COVID mess on UW campuses a predictable result of WisGOP defunding

To little surprise, COVID-19 has broken out in a big way at many UW campuses since students came back a couple of weeks ago. This includes record-high numbers of new cases in La Crosse and Eau Claire Counties, and there are strong indications that UW-Platteville is starting to see serious community spread.

On Wednesday, UW-Platteville conducted 98 tests with 24 coming back positive, a 24.5% positive test rate, according to a UW System report. That was the highest positive rate of all UW schools.

In total, the school has only 56 positive cases, but it has also only conducted 284 tests, according to a university dashboard. That means the school has tested 3% of its more than 8,000 students.

But the largest breakout is at the largest UW campus, where students in 2 dorms and numerous Greek houses are being asked to quarantine, all classes have been moved online for the next 2 weeks, and more than 1,700 cases have already been reported among UW-Madison's students, faculty and staff. Madison's Daily Cardinal sent this editorial over the weekend, which reflects the rightful anger many students are feeling in light of the chaotic situation on campus.

"The unraveling of events has made it abundantly clear that UW cares more about budgets and profits over the protection of its students", by The Daily Cardinal Editorial Board. https://t.co/wPtPOeEyeP

— The Daily Cardinal (@dailycardinal) September 11, 2020

This is largely true, and it has led to a predictable mess. So why did UW administration allow it to happen? The answer is sad, and simple - they need the money, as years of underfunding leave the UW with little choice but to try to get as many students as they can on campus. Let me remind you that the UW System now has more money coming in from tuition than it does in taxpayer funding, a trend that is projected to continue is the next state budget.

In addition, the UW System counts on those dorms being filled. If you look at this year's UW budget, it assumes $770 million in "Auxiliary Operations", which are self-supporting entities like dorms, student unions and athletics. Those numbers are down $75 million from last year's projection of $845 million, but if students are sent home en amsse , or there is no football in Madison, that number could end up being much less than that.

Friday was already one big deadline for this, as students needed to withdraw from school to get all of their tuition revenue back. It also was a deadline to have students pull out of their dorm contract for the Fall semester. We should find out soon just how many students have canceled out, and how much of a budget hole that might cause for the System.

You know what might come in handy right now? A one-tme shot of state and/or federal funding to fill in the budget holes that inevitably will occur as some students and their parents make the understandable decision not to want to make themselves more susceptible to COVID-19 by stuffing themselves into high-density living away from home.

But whie the feds allowed universities some money for the Spring semester to take care of those deficits and to make some on-campus adjustments to the COVID World, there isn't much more coming in the Fall of 2020, especially after stimulus talks fell apart this week in Mitch McConnell's graveyard of a Senate.

And we know the ALEC Crew in the State Legislature sure won't do it. Heck, those guys would have likely induced the same kind of COVID mess had the UW even tried to shut down, as explained by a UW-Madison PoliSci professor.

This was a no-win situation either way. That led to a series of awful decisions, as it always does for universities in times of politically-motivated fiscal austerity 3/:https://t.co/nHRi9Nl4rX

— Mark Copelovitch (@mcopelov) September 12, 2020

And this downward spiral of no-win situations for the UW System won't end until the ALEC Crew is blasted out of power. There is no other option that will see the UW return to the well-funded and respected position at the Capitol that it had throughout the 20th Century. Vote accordingly.