MADISON — State Sen. Kelda Roys issued the following statement on the announcement that the Universities of Wisconsin are closing their Baraboo campus.
“In the Wisconsin I grew up in, we believed you could achieve financial security and a good life if you were willing to study and work hard. We will regret shutting the doors of opportunity for young people around the state in service to tax breaks for billionaires.
“Campus closures and the march towards consolidation is a result of Republican politicians viewing higher education as a luxury good that only those who can afford it deserve. In their view, UW is just another cost preventing them from giving more public money to their billionaire campaign backers. The ‘budget shortfalls’ that led to this closure were manufactured over the last 15 years by right-wing politicians who systematically divested from public higher education while strangling UW’s ability to manage its own financial affairs.
“Every campus closure means fewer Wisconsin students going to college. It means young people are venturing further from home to pursue their education and less likely to return. It means less economic growth in our state for years to come.
“We don’t have to accept the slow strangulation of the Universities of Wisconsin, and we cannot. For Wisconsin to be a place where everyone has the freedom to thrive, we need to open doors of opportunity for students — not slam them shut.”
