UW-Richland exit not good

Dear Editor,

UW-Richland has ceased to exist.  The damage is done. The students are gone. The buildings are empty shells. The injury to our community in terms of its economic and educational viability cannot be healed. The pain inflicted on this community cannot be dulled.

But Rep. Kurtz and Sen. Marklein think they can make it all go away, can make it all better. They think they can shift all the blame to UW-Platteville and the UW System by claiming that the announcement of the closing of in-person instruction at UW-Richland was “shocking” while they acknowledge that the “campus will no longer be used for academic purposes.”

There was nothing shocking about this announcement, it was the inevitable result of years of budget cuts made by Kurtz and Marklein and their Republican colleagues in the legislature. But now these two legislators think they can repair the damage done – not to this community – but to their reelection prospects.

They are proposing “Campus Community Transition Grants” to those communities where they have destroyed, or are in the process of destroying, educational opportunities for our children and our future Wisconsin workforce. The disingenuous, hypocritical, and self-serving nature of this announcement is sickening.

Local students can no longer obtain an advanced education in Richland County, but that is only the beginning. The announcement by Kurtz and Marklein continues. “…the first Campus Community Transition Grant (will) be awarded to Richland County, but provides additional funds to assist other counties that may have a branch campus close in the future.” This statement makes it very clear that the Republican legislature intends to continue budget cuts designed to result in the closure of even more educational opportunities for the coming generations of Wisconsin children.

Instead of investing in our Wisconsin children and giving them the opportunities to train for and fill needed workforce needs, instead of investing in our children’s future, the legislature’s plan is to import out-of-state workers into the state using tax cuts to entice them.

How is that good for Wisconsin? How is that good for our future? How is that good for our kids?

How long do we put up with this? How much more damage to our future can we tolerate?

Beverly Pestel

Richland Center, WI