Thompson questions chancellor selection
Former four-term Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, given the chance to defend the incoming University of Wisconsin-Madison chancellor who has been criticized by Republican leaders, offered a lukewarm reaction to the hire.
Thompson said he was surprised the UW Board of Regents went with University of California, Los Angeles law school dean Jennifer Mnookin over UW-Madison provost John Karl Scholz, who has served as the flagship university’s No. 2 since 2019.
In both UW-Madison and UCLA’s reporting structures, deans of individual schools and colleges report to the provost. Mnookin has led UCLA’s law school of about 1,350 students, 130 full-time faculty and 150 staff since 2015.
“Why would you pick a dean over a provost to run a school as large as Madison?” Thompson asked. “Not getting involved in personality or philosophy. Looking strictly at credentials, provost is higher than dean.”
He told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Tuesday that he wasn’t involved in the interview process nor has he spoken with Regents to get more insight on their selection.
“Now that she’s been chosen, we have to get behind her and support her,” Thompson said. “Hopefully she does well. Hopefully she comes in here with an open mind and not a California philosophy that she seems to have articulated.”
Thompson, who finished a 21-month stint as UW System president this spring, a tenure marked by moments when he publicly disagreed with his own party, declined to elaborate on the “California philosophy” he’s supposedly seen from Mnookin. He said he hasn’t met Mnookin but welcomes the opportunity if she’s up for it.
Mnookin has indicated her willingness to meet with just about anyone, including Republicans who have characterized her as a leftist radical.
“I’m a connector,” she told reporters in her first news conference on Tuesday. “I’m willing to sit in the room and listen.”
In Mnookin’s seven years as dean, she set fundraising records, diversified the law school’s faculty and staff, and created new student scholarship programs. Her appointment to UW-Madison drew accolades from UCLA and UW leaders alike.
The search process was rigorous and included multiple opportunities for public feedback, UW System spokesperson Mark Pitsch said.
Regents Vice President Karen Walsh defended the board’s decision to hire Mnookin, which was unanimously made by board members appointed by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and by former Republican Gov. Scott Walker. Chancellors are hired based on their intelligence, innovation and leadership skills — not their political ideology, she said.
Thompson said he hasn’t followed the specifics of Republicans’ objections to Mnookin because he had recently tested positive for COVID-19. The fully vaccinated 80-year-old said he’d been down for the past four or five days, causing him to miss out on speaking at UW-Platteville’s commencement ceremony and attending his granddaughter’s graduation from UW-Madison. He said Tuesday that he was starting to feel a little better but still sick from the “terrible virus.”
Scholz did not immediately respond to a request for comment made late Tuesday afternoon. He will serve as interim chancellor in the time between outgoing Chancellor Rebecca Blank’s May 31 departure and Mnookin’s Aug. 4 start date.