MENASHA, Wis. (WFRV) – Community members had an opportunity to tell Winnebago County officials what they would like the future of the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh Fox Cities campus to look like.
UWO Fox Cities closes as a college campus on Monday. Winnebago County then takes over the campus and must decide how it will utilize it moving forward. While there are still many questions to answer, we do know that Menasha Joint School District will run childcare at the children’s center on campus and that the Weis Earth Science Museum will move to downtown Appleton.
Although speakers at the community forum on Wednesday had a variety of ideas about potential uses for the campus, what united them was a desire to see campus assets preserved.
“This building means so much to so many people,” said Megan Rasmussen from Fox Crossing. “It allows us to have a community, and I think that is incredibly important.”
Speakers mentioned creating a business incubator, space for nonprofits, turning the facility into a community center, and selling the entire campus and using the money to support social services as possible future uses for the campus. There were several people who said they wanted programs that are currently on campus, like fitness classes and theater groups, to continue being offered there.
Winnebago County supervisors recently approved an amendment to their budget to fund the campus through the rest of the year once they take control of it on July 1. After that, there are major question marks about how to continue to fund the campus.
“The ultimate goal is to maintain the public purpose of the campus while having it be financially sustainable,” said Winnebago County Executive Gordon Hintz.
Hintz said in a perfect world, they’d be able to rent or lease out space on the campus and use that revenue to cover utilities and maintenance each year. He said that they will conduct a facilities and inventory assessment of the campus, and also will try to hire a company to help them lease out campus space to tenants.
“I think we’re committed to do everything we can to make it work,” he said. ”We need some partnerships, some private support, and to be creative.”
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As for the Barlow Planetarium, the director told Local 5 News that Winnebago County will help to cover their costs for the time being. She said Barlow Planetarium officials have begun fundraising and hope that this money, coupled with revenue they get from visits, will provide them with a long-term funding source moving forward.
In the fall, Winnebago County officials will work on their budget for the 2026 fiscal year. Hintz said they will likely have to do this without a completed facilities and inventory assessment, which he says could make figuring out costs for the campus tricky.
“It (the campus) belongs to the public, and to the extent that we can keep it open to the public is what I think the county would really like to do,” Hintz said. “We’re just being really cautious because it’s county taxpayers who are funding it.”
The big sign out on Midway Road that welcomes people onto campus is now blank. Boxes fill the hallways as workers pack up the contents of the campus in preparation for closing on June 30.
