Education

UW-L would need more money for sustainability specialist, chancellor says

Published

3 years ago

December 17, 2021

A protest earlier this week over the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse not having a sustainability coordinator, while other UW colleges do.

According to UW-L Chancellor Joe Gow, money is the key reason there isn’t one.

The chancellor said Dan Sweetman works as the UW-L campus sustainability manager but a full-time coordinator position would cost about $80,000 a year — funding Gow says is “hard to get for us right now.

“What we would need in terms of a sustainability coordinator would be base funding, and so that has to recur every year,” Gow said in response to a climate change rally Monday on his campus.

Demonstrators at the rally didn’t accept the claim that a lack of funding is preventing the school from promoting more sustainability measures.

Gow said Sweetman does a “wonderful” job on sustainability.

“We don’t see the need for an entirely new position,” Gow said, surprised by the rally, because he meets regularly with students on environmental topics, and expects sustainability to be a top priority on campus in the near future.

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.