Chapter 36

36.29(2) (2) All gifts, grants, or bequests under sub. (1) may be made to the board, the president, a chancellor, or any officer, or to any person as trustee, or may be charged upon any personal representative, trustee, heir, devisee, or legatee, or made in any other manner indicating an intention to create a trust, and may be made as well for the benefit of the system or any of its institutions, colleges, schools, departments, or facilities to provide any means of instruction, illustration, or knowledge in connection therewith, or for the benefit of any students or any class or group of students whether by way of scholarship, fellowship, or otherwise, or whether for the benefit of students or any class or group of students in any course, subcourse, special course, postgraduate course, summer school or teachers course, oratorical or debating course, laboratory, shop, lectureship, drill, gymnasium or any other like division or department of study, experiment, research, observation, travel, or mental or physical improvement in any manner connected with the system, or to provide for the voluntary retirement of any of the faculty.

36.29(3) (3) It shall not be necessary for a gift, grant, devise or bequest to exactly or particularly describe the members of a class or group of students intended to be the beneficiaries, but it shall be sufficient to describe the class or group. In such case, the board shall divide, graduate or otherwise categorize the students into such classes or groups as are necessary to select and determine those students belonging to the class or group intended.

36.29(4) (4) Any grant, contract, gift, endowment, trust or segregated funds bequeathed or assigned to an institution or its component parts for any purpose whatsoever shall not be commingled or reassigned.

36.29(5) (5) 

36.29(5)(a) (a) Except as provided in par. (b), the board may not acquire or make a commitment to operate any golf course not owned by the board prior to July 2, 1983, without specific authorization by the legislature.

36.29(5)(b) (b) Notwithstanding s. 20.924 (1), the board may accept a gift of a golf course for the University of Wisconsin-Madison if no general purpose revenues are used in the acquisition, development or operation of that golf course.

36.29(6) (6) The board may not accept any gift, grant or bequest of real property with a value in excess of $150,000 except as provided in s. 13.48 (2) (b) 1m.

36.29(7) (7) The board may not accept any gift, grant or bequest of a building or structure that is constructed for the benefit of the system or any institution unless acceptance is first approved by the building commission, or unless the plans and specifications for the building or structure are reviewed and approved by the department of administration and the building or structure is inspected as provided in s. 16.85 (12).

36.29(8) (8) This section does not apply to a private gift or grant made to the office of educational opportunity.

36.29 History History: 1973 c. 335; 1983 a. 27, 192; 1987 a. 27; 1989 a. 31; 1991 a. 39; 1995 a. 243; 2001 a. 102; 2003 a. 264; 2011 a. 32; 2015 a. 55.

36.29 Annotation The university cannot accept trust funds that are for an unlawful purpose, and the expenditure of trust funds must comply with special and general laws. Execution of a trust, whether restricted or unrestricted funds are involved, must be in a lawful manner not in conflict with other express statutes. 62 Atty. Gen. 4.

36.29 Annotation Student loan funds established by gift for the benefit of students are trust funds. 62 Atty. Gen. 109.

36.29 Annotation Sub. (1), which prohibits investment of university funds in companies that practice or condone discrimination, is not unconstitutional. 67 Atty. Gen. 20.

36.29 Annotation Constitutionality of the No Discrimination Clause Regulating University of Wisconsin Investments. Guynn. 1978 WLR 1059.

36.30 36.30 Sick leave. Leave of absence for employees with pay, owing to sickness, shall be regulated by rules of the board, except that unused sick leave shall accumulate from year to year.

36.30 History History: 1975 c. 88; 1981 c. 96 ss. 22, 67; 1981 c. 386; 1997 a. 237; 2011 a. 32; 2013 a. 20 ss. 2365m, 9448.

36.31 36.31 Coordination with other educational agencies; credit for military education.

36.31(1) (1) The board shall not, without the approval of the technical college system board, broaden the system’s post-high school training mission to include the preparation of persons for semiprofessional or skilled-trade occupations beyond those offered during the 1972-73 academic year. The technical college system board shall not, without the approval of the board of regents, broaden its system’s collegiate transfer program offerings beyond those in existence during the 1972-73 academic year. In this section, “collegiate transfer program” has the meaning given in s. 38.01 (3).

36.31(2) (2) The technical college system board, in agreement with the board may designate courses other than those covered under sub. (1) as transferable for collegiate credit between the 2 systems.

36.31(2m) (2m) 

36.31(2m)(a) (a) In this subsection:

36.31(2m)(a)1. 1. “Association” means the Wisconsin Association of Independent Colleges and Universities.

