Turning up the heat on the long-smoldering relationship between state lawmakers and the University of Wisconsin System, leading Republicans are threatening to pull any hope of more state funding unless a new course at UW-Madison called "The Problem of Whiteness" is canceled.

Further, one of the lawmakers, Rep. Dave Murphy of Greenville, on Wednesday told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel he has directed his staff to scour other university course offerings to make sure "they're legit." And while stressing he doesn't want to manage the university, Murphy also said he wants the professor teaching "The Problem of Whiteness" course dismissed.

Murphy, who is chairman of the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities, said he and his staff looked at "The Problem of Whiteness" course description for the spring semester, as well as the background of its teacher, Assistant Professor Damon Sajnani. He concluded: "We are adding to the polarization of the races in our state."

Murphy said Tuesday that his understanding of the course premise was that white people are racist. And he was particularly bothered by Sajnani's Twitter posts after five Dallas police officers were killed by a sniper on July 7. Sajnani posted a link to a song called “Officer Down,” and wrote, “Watching CNN, this is the song I am currently enjoying in my head.” Later, he posted: “Is the uprising finally starting? Is this style of protest gonna go viral?"

Murphy said he had been "trying to talk up" to fellow lawmakers increased funding for the UW System in the next state budget but was now having doubts.

"If UW-Madison stands with this professor," Murphy wrote, "I don’t know how the university can expect the taxpayers to stand with UW-Madison."

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The university has defended Sajnani's course — which is an elective — saying the provocative title "refers to the challenge of understanding white identity and non-white identity across the globe."

The new course "will benefit students who are interested in developing a deeper understanding of race issues. The course is a challenge and response to racism of all kinds," the university said.

As for Sajnani's postings on Twitter, UW Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf said in a statement Tuesday that UW supports the First Amendment rights of its students, faculty and staff, "including their use of social media tools to express their views on race, politics or other topics, in their capacity as private citizens."

But she noted that incitement of violence is not consistent with UW's values and she called for everyone in the university community to "elevate their level of discourse."

Different perspectives

The themes this week are similar to those that continue to cause chafing between lawmakers and educators.

On one side — generally speaking — are those who revere the idea of running the university system like an efficient business, with a clear hierarchy and strict accountability. They worry that precious tax dollars are wasted by elitist academics who conduct meaningless research and barely break a sweat in the classroom. And while they embrace the hard sciences, they cringe at fuzzier liberal arts classes.

On the other side — again, generally speaking — are those devoted to principles of shared governance and intellectual exploration. They see the business model as the bane of academic freedom and worry that lawmakers and many in the general public have little appreciation for classroom dynamics, and no grasp of the economic power that comes with research. They see courses that challenge, confront, perhaps even insult, as fundamental to a university's mission to foster critical thinking.

Many of the comments Tuesday carried echoes of both perspectives:

Asked what he and his staff would be looking for in courses, Murphy said they would not need to look at disciplines like chemistry or business, but "we'll be looking at the humanities. I realize college is a place to discuss ideas that aren't necessarily everybody's idea of how things ought to be, but I want to make sure there's legitimate education going on."

As a businessman, Murphy said, "I'm used to a structure where there's a boss. People make suggestions, but the boss gets to make decisions. (At the UW), the faculty gets to make decisions and there doesn't seem to be much oversight."

Gov. Scott Walker called the course “goofy” and “unusual,” but stopped short of saying it should put UW’s funding in jeopardy. Walker told The Associated Press “the better area to focus on with funding is the broader issue of accountability and performance.”

The university explained in a statement that specific classes are designed and approved at the departmental level and overseen by the faculty University Curriculum Committee. "There is a long academic tradition at UW-Madison and in higher education for allowing individual faculty freedom to design courses reflecting topics that they and their department consider important," the statement said.

The ranking Democrat on the Assembly Committee on Colleges and Universities, Rep. Dana Wachs (D-Eau Claire), said, “We should be embracing that we have students and professors who are taking a hard look at the issues affecting our world and encourage them to do so without the constant threat of even more cuts to their funding.”

A step too far?

This is the second time in less than six months that a legislator has threatened UW System funding over course offerings at the state's flagship university.

In July, Sen. Steve Nass, the vice-chairman of the Senate’s Committee on Universities and Technical Colleges and a frequent UW critic, warned in a letter to UW leaders and regents that UW lecturer Jason Nolen's decision to assign an "offensive" essay on gay men's sexual preferences in a sociology class could have budget ramifications.

Nass demanded UW Chancellor Rebecca Blank, UW System President Ray Cross and all the regents read the essay and share their thoughts with him, warning that their answers would play a role in evaluating the system’s budget request for 2017-'19.

Nass was the first lawmaker this week to pressure the UW System to cancel the "Problem of Whiteness" class in the department of African cultural studies. Murphy escalated the issue Tuesday.

Sajnani deferred questions to administrators.

One student who signed up for the course, freshman Erik Franze of Waukesha, said he was intrigued by the title, so he dropped another class to take it.

Franze listened to a guest lecture by Sajnani this fall. The professor has dreadlocks that touch the ground, is a hip-hop artist and "is not your average, boring lecturer," said Franze, who is majoring in international studies and Spanish.

"White people forget we have a race, too — that issues of race aren't only for minority people," Franze said. Opposition "comes from discomfort people have with the idea of critically examining the biases white people have, consciously or subconsciously."

While the government has a certain responsibility for public universities, as Murphy suggested, "there still should be a separation," Franze said. Murphy calling for the class to be dropped "steps too far into the university."