After speaking with representatives from United Council, it was discovered that the funds that will be used to pay UWSP Research Park start-up costs will come directly from the UW system budget. The WI state legislature has not granted UWSP any funds on top of what is already allocated for the UW system to pay for the infrastructure of the "Business Training and Education Facility."
This means that UWSP administrators can no longer use the excuse that "It's not a student issue, because it doesn't affect curricula and it doesn't affect faculty staffing."
The $500,000+ UWSP will need to subsidize this research park will have to come from some other program within the University System. Programs and staff that/who desperately need funding (i.e. ethnic studies programs, fine arts programs, increasing in professors' salaries to provide incentives for quality faculty to stay in WI) will receive less than they receive already. |