36.31(2m)(a)2. 2. “Core general education courses” means courses generally required for an undergraduate degree that are prerequisite or otherwise in addition to the courses required for an undergraduate degree in a specific course of study.

36.31(2m)(a)3. 3. “Private college” means a private, nonprofit institution of higher education that is a member of the association.

36.31(2m)(a)4. 4. “Program-to-program articulation agreement” means an agreement that articulates how the completion of requirements for a specified program of study at an educational institution transfers toward completion of requirements for a specified program of study at another educational institution.

36.31(2m)(am) (am)

36.31(2m)(am)1. 1. Notwithstanding s. 36.09 (3) (a), the Board of Regents and the technical college system board shall, and the governing boards of tribally controlled colleges in this state and the association, on behalf of private colleges, may, enter into an agreement to promote and support program-to-program articulation agreements that will apply to programs of study specified in the agreements between institutions of the system, technical colleges, and the tribally controlled colleges and private colleges that elect to participate in the agreement. The agreement shall identify and prioritize program-to-program articulation agreements in fields of study that are in high demand or included under program-to-program articulation agreements between institutions and technical colleges that are entered into before November 23, 2019.

36.31(2m)(am)2. 2. No later than April 1, 2021, the Board of Regents and the technical college system board shall jointly submit a report on progress in complying with subd. 1. to the joint committee on finance and the appropriate standing committees of the legislature under s. 13.172 (3).

36.31(2m)(b) (b) Notwithstanding s. 36.09 (3) (a), the Board of Regents and the technical college system board shall, and the governing boards of tribally controlled colleges in this state and the association, on behalf of private colleges, may, enter into and implement an agreement that identifies an array of not less than 72 credits of core general education courses and establishes policies for ensuring that, beginning in the 2022-23 academic year, credits for completing the courses are transferable and would satisfy general education requirements at the receiving institution or college, between and within each institution and technical college, and each tribally controlled college and private college that elects to participate in the agreement.

36.31(2m)(c) (c) The Board of Regents and the technical college system board shall ensure that the governing bodies of tribally controlled colleges and the association, on behalf of private colleges, have an opportunity to elect to participate in the agreements specified in pars. (am) and (b).

36.31(4) (4) 

36.31(4)(am) (am) Except as provided in par. (bm), upon receiving from the federal department of defense a student’s official joint services transcript or Community College of the Air Force transcript, the institution or college campus in which the student is enrolled shall do the following:

36.31(4)(am)1. 1. Accept all American Council on Education credit recommendations included in the official joint services transcript and award academic credit to the student in accordance with these recommendations.

36.31(4)(am)2. 2. Accept all credits included in the Community College of the Air Force transcript and award academic credit to the student accordingly.

36.31(4)(bm) (bm) An institution or college campus may not award academic credit to a student under par. (am) for each course for which the student, upon consultation with the institution’s or college campus’s staff, objects to the awarding of credit for that course.

36.31 History History: 1973 c. 335; 1977 c. 29; 1979 c. 34; 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 399; 2013 a. 20; 2013 a. 168 s. 21; 2015 a. 55; 2017 a. 59; 2019 a. 46, 147.

36.32 36.32 Student identification numbers.

36.32(1) (1) In this section, “institution of higher education” means an institution within the system or a private educational institution located in this state that awards a bachelor’s or higher degree or provides a program that is acceptable toward such a degree.

36.32(2) (2) An institution of higher education may assign to each student enrolled in the institution a unique identification number. An institution of higher education shall not assign to any student an identification number that is identical to or incorporates the student’s social security number. This subsection does not prohibit an institution of higher education from requiring a student to disclose his or her social security number, nor from using a student’s social security number if such use is required by a federal or state agency or private organization in order for the institution or the student to participate in a particular program.

36.32 History History: 2003 a. 282 ss. 1 to 3.

36.33 36.33 Agricultural lands.

36.33(1) (1) Legislative intent. The legislature finds and determines that, because of the problems resulting from the development of cities, villages, towns, and counties around certain agricultural lands of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, the desirability of consolidating lands used for agricultural instruction, research and extension purposes, the desirability of disposing of agricultural lands no longer needed by the university and the need for land of better quality and of greater quantity for the purpose of improving and expanding agricultural research, it is in the public interest for the board to sell, lease, or exchange, in whole or in part, the agricultural lands and improvements thereon owned by the board and used by the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the purpose of agricultural instruction and research and to purchase or otherwise acquire other agricultural lands or other lands intended to be used by the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the purpose of agricultural instruction and research. The foregoing policy determination is made without reference to or intention of limiting the powers which the board may otherwise have. The purchase or acquisition of lands or interests therein under this subsection is exempt from s. 20.914 (1).

