RICHLAND CENTER — Eleven-year-old Stella Woodhouse could only muster up a few sentences before she had to give up the microphone.
Stella Woodhouse, 11, of Richland Center, tells the crowd she feels like she's lost a shot at her future education with no classes at UW-Platteville at Richland during a listening session on Thursday.
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Kathy Granger, center, the Richland Alumni Association president, speaks to a standing-room-only crowd at a listening session for UW-Platteville at Richland's future on Thursday.
Universty of Wisconsin System Vice President of University Relations Jeff Buhrandt leafs through a resolution passed by the Richland County board at a listening session for UW-Platteville at Richland's future on Thursday. He told the audience at the listening session he was appreciative of hearing their thoughts and their passion for the campus.
Fave 5: Reporter Kimberly Wethal shares her favorite stories of 2022
In the weeks before I joined the Wisconsin State Journal in September, I was told this: Remember that a higher education institution is like their own city. It has its own character and struggles, defined by the students who learn there and the faculty who teach them.
I have seen this over and over again, and it was particularly clear when I visited UW-Platteville at Richland a week after the University of Wisconsin System ordered degree-fulfilling classes to cease because of low enrollment. During my visit, I found many of the devastated students to be emotionally invested in their campus community — and committed to saving it.
After budget cuts and consolidations, the campus' enrollment is down 90% from 2014, and UW-Platteville was ordered to shutter the campus.
With record enrollment contributing to the housing crunch, UW-Madison lured students out of dorms by offering incentives to live elsewhere.
Management companies are seeing some of their housing in prime areas sell out three to four weeks faster than previous years.
A new Early Learning Center that opened in 2021 at MATC's Truax campus doubled capacity, and a facility at the Goodman South campus could be next.
UW-Madison doctorate student Kirstan Gimse found the courage to go back to school a decade ago from a chemistry professor she would wait on.
