As we have discussed in the above editorial, there is a great divide between two-year colleges and four-year universities. All institutions of higher education, each is surely valuable in its own right and a positive academic step for any student not content leaving the classroom with a high school diploma. But the reality is that full universities are more intricate environments, bustling with doctoral work and high level research foreign to most two-year campuses.

And so we are disturbed by a report in yesterday’s Wisconsin State Journal that Rep. Rob Kreibich, R-Eau Claire, is proposing a merge between the 13 two-year campuses in the University of Wisconsin System and the 13 four-year campuses.

Pitched largely as a financial Band-Aid for an educational system neglected by Governor Doyle and Kriebich’s peers in the Capitol, the plan seeks to save money by consolidating resources — both human and physical. The cost of such a move, however, would surely outweigh any short term benefits, while likely also serving as a smokescreen distraction from the state’s reckless handling of its precious higher education system.

Of the 13 two-year campuses, only two currently offer student housing. A detail on its face, this reality is largely indicative of the astounding environmental difference between a two-year and four-year school. For those not financially or emotionally prepared to dive into a full university environment, two-year schools offer an ability to ease out of a home environment while facing minimal extracurricular distraction.

Moreover, we are concerned about the potentially damning effects of such a merger on UW-Madison itself. Already one of the largest schools in America and the flagship campus for the entire UW System, the answer to Bascom Hill’s current problems surely isn’t a new influx of students. Realizing that most two-year college pupils come from the local community, this move would only serve to water down the out of state (and out of country) diversity that lend Madison a wonderfully eclectic learning environment both inside and outside of the classroom.

Additionally, as one of the top 35 universities in America, Madison is particularly well respected for the rigorous admissions standards every freshman class must face. Questions abound about how the inclusion of a two-year college’s student body might alter this high repute.

Hours after this plan was released, the UW System put our its own version of a cost cutting proposal that would center around the consolidation of chancellors at various UW schools. We are intrigued by the details of such a plan but worry that it has not yet been sufficiently deliberated (nor has Kreibich’s), and look forward to hearing a productive debate from both sides in the coming weeks.

We have no doubt that Kreibich’s intentions are in the right place. But we also can’t help but to wonder if a University of Minnesota graduate ought to be setting out to drastically alter the entire UW System as we know it.