36.33(2) (2) Method of sale or lease; assessments.

36.33(2)(a) (a) The board, in selling or leasing any part of the agricultural lands and improvements thereon under sub. (1), shall sell or lease on the basis of either of the following:

36.33(2)(a)1. 1. Public bids, with the board reserving the right to reject any or all bids in the best interest of the state.

36.33(2)(a)2. 2. Negotiated prices.

36.33(2)(b) (b) Notwithstanding any provisions of law to the contrary, the lands sold, leased, or exchanged under sub. (1) shall be subject to special assessments for public improvements by cities, villages, and towns, in the same manner and to the same extent as privately owned lands, if the public improvements are of direct and substantial benefit to the lands that have been platted for sale.

36.33(3m) (3m) Exchange. The board may exchange under sub. (1) part or all of any parcel of agricultural land for any other land of approximately equal value if all of the following are satisfied:

36.33(3m)(a) (a) The lands exchanged are of a like kind.

36.33(3m)(b) (b) The board determines that the exchange contributes to the consolidation or completion of a block of land, enhances the conservation of agricultural lands, or is otherwise in the public interest.

36.33(4) (4) Proceeds. The net proceeds from the sale, lease, exchange, purchase, or other acquisition of agricultural lands and improvements under sub. (1) shall be deposited into a nonlapsible fund for the purpose of purchasing additional land under sub. (1) or erecting facilities for research and instruction in animal husbandry, agricultural engineering, and agricultural and life sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Such funds shall become available only upon consent and recommendation of the board and, if used for the erection of facilities, upon authorization by the building commission. Authorization of the building commission is not required to make such funds available for the purchase of land.

36.33 History History: 1973 c. 335; 1977 c. 418; 1983 a. 36 s. 96 (4); 1995 a. 225; 2001 a. 103; 2013 a. 20; 2015 a. 230.

36.335 36.335 Sale of other land; buildings and structures. If the board sells any real property under its jurisdiction, the board shall credit the net proceeds of the sale to the appropriation account under s. 20.285 (1) (gb) except that if there is any outstanding public debt used to finance the acquisition, construction, or improvement of any property that is sold, the board shall deposit a sufficient amount of the net proceeds from the sale of the property in the bond security and redemption fund under s. 18.09 to repay the principal and pay the interest on the debt, and any premium due upon refunding any of the debt. If the property was acquired, constructed, or improved with federal financial assistance, the board shall pay to the federal government any of the net proceeds required by federal law. If the property was acquired by gift or grant or acquired with gift or grant funds, the board shall adhere to any restriction governing use of the proceeds.

36.335 History History: 2009 a. 28 s. 3407; Stats. 2009 s. 36.335; 2011 a. 32; 2015 a. 230.

36.34 36.34 Minority student programs.

36.34(1) (1) Ben R. Lawton minority undergraduate grant program.

36.34(1)(a) (a) In this subsection “minority undergraduate” means an undergraduate student who:

36.34(1)(a)1. 1. Is a Black American.

36.34(1)(a)2. 2. Is an American Indian.

36.34(1)(a)3. 3. Is a Hispanic, as defined in s. 16.287 (1) (d).

36.34(1)(a)4. 4. Is a person who is admitted to the United States after December 31, 1975, and who either is a former citizen of Laos, Vietnam or Cambodia or whose ancestor was or is a citizen of Laos, Vietnam or Cambodia.

36.34(1)(b) (b) The board shall establish a grant program for minority undergraduates enrolled in the system. The board shall designate all grants under this subsection as Lawton grants. The board may not make a grant under this subsection to a person whose name appears on the statewide support lien docket under s. 49.854 (2) (b), unless the person provides to the board a payment agreement that has been approved by the county child support agency under s. 59.53 (5) and that is consistent with rules promulgated under s. 49.858 (2) (a).

36.34 History History: 1985 a. 29; 1987 a. 27 ss. 666g, 666i, 670 to 673, 675; 1989 a. 31; 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 16; 1995 a. 404; 1999 a. 9; 2001 a. 109; 2003 a. 33; 2005 a. 25, 254; 2009 a. 28; 2011 a. 32.

36.35 36.35 Misconduct; campus security.

36.35(1) (1) Power to suspend; rules. The board may delegate the power to suspend or expel students for misconduct or other cause prescribed by the board. Subject to sub. (4), the board shall promulgate rules under ch. 227 governing student conduct and procedures for the administration of violations.

