CHEYENNE—After working until 1:30 Wednesday morning, representatives returned to the House hours later and took up one of this budget session’s key disputes: how much to spend on the University of Wyoming for the next two years.
A budget amendment hit at the heart of the controversy, launching the House into nearly two hours of debate.
“This is the big one,” Rep. Ken Chestek, the Laramie Democrat who sponsored the amendment, began.
He proposed restoring $40 million in block grant funding that the Joint Appropriations Committee — the state’s main budgeting arm — had cut last month from the school’s appropriation. The cut would account for nearly 11% of the block grant that Gov. Mark Gordon had recommended for UW.
Chestek, a professor emeritus of the university, began the pitch for his amendment by recounting restrictions the Legislature has imposed on the school in recent years, and how the university had responded.
In 2024, the Legislature passed a mandate forbidding UW from using any state money for diversity, equity and inclusion programming and curricula. The school closed its DEI office as a result.
Then last year, lawmakers passed a bill that bars UW from engaging in DEI programs and education, or hiring on that basis. As a result, Chestek told his colleagues, the school made a training to educate faculty about the new law’s requirements and created a complaint process to take care of perceived violations.
Gillette Republican Rep. John Bear, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, explained to his colleagues last week that the $40 million cut was meant to get the university’s “attention.”
“You have their attention!” Chestek responded Wednesday. “They have complied with everything you have requested them to do.”
Why then, he and other lawmakers asked, impose a blanket $40 million cut on Wyoming’s lone four-year university?
Chestek argued that the $40 million cut would “do nothing but weaken the university” and drive young people away.
“We all bemoan the fact that Wyoming’s biggest export is our young men and women,” he said. “They go to university, they leave the state. We hate that. We want them to stay here. This will make them want to leave.”
Meanwhile, House members who opposed restoring the $40 million expressed discontent with the school’s overall direction and ratio of students to staff. Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, described the school as being “top-heavy” and pushed back against comments that the $40 million cut aimed to harm the school.
“As far as the idea that we’re trying to harm education and harm students, that’s not true,” Neiman said. “It’s not true at all.” Neiman said he would like to “look at the real numbers” to “do a better job of making sure that the taxpayers — the people that are having to fund this — are getting as much as we possibly can.”
“You have their attention! They have complied with everything you have requested them to do.”
REp. Ken Chestek, D-Laramie
Lawmakers disputed the meaning of various staff-to-student calculations that were presented. But those numbers aside, some questioned why a blanket $40 million reduction was lawmakers’ chosen approach to address what they see as a bloated university administration.
“If that’s the concern and that’s the issue, why don’t we address that specifically, rather than blunt cuts?” Rep. Julie Jarvis, R-Casper, asked.
The cut could also have unintended consequences, Rep. Trey Sherwood, a Laramie Democrat and member of the House Appropriations Committee, told her colleagues — JAC lawmakers exempted some schools, programs and a research facility from the $40 million reduction. But those carveouts might not always insulate the areas of study that lawmakers are attempting to prioritize, given that coursework is often spread between different schools.
Chestek’s amendment ultimately failed in a 34-26 vote. Lawmakers withdrew several UW budget amendments, and a number of others failed. But House members did vote Wednesday to restore $6 million for university athletics, another request that the JAC had previously rejected.
The JAC’s budget proposal last month included other restrictions and reductions for the university beyond the $40 million cut.
The committee denied $12.5 million for one-time matching funds, a $6 million request for school athletics, $1.69 million to fund Wyoming Public Media and another request to pay for an assistant professor for UW’s family medicine residency program in Casper. Lawmakers also added footnotes that would bar the school from using state money to fund Wyoming Public Media or elective abortions for students.
House lawmakers are far behind their Senate colleagues in their work on the budget. While the Senate wrapped up its first round of budget changes Tuesday, the House was still working through its 122 proposed changes by Wednesday evening. Lawmakers will have another opportunity to bring more amendments for a third reading of the budget later this week.
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Im all for funding the UW. But I’m not for my tax dollars going to pay the players. That is ridiculous. If they want to pay the players, get it from the wealthy, connected Cowboy Joe club members.
The only way the Freedom Caucus can remain in power is with reduced education standards and we have Megan working on that at the high school level and the legislators at the college level. In addition, getting rid of funding for our state wide public radio and television also reduces transparency and knowledge. There are many smart Wyoming residents who do not need a college degree from anywhere to see that the far right is not on their team (they get their checks from big money Teton County donors). Do they care that the children, women, rural voters, ranchers and farmers hurt by cuts, an endless assault on reproductive rights and health care, tariffs, gutted state wide news and alerts are creating huge harm to their voters?
The only DEI program left at Wyoming is the athletics department. Why doesn’t the legislature demand that ALL athletes must be Wyoming residents? This would guarantee that few, if any, students of color enroll at Wyoming. But, it would also guarantee that Wyoming would have to play in either Division II NCAA or NAIA conferences. Remember what happened to athletics for years after the Black 14 fiasco? And, if you think you have to pay athletes now, wait until athletes of color only have only one or two students of color on campus that they can identify with or socialize with. (God forbid they date white girls.) The word will get out, Wyo is not the best place for folks like us.
They’ll fund the California kids wearing a Wyo jersey a couple of semesters, but cut the $$ for degree-seeking WY high school grads.
Perfectly stated.
Ken is a pretty sharp guy and a fine crafter of persuasive and supported arguments. If he could not make any headway, there’s not much hope. The further demise of a once fine university continues apace. Makes me sad to see it. And happy I got out.
And at the same time UW is trying to attract a new president. These actions will make any decent candidate run away as fast as they can.
The FC leaders responses about how they think UW should be would make UW a great school is this was 1956 and not 2026. Just keep looking to the past instead of the future.
This very public attack on the University will have at least one effect no matter whether the loss of $40+ million is part of the budget or not. Young faculty with promising research agendas are NOT going to come to Wyoming as a first choice. Wyoming’s economic, political and social climate not only encourages its youth to leave the state, it is a barrier to attracting top academic talent.
Mr Olson, exactly. And people still wonder why our young people are leaving Wyoming.
Priorities. Sports are obviously more important to our legislators than educating our kids or disseminating important statewide news.
Amen. Soon comes the great experiment… Can WY have a college football team WITHOUT a college?
So lopsided: because lawmakers enjoying watching sports, they preserve athletics but deny education? Seems like they need to go back to school.
The last I visited my Alma Mater things were already cut to the bone, with a single staff person serving all of Ross Hall. That’s a king way from top heavy. Another $40 million cut can’t really be meant to “get attention”, it’s simply punitive.
$6 million so UW can pay “student” athletes. Definitely meets the “mission” of the University.