FOND DU LAC — Class is in session, but the student commons at UW-Oshkosh at Fond du Lac is barren and deathly quiet. The library’s lights, set on timers, have turned themselves off as only one person studies at a table along the floor-to-ceiling windows.
People are also reading…
Dave Kroncke, a nontraditional student at UW-Milwaukee at Washington County, reflects on his multiyear association with campus in West Bend. When Kroncke was a high school student, the Washington County campus was the place for college students to start their careers and the parking lots were full.
UW-Oshkosh at Fond du Lac first-year student Nathan Peebles reads a story in the student newspaper announcing job cuts at the Oshkosh campus and the effective closing of the Fond du Lac campus during a break between classes. Peebles will go to UW-Oshkosh's main campus next year after borrowing the money to pay for a housing deposit he wasn't prepared for.
Anne Widmayer, professor of English at UW-Milwaukee at Washington County for more than two decades, said if she's absorbed into UW-Milwaukee's main or Waukesha campuses, it'll likely put a contracted lecturer out of a job. Those lecturers may not be tenured, she said, but they are seen as colleagues and contribute to the campus community.
A student at UW-Oshkosh at Fond du Lac leaves a building on the campus in Fond du Lac. Students and staff were given the news their campus would be closing the day after its parent university, UW-Oshkosh, announced hundreds of layoffs and early retirements.
Rita Lodas, a UW-Oshkosh at Fond du Lac alumna and mother of a current student there, reflects on her family’s multigenerational association with the campus in Fond du Lac. She and her son, Joseph, were worried his UW-Oshkosh program also would be affected by budget cuts and they'd need to look outside of the Fox Valley for education.
A commons area at the Fond du Lac campus of UW-Oshkosh is mostly empty during morning hours. It got busier as classes let out, but students say that, after the announcement that classes would be ending at the branch campus, some don't see the point of hanging out on a campus that won't be around in a year.
Jenna Powell, a longtime UW-Milwaukee at Washington County student, studies in a mostly empty library on the campus in Washington County. Her goal is to become an ultrasound technician, but going to a different school would be costly for her.
A sign soliciting suggestions greets students entering the library of UW-Milwaukee at Washington County in West Bend. Many students said they're heartbroken over the loss of a community asset that allowed them to more easily afford a college education.
Jay Buchacher, a second-year student at UW-Milwaukee at Washington County, practices his billiards skills during a break in classes in a student recreation center. Buchacher, who will go on to UW-Stevens Point for a degree in environmental science. He said starting at the Washington County campus was one of his few affordable college options.
