The secretive “academic staff” group’s action appears to be the equivalent of a chicken registering in support of Colonel Sanders, but they’re not explaining.
An important new bill, proposed in the Wisconsin Legislature and passed by both the state Assembly and Senate, would give the roughly 5,000 instructional academic staff in the Universities of Wisconsin a long-deserved seat at the decision-making table. If Gov. Tony Evers signs the bill, he will immediately crack the glass ceiling for hundreds of hard-working UW instructors, including many women and those of color.
For decades, instructional academic staff – despite often teaching the most and having the strongest industry experience – have been locked out of power in the UW through practice and policy. The power – to determine curriculum, distribute budgets, and hire/fire – has been ensconced solely in the hands of an exclusive elite, PhDs with tenure, often theorists. The bill changes this by flattening out the archaic hierarchy that rewards title/degree over workforce experience/teaching. It makes them equal.
So, it was extremely curious to see that a group calling itself the “Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization” registered AGAINST a bill to give academic staff power and a vote on governance issues. The group purports to advocate for academic staff, so why would it register against their interests?
The plot thickens.
We’ve obtained an old flyer from ASPRO in which the group, which started at UW-Madison, recruits paying UW academic staff members by promising them that it will work to protect their “governance rights.”
The group’s registration appears to run exactly counter to that promise. If there is some other explanation, the group has suddenly gone stone silent. The group never offered an explanation to the Legislature, either, for why it would register against the interests of academic staff.
I would note that, although I have been a full-time instructional academic staff member at UW-Milwaukee for 21 years and am the recipient of the UW-Milwaukee Alumni Foundation’s teaching excellence award, I have never heard of ASPRO. Several other UW instructors whom I know have never heard of it, either (note: as always my opinions are my own and don’t represent UWM).
Thus, I set out on a quest to figure out WHY an academic staff group would work to the detriment of academic staff.
It turns out that the group has also taken a string of ideologically radical stances recently that I, as an academic staff member, do NOT support. For example, the group registered against a bill to ban males in women’s sports and locker rooms. They also registered against bills relating to free speech on campus and anti-semitism. But that’s one thing. Advocating AGAINST academic staff having a vote on governance issues is another story altogether.
No one at the group returned calls – even to the Assembly author of the legislation.
I obtained minutes from a 2015 meeting of the group, in which its lobbyist, Kathi Kilgnore, revealed it had only 369 members. It’s not clear how many members the group currently has because it’s gone dark, refusing to respond to that and other questions. Other meeting minutes from that year stated, “Kilgore had reviewed the number of ASPRO members from UW-Madison and found that Madison had fallen below 300 members and would not be eligible for a fourth Board position.”
The bill expands the definition of UW faculty for governance reasons. It says the faculty “may not limit eligibility of faculty members to serve on or be the chairperson or director of a faculty committee, center, academic department, or program on the basis of a faculty member’s rank, tenure, appointment to a faculty title, or terminal degree attainment.” In other words, if Evers signs the bill, you wouldn’t need tenure or a PHd to have a seat at the table or to be a dean. Many instructional academic staff have 20+ years of industry experience, master’s degrees, and many years of teaching experience.
Unraveling the Mystery of the ‘Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization’
The so-called Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization describes itself as “a not-for-profit, professional organization that represents UW System Academic Staff.”
Trying to figure out WHY a mysterious so-called academic staff lobbying organization would register against a bill helping academic staff became a fruitless exercise.
The group did not reach out to the bill’s Assembly author, state Rep. Jim Piwowarczyk, to express any concerns before registering against the bill. Piwowarczyk reached out to the group’s registered lobbyist, Kilgore, and she did not even bother to respond to him. The bill’s Senate author is Rachael Cabral-Guevara.
Its page on the state lobbyist website identifies ASPRO as being “primarily interested in legislation that affects higher education in the University of Wisconsin system and the academic staff members within the system.”
I also called Kilgore, and ASPRO’s number, and I contacted every person listed on its 990 tax form (the latest available is 2024). I told them I hoped to learn more about WHY they registered against this bill.
No one bothered to respond.
When ASPRO registered against the bill, the group did not speak or attach a written statement.
It turns out that the group has existed for a long time.
