Education committee approves follow-up letter to UW Platteville documenting student registration problems

The Richland County Education Committee voted to send a follow-up letter to Michael Compton at the University of Wisconsin–Platteville documenting registration problems students have experienced and asking for clarification ahead of the committee’s next meeting.

Committee members amended the letter’s opening to read that it is “a follow-up from the last meeting with documentation” referencing registration problems at the UW–Platteville Richland campus. The amendment, proposed after discussion about the need for clear documentation, passed unanimously. A subsequent motion to send the letter as amended also passed by unanimous voice vote.

Carrie Keller, associate provost at UW–Platteville, joined the meeting and told the committee she works closely with Michael Compton and that UW–Platteville staff have been taking steps to improve website clarity. Keller said the UW System’s centralized application (the e‑app) requires applicants to select a specific campus when applying and that some elements of the application process are controlled at the system level rather than by individual campuses. Keller said UW–Platteville’s marketing division is working to make the Richland and Baraboo campus information clearer on the main UW–Platteville website.

Committee members said they want the follow-up letter to document the concerns raised at the last meeting so the committee and UW–Platteville have a written record. Bob Frank pressed for documentation to support any historical claims; the committee removed an imprecise sentence describing prior offers and replaced the opening with the wording proposed by Frank that makes the letter explicitly a follow-up with documentation attached.

The motion to amend the opening was made by Sean Murphy Lopez and seconded by Chad. The committee then voted to send the amended letter to Michael Compton; the chair indicated unanimous approval among members present. The committee said staff will email the letter directly to Michael Compton and circulate it to members ahead of the next meeting.

Keller asked the committee to note the difference between what UW–Platteville controls and what is controlled by the UW System; she said some fixes are underway on the campus website and that Mike Compton is available to answer more detailed questions at a future direct meeting.

The committee also rescheduled its next meeting to Monday at 3:00 p.m. to accommodate a UW System visit; members asked that the meeting be streamlined and concluded by 4:30–5:00 p.m.