The Blessing of Covid: UW System to Downsize

Well, we've been talking about it for a couple of years, and it's about time, no matter why.

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross directed campuses Thursday to quickly identify signature programs worthy of preservation and brace for layoffs as the coronavirus pandemic deepens the system's financial losses....

...System officials will decide which courses stay and which will vanish, Cross told reporters during a video conference Wednesday afternoon.

Campuses should be ready to move forward with scaled-down course catalogs by fall 2021, Cross said. The only guarantee he could offer was each campus will continue to offer basics such as English and math that undergraduates need to earn a diploma. But he warned that staff layoffs will be unavoidable....

The UW System has been avoiding reality for quite some time.  Student numbers are going down and they will continue to go down over the next several years--to the extent that 'cutting some programs' is a only band-aid.

Cutting entire campuses will be required. 

Think I'm kidding?

...The UW schools aren’t the only colleges struggling to weather the pandemic’s financial fallout. Holy Family College in Manitowoc announced Monday that it will close its doors by the end of August....

 ...Edgewood College in Madison plans to buy out about 30 full-time positions by the end of the spring semester and increase its student-to-instructor ratio from 9-to-1 to 15-to-1 over the next few years by eliminating 10% of course sections offered....

There will be more.  Lots more.