a pivotal time.

Zumbrunnen told The Federalist that his focus remains on advancing the mission with deans and partners. “Priorities for me are to look to the future, think about how we can advance research that impacts lives and improves the world.”

He said he wants to “build on what is already an amazing educational experience for our students.”

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This article by University of Wisconsin-Madison senior Rebecca Draeger was originally published in The College Fix.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has yet to hire a “conservative political thought” professor despite agreeing to do so several years ago in exchange for funding from the state legislature.

Asked about the status of the position, a campus official gave the exact same answer he provided last year to The College Fix.

“UW–Madison continues to actively work on the creation of an endowed chair in conservative political thought,” spokesman John Lucas told The Fix via email.

He said university officials “don’t have other updates to share at this time,” repeating what he told The Fix in February 2025.

However, Lucas did say “the university has hired multiple scholars with a broad range of perspectives, including those who self-identify as conservative.”

Lucas did not clarify the timeline for the university’s hiring process, define which steps the school has taken since the agreement was made, or list which organizations they reached out to identify candidates or secure funding.

As previously reported by The Fix, UW-Madison agreed to the deal as part of a broader $800 million funding agreement between the regents for the University of Wisconsin system and state legislative leaders that also included cuts to “diversity, equity, and inclusion” programming.

In exchange, the university system received money for pay raises, and UW-Madison specifically received $347 million for a new engineering building.

The deal, first passed in December 2023, requires the university to create an “endowed chair to focus on conservative political thought, classical economic theory, or classical liberalism.”

The 2023 agreement was, in part, a reaction to a survey that found most UW–Madison students were afraid to express their views on controversial topics in class. Students identifying as “conservative” and “very conservative” were especially likely to self-censor.

About 40 percent of survey respondents said they were worried their grades would suffer if they spoke up.

Later, a 2024 analysis by political science professor Alexander Tahk found that “over 99% of political dollars contributed by UW faculty went to Democrats and left-wing groups over the past decade.”

They found that the odds of a UW–Madison humanities or social science professor making a political donation to a Republican were 1 in 530.

Higher ed experts weigh in on potential bias at UW-Madison

Several higher education experts recently spoke on campus about “scholar-activist faculty hiring,” and gave comments afterward to The Fix about potential bias in the university’s hiring system.

The Center for Research on the Wisconsin Economy, the Tommy G. Thompson Center, and the Center for the Study of Liberal Democracy sponsored the March 4 event.

A former University of Wisconsin regent said hiring processes must be fixed to weed out bias.

University hiring practices “have to become less biased and homogeneous,” Free Speech for Campus President Tim Higgins told The Fix in person after the UW-Madison event hosted by several centers on campus. The former University of Wisconsin regent said the Madison campus tends to “hire woke people.”

In response to a question on how the Wisconsin Legislature should respond, Higgins said: “Our next governor really needs to look at holding the state agency to producing the kinds of changes that need to be done.”

“The university system has gone so far off track,” he said.

Higgins referenced a famous UW–Madison plaque that commits the university to the “fearless sifting and winnowing” of information and academic freedom in pursuit of the truth and said, “We need to get back to that.”

John Sailer, an investigative journalist and fellow with the Manhattan Institute, spoke at the event.

When asked by The Fix about how the university could increase viewpoint diversity in the Q&A portion of his talk, Sailer responded, “I’m not advocating for Make America Great Again statements as a replacement for diversity statements.”

He expressed that the issue is the personnel pipeline, beginning at the undergraduate level. Sailer commented that there aren’t many conservatives who enter into higher education in the first place.

“One thing that needs to happen is a lot of universities need to say ‘Hey, we are interested in and enthusiastic about hiring conservatives. That doesn’t mean we’re going to give you some leg up if you’re a lousy scholar, but also conservative … but we desire to be a place that welcomes conservatives, and we mean it.’”

Sailer further recommended the creation of scholarship opportunities that would interest conservatives, such as American history, constitutional studies, and the classics.

Sailer suggested that increasing viewpoint diversity will require long-term efforts to encourage more conservatives to pursue academic careers.

UW-Madison sociology professor Samer Alatout said that Iranian bombings of U.S. military bases are “highly logical” and praised Iranian dictator Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a recent series of social media posts.

As first reported by Campus Reform, Alatout made heated claims on X in the aftermath of U.S.-Israeli airstrikes that killed Khamenei.

On March 6, Alatout wrote, “I hope you’d be willing to condemn your own country if and when it displays arrogant imperial power like mine is doing.”

Four days earlier, he made a post responding to the U.S.’s report of the deaths of American soldiers in Operation Epic Fury, saying, “Sacrificing American youths, mostly poor and people of color, only to assist Israel’s dark powers and genocidal government to establish demonic rule, is a disgrace, let alone traitorous.”.

