UW Oshkosh Fond du Lac campus is closing in a few weeks, but its impact and history in the community lives on

FOND DU LAC – After 56 years, Fond du Lac is about to say goodbye to one of its hometown schools.

The Universities of Wisconsin System announced in October that the Fond du Lac campus of UW Oshkosh would close at the end of spring semester because of low enrollment.

The campus reported an enrollment of 243 students for the 2023-24 school year, compared to 627 in 2014, according to previous coverage from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

UW Fond du Lac merged with UW Oshkosh in 2018 as part of the UW System's initiative to expand access to students and address declining enrollment, which meant matching the 13 two-year colleges with the 13 other four-year colleges. UW Fox Cities also merged with UW Oshkosh.

Since the merger, five of the colleges have plans to close: UW Platteville Richland Center and UW Milwaukee at Washington County will join Fond du Lac in closing the campuses, and UW Green Bay Marinette will suspend in-person classes, all at the end of the current semester. UW Milwaukee's Waukesha campus will close at the end of the spring 2025 semester.

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Students have to transfer earlier than expected, but area schools offer support

As the "parent campus" to Fond du Lac, UW Oshkosh had offered seamless transfer to students who had finished the two-year program, granting them guaranteed junior status.

In planning beyond this semester, UW Oshkosh's Solution Center has been working with students on their options, which includes finishing their associate's degree online or at either UW Oshkosh or UW Fox Cities. Tuition for those students would remain at the rate they had in Fond du Lac for the next school year, according to the college.

For students who want to stay in Fond du Lac, Moraine Park Technical College announced in February it made a guaranteed transfer agreement with UW Oshkosh for students to finish their associate degree, in addition to the existing post-graduation agreement the two schools had for guaranteed junior status at UW Oshkosh.

"Our goal through this agreement, as well as our other partnership agreements, is to create options for students in our district," Moraine Park President Bonnie Baerwald said. "We know that learning preferences differ between students, and the more choices the students have, the better equipped they will be to cultivate a higher education pathway that works the best for their life."

Fond du Lac could get state funding for redevelopment of the campus

As of April, communities with a closing UW System branch could get up to $2 million for redevelopment of the sites, according to the bill Gov. Tony Evers signed into law.

A total of $20 million is available, and the money would have to be used for projects that would enhance the community's economy in some way, which could include supporting housing, job creation, workforce development or public infrastructure.

The campus's enrollment in its very first year was about 224 freshmen

The Fond du Lac campus was built in 1968, when the regional college system was Wisconsin State University. It accepted applications the year previously, before construction even started, according to The Reporter archives.

Construction was still finishing up on freshman registration day, which welcomed 224 students "looking fresh and sparkling after a summer vacation," according to archives. One of the new faculty members that day thought the new construction was beautiful, comparing it to a country club.

The Oshkosh campus reported significantly lower enrollment from Fond du Lac County students because of the new school, but by the time the sophomore class in 1970 finished their two-year studies, many of them chose to transfer to Oshkosh to finish their degrees.

Enrollment had reached 461 students in the 1969-70 school year, and was projected to keep climbing, reaching more than 700 students in its first decade.

School mascot and nickname went from centaurs to falcons

For its first 30 years, the Fond du Lac school's athletes were known as the Centaurs, though some alternative names thrown around in 1968 included the Super Bees, Baboons or Cobras.

For the start of the 1999 fall semester, however, student athletes proposed a change to a more up-to-date mascot in line with the expansion of one of the buildings and a few other changes happening on campus. The athletic director and the student government agreed with the change, unveiling the Falcons on sports uniforms and school banners.

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The buildings supported more than just college classes

The campus's Prairie Theater was a hub for both visiting and local performances, including the Fond du Lac Symphonic Band and Fond du Lac Community Theater, especially in the years before Fond du Lac High School and its performing arts center were built in 2001.

In 2001, it hosted the premiere for the locally-filmed movie "Hollywood, Wisconsin" about a youth theater group whose winter festival production is halted when their stage burns down and their efforts to keep the stage's site from being turned into a sludge factory.

On the athletics side, local youth from preschool to high school age were able to participate in athletic events, including summer basketball, volleyball, tee ball and soccer programs.

Other summer opportunities that engaged local children included College for Kids and the Learning Enrichment for Able Primary Students (LEAPS) program, both of which introduced campus life to the students.

College for Kids was an enrichment program for gifted and talented students in grades 5 through 7, where they could pick from a range of classes, from the computer program Garage Band to hands-on, doctor-led anatomy lessons that included dissection.

Other topics included history mystery, robotics, Glee Club, geocaching and other art, science or culture-focused classes.

LEAPS had similar programming, but engaged students in grades 2 to 4. Some of those topics were veterinary science, chemistry, folk dancing, theater and several language classes.

Daphne Lemke is the Streetwise reporter for the Fond du Lac Reporter. Contact her at dlemke@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Fond du Lac Reporter: UW Oshkosh Fond du Lac campus to close; has been a pillar since 1968