EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – Faculty members across University of Wisconsin system have been voting overwhelmingly to approve resolutions of “no conference” in UW’s president and Board of Regents.

A similar resolution will be going before the Faculty Senate at UW-Eau Claire for a vote on Tuesday.

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But before the vote, Senate members received a little reminder from their student body president that sugar goes down better than vinegar, particularly in politics.

Jake Wrasse, the student body president, wrote in a letter to Senate members that it would be “embarrassingly naïve” to approve the “no confidence” measure, which was drafted to protest cuts in state funding to the university system, and changes to tenure job protections for university faculty.

Wrasse wrote that such a resolution would further alienate Republican state leaders who support the Board of Regents and UW President Ray Cross, and jeopardize hope for more funding in future state budget cycles, according to the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal.

The key is diplomacy, the student told the teachers. That’s how government works.

“Though perhaps well intentioned, this motion and the bill text (of no confidence) put forward by the authors is embarrassingly naive and represents a massive misunderstanding of politics in the state of Wisconsin,” said the five-page letter from Wrasse, who has served as a lobbyist in Madison on various issues.

“I can tell you that, in my over 100 legislative meetings in Wisconsin, improving the UW System’s fortune is not about persuasion. It is about working with the people in power to build relationships so they may show us some good will. They will decide what happens to the UW System, and I’d rather have us be a part of that conversation than not.

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“Telling someone you have no confidence in their ability to do their job is a terrible way to initiate a partnership to improve advocacy efforts.

“Do you want to look foolish and make the budget battle more difficult next year? That’s all I’m getting from this.”

Wrasse also noted professors’ anger over the recent decision by the state to remove tenure policy from statute and hand it off to the Board of Regents to deal with as policy, the Journal Sentinel reported.

The move gave the university system more leverage to alter job-protecting tenure policies and make personnel changes to academic staff – an idea loathed by faculty.

“They got rid of tenure in state law because many find tenure to be ridiculous; they don’t believe in lifetime job security, usually because of a very entrepreneurial/capitalist set of beliefs, and they don’t want to pay people that they see as ‘coasting’ in a safe job,” Wrasse wrote.

“However, an impassioned, rousing argument for tenure is going to have zero impact on this audience. In fact, it will reinforce their belief that faculty are out of touch with the reality they feel most Wisconsinites experience.

“Tenure is politics. We’re a state entity, and elected officials have power over these policies. It is imperative that you understand the environment in which we operate is dominated by political figures, not best practices from the (American Association of University Professors) or any other agency.”

Faculty members at UW-River Falls and UW-La Crosse approved “no confidence” resolutions targeting Cross and the Board of Regents this week. A full meeting of the UW Milwaukee faculty – described as “unprecedented” by Madison.com – will vote on its own resolution Tuesday.