On March 2, a post written in Arabic claimed that the bombings of American bases by Iranian forces were either “highly” or “completely” logical, depending on the translation. In the same message, he voiced his belief that Arab states should prevent other nations from using their territories to strike Iran, calling this not a mere political demand, but a “moral and spiritual one.”

After Khamenei was confirmed to be dead, Alatout praised him for leading “resistance against colonialism and the Zionists” and congratulated him on his “martyrdom.”

Gillian Drummond, UW-Madison’s Director of Public Affairs, told The Madison Federalist that Atalout’s comments do not reflect the view of the university and that “UW-Madison does not monitor the social media of students and staff.” She added that when a faculty member decides to voice their opinion, “they speak for themselves, not the university” and that “as an institution, UW-Madison supports freedom of expression and the civil exchange of all ideas and views.”

Alatout did not respond to The Madison Federalist’s request for comment via email.

Alatout’s RateMyProfessor profile has a 2.6-star rating out of 5 stars. Students left anonymous reviews with one saying that his “personal opinions on tense situations made the classroom uncomfortable for those in class” and that “he let real life events dwell in the classroom.” Another reviewer called his teaching “erratic,” and another added that “he fails to provide insight into the textbook material, instead he goes off on tangents.”

In May 2024, Alatout was arrested for obstructing a police officer in connection with the anti-Israel encampment at UW-Madison. In an interview with WMTJ-TV Milwaukee, Alatout said his objective was to “protect students’ right to protest and to protect their safety.” He added that he locked hands with others around the encampment to “protect the students from any violence by the police.” He accused the university administration of “racist shit” and claimed he was specifically targeted.

On the one-year anniversary of the October 7th terrorist attacks, Alatout decried “Jewish supremacy” when he addressed a Students for Justice in Palestine protest. Pro-Israel students mocked Alatout throughout that speech. Alatout is a former faculty advisor for UW-Madison’s SJP chapter.

Other recent posts by Alatout include one saying Tucker Carlson is “ideologically consistent, smart, sincere, and direct” and an endorsement of democratic-socialist gubernatorial candidate Francesca Hong.

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This article first appeared in the Winter 2026 print edition of The Madison Federalist.

Former Governor Scott Walker joined The Madison Federalist for an interview via Zoom on Thursday, Jan. 29, to discuss topics including the upcoming gubernatorial election, campus issues, and immigration.

Gubernatorial Election

Republicans have a chance to take back the governor’s seat in the upcoming gubernatorial election. Walker believes the top priority for this election is to reduce the cost of living. “There’s still many voters, particularly young voters, who are still very concerned about cost of living and about wages keeping up with things like housing,” Walker said. “Interest rates, for example, are so much higher than they were, four or five years ago.”

“We saw what happened under Joe Biden. That had an impact on Wisconsin, so the next governor really needs to not only talk about costs of living but reduce the size of government to help drive down costs,” he said. “High taxes take away from the ability of voters and hardworking people in Wisconsin to cover the bills that they have.”

Currently, Congressman Tom Tiffany is the presumptive nominee for governor in the Republican primary. Walker noted that Tiffany is a strong candidate as “he was in the state legislature, he went through the battles, and he’s been tested in that regard.”

Walker reiterated the importance of reducing the cost of living, including taxes, fees, and student loan debt. He believes it’s important to “get the cost down in the first place so students aren’t taking on an even greater burden.”

Public safety is another key component, such as border security, in “keeping us safe from people who’ve come into this country illegally, particularly those who’ve committed additional crimes.”

Walker believes that Tiffany was in a good place to win this election. He said, “Tiffany showed a more than $2 million raise which is really good” and said “the fact that Evers is not running again” bodes well for Republicans. This leaves the Democrats with a wide open primary. Walker told The Federalist, “I think it is hopeful for us, but there’s still the swing voters in Wisconsin– kind of like undecided students on campus– who aren’t necessarily conservative or liberal.”

He continued, “It’s a difficult task to win as a Republican overall, but particularly when Republicans are in the White House. Every election– but one for governor– has gone the opposite of who was in the White House. For example, I won three elections for governor, all three were when Barack Obama was president of the United States. Typically, it goes back and forth.”

For “Tiffany to win, he’s going to have to break through that and stay focused on cost of living issues,” Walker added.

Walker recalled campaigning in Wisconsin on behalf of President Trump. “I talked about going to the grocery store and how the cost of filling up one grocery cart was about the same as what I could get four years earlier for two carts,” he said. “People can relate to that. Those are the things they want people to talk about.”

