“I guess deep down, you’re still a little bitter about it,” said Skip Ristau, who worked as a maintenance carpenter on the campus for 20 years. Thirteen professors took the University’s severance package the rest transferred to other schools.īut for other instructors and staff members, finding a job within the University was not easy, with a nearly University-wide hiring freeze. Paul and four took positions in Minneapolis. Of the college’s 33 tenured professors, six took positions at the Duluth campus, six took positions in St. Many of the students who said they would not have attended college if they had not gone to Waseca completed their degrees before the campus closed others transferred to different institutions.įor the school’s tenured faculty members, employment at one of the University’s four other campuses was a guarantee. The clock was ticking as University officials scrambled to find a way to unburden the institution of the campus, while Waseca’s city officials attempted to replace the town’s fourth largest employer.Īs the closing of the campus drew near, students doubled up on classes to finish their degrees while professors and staff members looked for other jobs. Tim Penny, D-Minn., which called for maintaining the campus as an education center that could have been used by area colleges, vocational schools and high schools. Legislative efforts to save the campus had failed, as did a proposal made by then-U.S. The campus bookstore could barely keep up with demand for sweat shirts printed “UMW: 1971-1992.” In June, about 250 students went through the campus’ last commencement exercises. As students began their last year at the University of Minnesota–Waseca, campus officials said everyone was trying to make sure they made the most of the last year.Įnrollment in the college dwindled so much that it could not field a football team, but students celebrated homecoming anyway. This is the second of two stories examining the closing and its impact on the town of Waseca. Editor’s note: In light of the Board of Regents’ approval of establishing a branch campus in Rochester, the Daily takes a look at the 1992 closing of its Waseca campus, located just 45 minutes away from Rochester.
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