The Parkside Faculty Association was formed in December 1970 by a group of UW-P professors and instructors in order to “promote and preserve the traditional rights of the faculty at the University of Wisconsin.” The immediate goal of this organization was to protest and offer legal recourse to the firings of 27 faculty members at UW-P during December of 1970. Michael Holmes, Assistant Professor of History, acted as President of the organization. On December 8, 1970, Chancellor Irwin G. Wyllie announced that the 27 faculty members would be re-hired for the following academic year. The Parkside Faculty Association continued until the winter of 1971, however, as a political caucus for faculty rights and as an instrument for increased faculty governance at UW-Parkside.