Walker was elected governor of the state twice– 2010 and 2014– and he survived a recall election in 2012. With his election experience, Walker’s “advice to whomever the nominee is, as well as people running for state senate, state assembly, Congress, on the conservative side, is don’t take the bait” and “focus on the things that really matter to everyday voters.”

In the Democratic primary, candidates such as Sarah Rodriguez, Mandela Barnes, David Crowley, Francesca Hong, and others are hoping to become the nominee for governor. Walker believes the nominee will be Barnes, but he “is the most radical.”

He added that “as we saw in New York City, it can be appealing if people don’t know anything about history” or if they don’t know what “happens when those policies fail elsewhere in the world.”

UW-Madison Campus issues

According to the 2026 FIRE Free Speech Ranking, UW-Madison placed 101st out of 267 colleges and universities nationwide, receiving a free speech grade of “F” overall. Additionally, FIRE conducted a free speech survey, which found that 35 percent of students at UW-Madison believe that violence is acceptable to stop someone from speaking on campus, at least in rare cases.

Walker said free speech “is a constitutionally protected right” and “our founders felt so passionately about it that they put it right at the beginning of the Constitution.” College campuses are “the very place that it should be revered” but “the place it’s most at risk.”

Walker believes there should not only be “a consistent free speech policy at all of the University of Wisconsin System schools, but it should be enforceable.”

“That’s the whole Socratic principle of gathering together for higher education,” Walker said. “Expanded learning should be the free debate and discussion of big ideas” and “to be exposed to things that you may fundamentally disagree with but to expand horizons. That has not happened at the University of Wisconsin. That is not happening in schools across the country.”

Walker discussed the heckler’s veto, and he believes students who try to shut down speakers should be issued “a warning, but subsequent to that, things like expelling students who violate free speech standards” repeatedly.

“That’s not saying that someone can’t protest,” Walker continued. “I can’t violate the constitutional rights of other students to be able to hear a speaker, regardless of whether I agree with him or her.”

“The students deserve the right to hear from a wide variety of different ideological, political, and other beliefs.”

Walker hopes UW-Madison “embraces and promotes” the constitutional right of freedom of speech because “one diversity most lacking on most college campuses is diversity of thought.”

He also hopes that intellectual diversity will be applied when hiring for jobs. “It’s tragic to me, particularly in the arts and sciences, the social sciences, how many campuses are almost devoid of any conservative or even slightly right-of-center faculty members.”

Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin was recently named the next president of Columbia University, and Walker said he was surprised by the announcement. For the next chancellor, Walker emphasized that “it’s going to be incredibly important to find someone who’s committed to having a safe place for all voices.” He reiterated “that conservatives overwhelmingly are concerned about speaking out about their views.”

“College should be a place where you’re free to talk about your ideas,” Walker said. That “doesn’t mean you’re protected from any challenges, but you shouldn’t feel that just because of your point of view, your grade is going to be damaged or that other students are going to take action against you.”

He believes there are many models of leadership in higher education, pointing to former president of the University of Florida and U.S. Senator Ben Sasse. Walker said that Sasse “really transformed that school and was adamant about free speech.” He also “very strongly encouraged the kind of intellectual diversity we talked about.”

“There are a handful of folks that do a really nice job, even at public institutions across the country, and we should expect that at UW-Madison.”

Walker also discussed the tragic assassination of Charlie Kirk. Walker said, “I’d known Charlie for years. He actually came up from Illinois to help our recall election.”

“I was with him and his parents a month before the assassination, so personally, I was very troubled by it,” he said. “I know just how devastating it was.”

Charlie Kirk “was such a bigger than life personality” and he “was not only talking on a college campus, he was actually listening to people.”

“One of the key things that I think is lost, particularly in the world of social media, is listening to people, not just waiting until they’re done so that we can own them with whatever their counter attack is, but actually listening to what they say.” Walker stated this is important because “most students are not ideologically tied to the left or the right. They’re just trying to figure it out.”

Immigration

Walker has experience in dealing with civil unrest from his time as governor of Wisconsin, and he gave his opinion on how he would deal with the immigration situation in Minneapolis. He said, “Governor Tim Walz has totally screwed that up.”

“He [Walz] has every right, just like any citizen does to speak out, if he disagrees with the policies” but it is another thing “to encourage people to get in the middle of federal law enforcement agents carrying out the law.”

Walker points out that it was the same laws that ICE agents were enforcing “when Barack Obama was president and when Bill Clinton was president.”

In response to the fatal shooting of ICE protesters, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, Walker said, “What happened with the two individuals whose lives were lost is tragic.” He believes Minnesota’s leadership “should be telling people to go find a place to peacefully protest.”

Walker told The Federalist the best thing a leader can do is to advise people to “not engage in creating any more chaos, and unfortunately, they’re doing the opposite.”