CLOSURE

ABOUT THE DOC SERIES:

Massive budget cuts, mergers, political attacks, and declining enrollments have devastated Wisconsin’s University System. At the center of the crisis are the two-year community colleges that serve the Wisconsin Idea by providing higher education access everywhere in the state. Under tremendous stress, these campuses were shut down at a time when rural communities needed them most.

Watch the Entire Documentary Series for Free:

CLOSURE: The Dismantling of Wisconsin’s Colleges

Click here to watch on Youtube

Synopsis: After Wisconsin’s two-year colleges were merged with the four-year universities, chaos ensued. Enrollment plummeted. Funding for outreach dried up. And the people hurt the most were Wisconsin’s rural communities. This is the story of how a college closure impacts everyone.

“We’re Losing a Gem”: The Closure of UW-Fox Cities

Click here to watch on Youtube

Synopsis: UW-Fox Cities was once one of the biggest two-year campuses in Wisconsin. Then came the budget cuts under Governor Scott Walker, followed by a merger with the nearby four-year university. Despite a robust high school graduation rate in the area, enrollment plummeted. What happened? This is their story, told by the people who lived through it.

How to Save a College

Click here to watch on Youtube

Synopsis: Join director Ken Brosky for a retrospective look at what he learned during the two years he spent filming CLOSURE and its follow-up. This mini-doc includes interviews and footage of additional campuses being closed, as well as the impact those closures have on local communities.

Bibliography

(Director’s note: This is a full bibliography for CLOSURE: The Dismantling of Wisconsin’s Colleges)

November 2017 Board of Regents Meeting – Available in full.

News clips – Used under fair use guidelines. Here are the links:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pz4LvUmRUc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg3e6quuNHw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wryfo_ulo8w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfMti1w2_9k

“$362 million cut from UW Budget” – Start with this article. Be careful! Claims about budget increases include gifts earmarked for specific projects, federal grants used for specific purposes, etc. These cuts devastated the UW System.

“UW Colleges regionalization” – This article is a good explainer, and it shows just how deep those cuts were to a system that was already operating lean.

“Enrollment declines” – This article lays out the community impact and broken promises. For a more comprehensive exploration of the enrollment declines and their connection to budget cuts, this Richland County Board Resolution is a great spot.

“Mergers with four-year campuses” – This oral history is a good starting point.

“This was a planned dismantling” – This Journal-Sentinel article sums up the sentiment well. GOP legislature failed miserably.

“This was not a failure of Richland” – Local leadership worked their butts off.

Wisconsin’s budget surplus – Here’s the best 2024 numbers.

Board of Regents photos used under fair use guidelines. Photos owned by the Universities of Wisconsin.

Political donations of Board of Regents and families – Here’s a handy table that examines all the 2017 regents’ political donations.

“Censored” Art Exhibit – Created by Grace Woods, former UW-Washington County student.

“A year of tuition at UW-Washington County was $5,200” – Here’s a breakdown of the cost for fall 2022. Tuition went up a few percentage points in the next academic year. To compare, here’s UWM’s tuition table.

“Washington County Task Force” – You can read the entire report here.

“no skills gap” – The best person to read is Neil Kraus. You can buy his book The Fantasy Economy here. For an explainer that looks in-depth at a more specific case, you can read this Vox article.

The STEM myth – This is a good starting article, but lots has been written on this topic.

FOXCONN – Oh God, there’s so much you can read about this insane situation. We’ve memory-holed a lot of it, but you should start with this Guardian article, which examines the corporate welfare program from a human angle.

“Scott Walker tried to rewrite the Wisconsin Idea” – See this article about the controversy.

“He lied about it” – I’m relying on multiple sources, including this Politifact article.

“Conservatives are suspicious of change” – These are screenshots of videos criticizing PragerU. So technically, they are screenshots of screenshots. To learn more about PragerU, here’s the source that I found explained it best.

“Better to be a slave than dead” – This is a screenshot of a PragerU for Kids video teaching kids about Christopher Columbus. Here’s the whole horrible video.

“University of Florida financial scandal” – Here’s the investigation that revealed how much money Ben Sasse wasted.

“Christopher Rufo” – Too much has been written about this guy. I think the best primer is this Vox article, which has lots of links for you to explore. Here’s his comment about “trans strippers” in context.

“Laying siege to instutions” – If you want to watch Rufo speak on this, here’s his guest lecture mentioned in the doc.

“Students and Faculty left New College” – This link is about faculty leaving. This link is about students leaving. On another important note, one of the reasons enrollment isn’t dropping is because New College is doling out athletic scholarships. I’m not sure how the small college can afford this.

“The Gender Studies Program” – Here’s an article about the entire Gender Studies controversy. To learn more about the right-wing takeover, read this article.

“Robin Vos” – Here’s the article about him stating he’s embarrassed to be a UW-Whitewater grad. Here’s his statement about DEI. Here’s his statement about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“Republicans cut DEI funding” – This article lays out what Republicans wanted. This article talks about the human toll of this kind of hostage politics.

August 2024 Board of Regents Meeting – You can watch the whole video here.

Additional links about the “Skills Gap”
https://www.the74million.org/article/the-future-is-stem-but-without-enough-students-the-u-s-will-be-left-behind/

https://safesupportivelearning.ed.gov/news/success-program-launch-co-curricular-pathways-bridge-skills-gap

https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/25/intel_semiconductor_course/

https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/

https://jacobin.com/2024/04/fantasy-economy-review-public-schools-jobs-neoliberalism

https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/09/15/stem-graduates-cant-find-jobs

https://www.businessinsider.com/computer-science-major-myth-job-security-money-salary-2023-11?utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=topbar