By Dominic Yates, UW-Stout reporting intern
Closing down the UW-Stout campus because of the COVID-19 pandemic is costing the university several million dollars, its chancellor told an online panel audience last Thursday.
Katherine P. Frank said that expenses have continued during the untimely campus evacuation “and we expect them to approach $7 million by the end of spring semester.” Her comments came as part of the third and probably final online panel discussion presented this month by the university’s Honors College and its social science department.
The final panel focused on the repercussions local colleges and nonprofit organizations are facing in the wake of the extended COVID-19 quarantines. Earlier discussions dealt with the pandemic’s impact on the economy and provided an overview of its effects.
Frank said that UW-Stout remains uncertain what the fall semester will bring, but adjustments will certainly be made in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Operations on campus will change,” Frank said. “Academic delivery will be adjusted, operations throughout the general campus community will be adjusted, but we just don’t know what that will look like yet so we’re planning for a variety of scenarios.”
Impact on nonprofits
Michelle Pride, a field services specialist with Feed My People Food Bank, said that the COVID-19 quarantine has massively affected the number of volunteers at the organization.
“We have been impacted by a loss of volunteer help. We rely heavily on volunteers,” Pride said. “In fact, we had the equivalent of about 11 full-time employees in volunteer hours last year.”
Naomi Cummings, the director of The Bridge to Hope, mentioned that the quarantine has led to a concern about receiving donations to keep the non-profit afloat.
“Of course funding is an issue and a big concern,” Cummings said. “We’re a non-profit and many of our funding streams are through the public, through personal donations. We’re real concerned about that, especially as the year progresses.”
The Bridge to Hope is a Menomonie organization that supports victims of domestic violence.
Tom Giffey, managing editor at Eau Claire’s Volume One magazine, said the quarantine has changed how often the publication can put out an issue.
“It has had significant impact on us. We have reduced our publication, both in size and at least changed it in subject matter,” Giffey said. “‘A lot of our bread and butter is covering events and cultural happenings in the community, but people are forbidden from having events.”
Final panel
Thomas Pearson, who has hosted the panels held by the Honors College over the past month, said in an e-mail that Thursday’s event is likely to be the last of the online discussions.
“This will probably be our last one for a while,” Pearson said. “The semester is winding down now, so we’ll probably focus our energies on wrapping up the academic year. If some other urgent issue emerged, we can always throw together a panel on a moment’s notice.”
Liam Gallagher, a sophomore student at UW-Stout who watched the panel, said in a phone interview that the panel provided a great perspective into how his university is preparing for next semester.
“It made me feel reassured that our chancellor and our school had already put so much thought into what we’ll be doing for next semester. Though the whole situation is terrible, I’m glad it’s being handled so well.”