36.35(2) (2) Authority to restrict presence of persons on campus. The chancellor of each institution or the chief security officer thereof during a period of immediate danger or disruption may designate periods of time during which the campus and designated buildings and facilities connected therewith are off limits to all persons who are not faculty, academic staff, employees, students or any other personnel authorized by the above named officials. Any person violating such order shall be subject to the penalties provided by law for criminal trespass.

36.35(3) (3) Requiring permission for presence on campus. Any person who is convicted of any crime involving danger to property or persons as a result of conduct by that person which obstructs or seriously impairs activities run or authorized by an institution and who, as a result of such conduct, is in a state of suspension or expulsion from the institution, and who enters property of that institution without permission of the chancellor of the institution or the chancellor’s designee within 2 years, may for each such offense be fined not more than $500 or imprisoned not more than 6 months, or both.

36.35(4) (4) Underage alcohol violations. The board or an institution or college campus may not impose any of the following disciplinary sanctions against a student for the student’s violation of s. 125.07 (4) (a) or (b), if the student is exempt under s. 125.07 (5) from issuance of a citation for, or conviction of, the violation:

36.35(4)(a) (a) Removal from a course in progress.

36.35(4)(b) (b) Enrollment restrictions on a course or program.

36.35(4)(c) (c) Suspension or expulsion.

36.35(4)(d) (d) Exclusion from student housing.

36.35 History History: 1973 c. 335; 1985 a. 332 s. 251 (1); 1991 a. 316; 2015 a. 279.

36.35 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See also chs. UWS 14 and 17, Wis. adm. code.

36.36 36.36 Grants for study abroad. The board may award a grant of up to $2,000 to a resident undergraduate student to assist in paying the costs associated with the student’s study abroad if the student satisfies all of the following criteria:

36.36(1) (1) The student demonstrates financial need for the grant, as determined by the board.

36.36(2) (2) The student is enrolled full-time in the system in the semester preceding the student’s study abroad.

36.36(3) (3) The student is enrolled in a program leading to an associate or bachelor’s degree.

36.36 History History: 1999 a. 9, 152; 2011 a. 32.

36.37 36.37 Downer Woods and buildings preservation.

36.37(1) (1) Statement of purpose. The purpose of this section is to promote the permanent conservation and enhancement, by the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, of the area known as Downer Woods; to designate and protect, as a permanent conservancy area, at least 10 acres of the woods; and to permit limited modification, in a manner consistent with the aforesaid purposes, of that portion of the woods whose present character as park and woodland lends itself to utilization, by the university and the surrounding community, as essential recreational and aesthetic corridors.

36.37(2) (2) Legislative findings. The legislature finds it in the public interest to recognize and foster the principle of environmental quality in the area known as Downer Woods by preserving it as a conservancy area and protecting it, consistent with sub. (4), from encroachment or disparate uses. The woods is the sole remaining natural area remaining on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and as such, its preservation and enhancement is consistent with the university’s recognition of its need to protect and enhance its own physical environment, and to serve the pressing human need of its faculty, students and staff, as well as the greater Milwaukee community, to live and work in an urban environment which respects those portions of unspoiled nature which yet exist. The woods is a unique asset; it provides visual relief to the concentrated building pattern surrounding it, complements the urban landscape and affords aesthetically and psychologically attractive places for people to congregate and relax. In addition, the woods serves as a refuge for wildlife and vegetation, and is, therefore, an important educational, scientific and ecological resource to the university and the community. Its presence imparts priceless recreational and aesthetic values.

36.37(3) (3) Definitions. In this section, “Downer Woods” or “the woods” means those parcels of wood, parkland and buildings comprising more than 21.4337 acres located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and divided into 5 separate and distinct categories, which categories shall define the proper and permissible uses of the parcels, as follows:

36.37(3)(a) (a) Permanent conservation area, consisting of 11.101 acres, which is to be physically defined by means of fencing or other suitable means.

36.37(3)(b) (b) Permanently reserved woodland, consisting of 3.018 acres.

36.37(3)(c) (c) Park and woodland areas, consisting of 4.686 acres, which may be subject to limited modification, such as landscaping, but which are to be protected from disparate uses and encroachment.

36.37(3)(d) (d) The buildings and grounds of the former Downer college with any reconstruction or renovation which may be authorized by the board.

36.37(3)(e) (e) Park and woodland areas, consisting of 2.6287 acres, which may be subject to limited modifications, such as landscaping and utility lines.

36.37(4) (4) Downer Woods conservation.