MENASHA (NBC 26) — Steve Binder, a UWO Fox Cities trustee, put it plainly: “We desperately need to find somebody to use this campus.”
- The UWO Fox Cities campus faces uncertainty as UW-Oshkosh plans to end in-person classes by June 2025.
- Outagamie County officials say potential partners, including the Menasha Public School District, have expressed interest, but no plans are confirmed.
- The Barlow Planetarium urgently needs $2.1 million in renovations, with equipment failing frequently, though progress on a feasibility study has stalled.]
- A community meeting on December 12 at the Barlow Planetarium will address these issues ahead of the next UWO board meeting in January.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
The clock is ticking for the Barlow Planetarium and other buildings on the UWO Fox Cities campus. Critical renovations hang in the balance as the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh prepares to stop in-person classes at the campus by June 2025, leaving their future uncertain.
Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson provided an update during Monday’s UWO Fox Cities Campus Board meeting, appearing via Zoom. “We have received a lot of interest from the Menasha Public School District and a number of other stakeholders,” Nelson said. However, he noted that no plans have been finalized, leaving beloved facilities like the Barlow Planetarium in limbo.
Richard Beal, President of the Northeast Wisconsin Stargazers, highlighted the planetarium’s growing challenges. “We are in a position now where the equipment in the Barlow Planetarium is failing on a regular basis,” Beal said. The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors approved $12,000 for a feasibility study in 2022 to assess the $2.1 million renovation costs. However, Beal said the project has yet to progress.
“The longer we wait to get the feasibility study done, the more often those adverse events are likely to happen,” Beal added.
But Trustee Steve Binder emphasized that securing a new tenant for the campus remains the board’s top priority. “To spend $12,000, we know that we need to update the planetarium. But if we don’t have a tenant here, there won’t be any need to spend $12,000 because we won’t have a planetarium,” Binder said.
While the next official UWO board meeting is scheduled for January 27th, a community-organized meeting will take place on December 12th at 7 p.m. at the Barlow Planetarium to discuss where things stand.
