A third University of Wisconsin System campus will join two others already slated to end in-person instruction at the end of this school year.

UW-Green Bay will suspend face-to-face classes at its Marinette campus after the spring semester concludes, moving to an entirely online campus come fall. Chancellor Mike Alexander insists, however, this isn’t the end.

“We are not leaving,” he wrote in an email to faculty. “Yes, it will look different, but it will not close. We want our campus in Marinette to be an educational asset for generations to come.”

Only 14 classes were taught in person at the Marinette campus this fall, Alexander said. The rest were online or streamed across multiple campuses. Instead of “waiting for a closure,” which was the fate delivered to UW-Platteville Richland this fall, he wants to “proactively rethink our approach.”

That includes keeping classrooms with streaming capabilities open for students, investing in the campus theater by providing a range of arts programming, expanding non-credit educational offerings to community members and offering more camps, he said.

UW-Green Bay will also allow others to use campus facilities, which are owned by Marinette County.

UW-Green Bay operates two other campuses aside from its main location in Green Bay. Enrollment at the university’s Sheboygan and Manitowoc campuses are each above 400 students.

Marinette, however, has struggled. It had about 200 students enrolled this fall.

The UW system includes 13 four-year universities where students earn bachelor’s degrees. Before Richland’s closure in 2023, the UW System also had 13 smaller “branch campuses,” which for decades served as a stepping stone for lower-income students to enroll at a lower tuition rate and transfer later on to a four-year school.

Most of the branch campuses have hemorrhaged students over the past decade.

There’s competition from technical colleges, many of which are just a few miles away. There are fewer students graduating from Wisconsin high schools, and a smaller share of them are choosing to pursue a college degree.

The campuses have also been subjected to budget cuts, reorganizations and mergers, the most recent of which happened in 2018 when UW four-year universities absorbed oversight.

UW-Milwaukee at Washington County and UW-Oshkosh Fond du Lac are ending traditional programming at the end of this spring, UW System officials announced in October.

More: UW ending classes at campuses in Washington County and Fond du Lac

UW System President Jay Rothman said cost savings weren’t driving the decisions. Rather, it was students choosing to enroll elsewhere.

Alexander acknowledged the transition will be painful for the Marinette community.

“But we must embrace a new model rather than trying to cling to the past,” he wrote. “It is our job to be responsible stewards of our resources. Rather than try to perpetuate a broken economic model, we will reallocate our resources to the benefit of the most people in the area.”

This story may be updated.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: UW-Green Bay Marinette ending in-person classes after spring 2024 semester