Freedom Caucus leaders keep calling the University of Wyoming “out of touch.” Their presentation of the budget to the House this week exposed who is actually “out of touch.”
Representative John Bear (R-Gillette) said, “The $40 million cut was meant to ‘get their attention.’”
A state budget exists to govern. A budget built to punish exists to posture.
Two problems drive this mess. First, ideology replaces fact finding, process, and consequences. Second, House Appropriations shows a deep disconnect from what UW means to Wyoming, culturally and economically.
Start with the “land-grant” argument. One footnote requires students to learn about the Morrill Act. Apparently, the House Appropriators did not bother understanding it themselves.
Representative Ken Pendergraft (R-Sheridan) claimed UW “lost focus on the land grant concept” and should narrow toward agriculture, engineering, and education, “the things that benefit Wyoming specifically.” That framing treats land grant as shorthand for vocational training. Federal law has never defined land grant that way.
The Morrill Act created land-grant colleges “to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts (Engineering)…without excluding other scientific and classical studies,” and “in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes.” Land grant means practical education and broad education.
So let’s look at the academic fields that were not protected from that $40M haircut. Nursing, pharmacy, law, business, criminal justice…even Engineering which is specified in the Morrill Act. Those don’t benefit Wyoming?
Wyoming’s Constitution points the same direction. Representative Steve Harshman reminded colleagues that university instruction should be “as nearly free as possible.” Broad education plus public access forms part of Wyoming’s long game, keeping talent here and training professionals here.
Freedom Caucus budgeting takes a different route. Culture disputes become budget penalties, enforced through dollars instead of open policy debate.
Pendergraft had drilled UW during hearings on course topics like ecofeminism and asked, “How is ecofeminism helpful for a student who wants to stay in Wyoming and work in Wyoming?” A budget hearing became a curriculum trial.
Inside the Legislature, colleagues called out the method. One legislator warned, “$40 million sure is an attention getter, but that cut reaches all sorts of programs.” Another asked what the cost of the courses offensive to the committee is compared to the cut.
Rep Lloyd Larsen (R-Lander) challenged Bear: “Explain that a little bit. Because that would almost suggest this action is retaliatory; that we’re going to show you.”
Process matters because process signals seriousness. Reports from Joint Appropriations included a claim that a member was “handed a script,” plus an assessment that meetings produced “no honest debate on anything.” Wyoming voters should not accept scripted budgeting for a flagship institution.
UW administrators told lawmakers an annual $20 million reduction hits payroll first. Estimates put the impact near $16 million in compensation, roughly 160 jobs. Those jobs sit in classrooms, labs, advising offices, extension work, and maintenance. Wyoming pays twice, once in layoffs, again in lost capacity.
Now the second problem: cultural blindness. UW serves as Wyoming’s statewide anchor, and athletics offers the clearest proof. A statewide survey found 84 percent of Wyomingites agree Cowboys and Cowgirls athletics serves as a source of pride.
War Memorial Stadium has been described as a “statewide reunion” on fall Saturdays. Lawmakers also heard a warning from colleagues: losing Division I status “will have a ripple effect across this state.”
Athletics also carries real dollars. UW athletics runs an expense budget “about $53 million.” Roughly $11.2 million comes from the state block grant, $5 million from the Cowboy Joe Club, and roughly $36 to $37 million comes from self-generated sources. The program has been credited with about $206.4 million in annual economic impact for Wyoming.
Then comes the risk profile Freedom Caucus leaders ignore. Governance chaos and punitive budgeting damage credibility with federal partners, private donors, and accreditors who expect stable, mission-driven leadership.
Endowment talk displays the competence gap in plain daylight. Bear suggested “the university should rely more on its substantial endowment funds rather than taxpayer dollars,” and use those funds to “stand on its own.”
Endowments are legally restricted by donor intent. You can't liquidate them to pay for keeping the lights on or general faculty salaries.
Wyoming deserves better than governing by grievance. Bear’s admission of punishment and Pendergraft’s narrow (and inaccurate) view of land grant expose a House Appropriations operation driven by ideology, not stewardship.
This approach does not serve Wyoming’s best interests. It weakens a statewide institution, drives uncertainty, and signals contempt for the people who study, work, and build careers here.
It appears that it is the Freedom Caucus that is actually “out of touch.”
Gail Symons can be reached at: GailSymons@mac.com
