The Sconi

Congressman Tom Tiffany (R-WI07) called out the "woke" curriculum being taught at the University of Wisconsin-Madison after a report from the Sconi found that the materials being taught challenge the basic biological understanding that men are men and women are women and that some of these courses were required for degrees in "the natural, physical and biological sciences." UW-Madison receives millions in state and federal tax dollars and annual costs for students range from about $28,000 to almost $60,000 per year according to estimates provided by the University.

"The University of Wisconsin is a prestigious taxpayer-supported state institution that we should all be proud of," Tiffany said. "Students there should expect to be taught along the basic truths that there are two genders and that your skin color does not determine your place in life."

"Despite what the woke Left wants you to believe."

According to the class syllabus, Dr. James McMaster’s "Introduction to LGBTQ+ Studies" course lists understanding “how categories such as sex, gender, sexuality, and race are not naturally given but socially constructed, which does not make them any less ‘real.’”

“The primary learning goal” of Dr. LiLi Johnson’s "GWS 101: Gender, Women, & Cultural Representation" course, “is to introduce students to the field of Gender and women’s Studies from a humanities perspective and to develop students’ critical thinking and analytical skills regarding gender and other social categories of identity and oppression,” according to the class syllabus. To achieve this goal, Dr. Johnson's course requires Allan Johnson’s, “Patriarchy, the System: an It, Not a He, a Them, or an Us”, Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack” as required reading materials.

Prof. Pernille Ipsen’s "GWS 101: Gender, Women, & Cultural Representation" course syllabus states that “social categories like gender, race, class & sexuality are socially constructed and are therefore understood and employed differently in specific cultural and historical contexts.”

Dr. Jill Casid encourages students taking her courses to ‘queer’ their assumptions regarding the gender binary. According to Dr. Casid “Queering is an activity of radical questioning, a critical and creative practice of turning taken-for-granted tropes that makes strange the assumed naturalness of binary systems. To queer is to affect the ethical and political activation of speculative theorizing and aesthetics. The work of queering also involves a self-critical approach to one’s own discursive and visual production.”

Dr. Jess Waggoner’s syllabus for her "Queer Locations: Space, Place and Desire" course encourages students to “interrogate themes such as sex work, migration, homonationalism, metronormativity, trans lives, and histories, how the gender binary' developed as a tool of colonial oppression, what a disabled sexual culture might look like, and rural and suburban responses to the metropole. In turn, we will also have opportunities to explore gender and sexuality in Madison.”

According to UW-Madison's requirements, students navigating through the College of Letters & Science are required to take GEN&WS 101, 102, or 103.

According to the University's website, degrees in "the natural, physical and biological sciences" fall under the umbrella of the College of Letters & Science.

In addition to the GWS requirement for degrees in the College of Letters & Science, according to UW-Madison’s Undergraduate Guide, all students must take at least 3 credits of “Ethnic Studies” which “is intended to increase understanding of the culture and contributions of persistently marginalized racial or ethnic groups in the United States.” According to information from the University, Gender and Women’s Studies courses would fulfill this requirement. The University asserts that “[b]ecause this increased understanding is expected to have a positive effect on campus climate, students are expected to complete this requirement within the first 60 credits of undergraduate study.”

For the 2022-2023 school year, full professors received a salary of $173,500, associate professors received $127,100, and assistant professors received $105,800.

The Gender and Women's Studies department employs 7 full professors, 4 associate professors, and 11 assistant professors for a total of $2.8 million dollars annually budgeted for GWS department salaries.

The University reported in its 2021-2022 Budget Report that state funds account for 15% of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s $3.6 billion revenue, which equates to $537 million.

According to information provided by the University's Office of Student Financial Aid, the estimated cost of attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison for the 2023-24 academic year for Wisconsin residents amounts to $28,916 with Non-Residents estimated to pay $58,912 after tuition, fees, course materials, housing and meals, transportation, and loans.