It also turns out that the group is apparently so little known at UW-Milwaukee that ASPRO representative Jenny Dahlberg showed up at an academic staff committee meeting there in February, as the bill was pending in the Legislature.
“Academic Staff Professionals Representation Organization (ASPRO) presentation – Jenny Dahlberg, ASPRO President, shared her background and gave an overview of ASPRO. ASPRO is a not-for-profit, professional organization that represents the interests of academic staff to the Wisconsin State Legislature, the Governor, the Board of Regents, and the public,” the meeting minutes from UWM say.
“ASPRO advocates for academic staff by educating decision-leaders about academic staff roles. ASPRO hopes to increase participation from other campuses. Some recent issues being discussed by ASPRO include challenges surrounding Workday, capping undergraduate tuition, and Act 15. Discussion about contract types for academic staff, pay progression and compression, and indefinite status took place. The membership form will be shared with the ASC.”
Interestingly, the minutes don’t mention ASPRO’s plans to advocate against academic staff getting a seat at the governance table (they currently have advisory roles, but they don’t have votes on the powerful executive committees that determine personnel moves, curriculum, and budgetary distribution.)
Dahlberg, who works at UW-Madison’s veterans school, recently spoke on an ASPRO co-organized panel raising concern about federal cuts under Trump’s administration.
ASPRO Takes Controversial Positions
“ASPRO was created in 1989 after the Wisconsin State Legislature proposed that academic staff receive a lower salary increase than the faculty. Academic staff recognized the need to raise the visibility of their roles at the University and to lobby the Legislature and Executive Branch to ensure fair treatment,” its website says.
“The organization was founded by academic staff at UW-Madison who were involved in governance, but the founding members realized that creating a separate organization distinct from campus or System governance was the preferred and most effective way of achieving ASPRO’s goals. Within a few years, the academic staff at UW-Milwaukee petitioned to join ASPRO. Membership across all campuses within the UW System followed in 1997.”
ASPRO’s website claims its focus is on:
- “educating decision-leaders about Academic Staff roles.”
- “collaborating with UW Administration, faculty, student groups, alumni associations, professional groups, and other organizations when goals are shared.”
Yet, the state’s lobbying website indicates the group has opposed:
- A bill that would require the universities to ban males from playing in women’s sports or using women’s locker rooms.
- A bill that would stop the UW “from increasing resident undergraduate student tuition by more than the increase in the consumer price index.”
- A bill that would “requires each state agency and local governmental unit, as well as each
employee or official of the state or of a local governmental unit, to consider the definition of
‘antisemitism’ adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on May 26, 2016,
including its examples, when evaluating evidence of discriminatory intent.” - A bill that would establish “Certain standards related to free speech and academic freedom at University of Wisconsin System institutions and technical colleges. For violation of these standards, the Board of Regents of the UW System or technical college district board may be subject to a civil cause of action and must provide certain public notice of the violation. The bill also establishes certain due process standards in disciplinary proceedings at UW System institutions and technical colleges.”
- A bill that would “change certain race-based programs or requirements in higher education. In general, the bill modifies these programs and requirements so they apply to disadvantaged students rather than minority students. Under the bill, the term ‘disadvantaged,’ with respect to a student, means having experienced any unfavorable economic, familial, geographic, physical, or other personal hardship. The term may be further defined by rule but may not include the consideration of 1) a student’s race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, or religion or 2) a student’s identity as a member of a group without regard to individual qualities.”
ASPRO’s website notes that academic staff in the UW are “the largest group of UW System employees – over 18,000 Academic Staff professionals account for approximately 50% of all UW System employees.” The bill affects the portion that are instructional academic staff – those academic staff who are in classrooms with more than 50% appointments.
But who is on the board? The website doesn’t say. Successes and accomplishments, they list “text forthcoming.”
In 2024, the group’s 900 form listed Jenny Dahlberg as its president, Greg Iaccarino as its vice president, and Tyler Tollefson as its secretary/treasurer. They are each listed as devoting 30 minutes a week to the position and receiving zero compensation. The executive director then was listed as Kathi Kilgore. They spent more than $38,000 on lobbying in 2025. They also spent time on “gubernatorial nominations.”
They have an address at 10 East Doty Street in Madison.
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