NEWS
UW-River Falls to offer long-term aid
Looking for a print version?
Simply choose ‘Print’ on your computer and a printer-friendly document will be generated.
Also by Michael Gendall:
- School detox numbers highest in nation (October 20, 2005)
- Michigan fans claim UW students grossly inappropriate at game (October 20, 2005)
- Regent Walsh looks for swift committee findings (October 21, 2005)
- In-Depth: Forward. Planning. (February 20, 2006)
Related Stories:
- Regents name new UW-River Falls chancellor (February 14, 2005)
- Mississippi schools bounce back from Hurricane Katrina (September 20, 2005)
- System reaches out (September 7, 2005)
- College leaders fight for air (February 20, 2007)
- UW keeps 9 Katrina refugees (September 4, 2006)
by Michael Gendall
Monday, September 12, 2005
After a multitude of Gulf Coast area colleges were forced to shut down for the fall semester after widespread damage from Hurricane Katrina, many universities nationwide have offered displaced students enrollment at their institutions, sometimes at no cost, for the fall semester.
However, University of Wisconsin-River Falls Chancellor Don Betz decided his university should do more. Betz said "rather than just responding," UW-RF will lead an initiative to adopt a school, school district, college, university or community as part of a "long term commitment" to aid in the reconstruction of the Gulf Coast.
"If the prognostications are correct, it looks to me like this is a long term issue," Betz said of the rebuilding process in southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. "[There are] dozens and dozens of school districts that are going to be dramatically impacted."
According to Betz, students and faculty at UW-RF said they understand there will be a long-term need in the disaster areas.
"I already sense that the students and faculty are quite interested in this," he said.
Although any significant work to rebuild the Gulf Coast will take enormous amounts of time and resources, Betz said neither his campus nor the UW system will be burdened by this long-term commitment.
"We're not going to put the university or any of us at risk," he said. "Most of the work that will be done will be volunteer [work, and] most of the funds will be raised [independent of university funding]."
But UW System Director of Communications Doug Bradley said any financial contributions from the system would be limited, if available, for a long-term adoption program.
"At this time we'll acknowledge that as being a real generous offer … until we have a better idea of what adopting a campus means [and] what kind of commitments they would be agreeing to," Bradley said. "Right now we'll take it as a great gesture."
Regardless of the resources UW-RF devotes to helping the rebuilding process, Betz said public involvement is a virtue important to his campus and to the UW system.
"Even before we knew the dramatic [conditions in the Gulf], we believe a life of public involvement is a very important [aspect] of life," he said. "We're talking about intention — that intention seems to be university-system wide."
Betz said he has long desired to establish a "sister institution" within the United States, and he hopes that if UW-RF chooses to adopt a university, they can forge that permanent relationship.
A "sister institution" typically refers to a partnership with an institution overseas and provides a "wonderful" connection with students around the world, he said.
"I'm not quite sure how much we do that to connect with our own cultures in our own country," Betz noted. "The delta and the Gulf Coast region [are] quite different from the upper part of the Mississippi [River]."
Although unsure if other universities are planning similar adoptions, Betz said he believes more schools will see the long-term need for help in the hurricane-razed area.
