Witkos taken to task

 NORFOLK —  More than 30 residents attended a coffee hour event organized by Sen. Kevin Witkos (R-8) on Saturday, March 12, at Haystack Pizza restaurant.

Topics in the discussion included the current status of the state’s budget and the potential closing of the University of Connecticut’s Torrington campus.

Witkos has recently been quoted in state media as supporting the idea of closing the campus to save money in the state’s budget.

This did not sit well with several people who attended the meeting, including Bill Brodnitzki.

“You were the lead story in this week’s Waterbury Republican advocating for the closing of the UConn Torrington branch,” Brodnitzki told Witkos. “You also said that Charlotte Hungerford is the leading employer in the area now that they closed factories. You look at the stores going up and down the Route 44 corridor and all we have is empty storefronts. Northwestern Connecticut is drying up and it’s not attractive to young people anymore. Yet, you want to close the branch, which is a source of attracting young people. It puts value into the community.”

Brodnitzki asked Witkos, if the campus was closed, how the state would address the closure.

“How are the kids that are there now going to deal with having to add expense to their education by traveling to Hartford or Waterbury?” Brodnitzki asked. “And, how guilty is the UConn Storrs in campus in downsizing the UConn Torrington Campus? Because they have control. They have one director for both campuses. How much time does that director spend at UConn Torrington? They can build in the closing of that because they want those resources. Those resources are a fraction of the UConn Storrs budget. 

“This area needs more infusion in that campus to bring a little more life back here.”

“I advocated for the closing of the campus because the numbers show that there are 159 students right now on that campus,” Witkos said. “So far for the fall registration there have only been 10 students that have enrolled.”

Witkos said it costs $5.1 million a year to operate the UConn Torrington campus.

“Tuition rates are going up and there are people who are complaining about how you control the cost of tuition, yet you are running a building at a cost of $5.1 million, where there is one full-time faculty member, a part-time administrator,” Witkos said. “I am a graduate of UConn Torrington. I love that campus. I actually tried to get UConn to offer an incentive to see if we can draw people to that campus, because I think it’s all economics. What I suggested was that they should let a freshman or sophomore who comes pay 100 percent of their tuition. But if they get to their junior or senior year, and they stay in Torrington, they get back 50 percent.”

Witkos said UConn needed to come up with the funds to pay for the potential incentive program.

“We can see if those economics would drive students to that campus,” he said. “UConn [representatives] told me that they can’t do that. They went back to their board of trustees and they said they can’t offer a program like that because of geographics and it would not be fair to other students on the other campuses.”

Witkos said he asked UConn representatives how they would attract students to the Torrington campus to keep the campus open.

“They said that the demographics in this area show a 4percent decrease in the number of 19- to 21-year-olds,” Witkos said. “You have a decrease in student population at high school levels, you have no interest from students who want to attend the campus and UConn professionals have told me that students that go there don’t get a full enrichment of a college experience that they should. There are barely any programs, there’s no athletic things that go on there, you have a campus that’s a half hour in each direction from Waterbury or West Hartford.”

 Witkos said that he suggested to UConn representatives expanding Oliver Wolcott Technical High School programs to the UConn Torrington campus to make better use of the campus facilities.

 “There’s a waiting list for students who want to go to Oliver Wolcott,” he said. “Why don’t we expand the technical school program? [Oliver Wolcott] has a structure problem because they don’t have city sewer. They can’t do any more expansion in their building and they’re stuck with what they have. That’s my idea to keep the campus in the area because there are not too many people who want to go to UConn Torrington, yet a waiting list at Oliver Wolcott. Not everyone is college material and the more we can do to help these kids in high school to succeed in life by helping them go to a trade, we should.”

 UConn Torrington freshman Kaelin Hester was the next to criticize Witkos for his stance.

 “The numbers that you have for who attends UConn Torrington, I don’t believe they include the people who are taking classes who are commuting from Waterbury or surrounding campuses,” Hester said. “The number that you have is just the number of students who have the majority of classes at UConn Torrington. 

 “The president of our student government is technically a Waterbury student. However, she spends most of her time at the Torrington campus. I believe that’s where some of your numbers are skewed. As for the 10 students who have enrolled, I believe that the majority of the students haven’t enrolled yet because they haven’t met with their advisors. I don’t believe you should be throwing around that number as a reason to close the campus for next semester.”

 Hester also questioned Witkos on his $5.1 million figure for campus operations.

 “I’m not so sure where that figure came from because some of those professors we have also teach in Waterbury,” she said. “It’s not like they will be getting laid off. In the end, when you talk about budget cuts it really is an insignificant amount.”

 Hester said the UConn Torrington campus enriches the area.

 “Students who go there, especially the ones who graduate, are all staying in the area to get jobs,” Hester said. “Getting rid of that option potentially means they have to move and get a job somewhere else where the education is.”

 “I respectfully disagree,” Witkos told Hester. “Commuting 20 minutes down the road isn’t relocating out of the area. Most of those folks still live at home.”

 “For those students who are commuting from Sharon, Kent and Salisbury, to get to Torrington is 40 minutes by itself,” Hester said. “Waterbury is over an hour away. At that point you might as well move to Storrs.”

 Hester told Witkos she disagreed with his assertion that the UConn Torrington campus did not have many programs.

 “I’m part of the student government and this year we have a new organization for student health,” Hester said. “There’s plenty of things you can get involved with and there are a lot of things you can do on campus.”

 “Cuts are very difficult,” Witkos said. “You’re going to make somebody not happy with whatever you are cutting. It’s not easy. Every day there’s another group who comes to the state capitol in Hartford and says ‘My program, whatever it happens to be, you can’t cut it because it’s a lifesaving program.’ The fact is the state cannot sustain the level of government expenditures that it is spending.”

 Resident Larry Hannafin also criticized Witkos for suggesting the closure of the UConn Torrington campus.

 “An article in the Register Citizen  said that [UConn] is only losing $80,000 this year,” Hannafin said. “When you take a $1 billion budget, you don’t have to look very far to find $80,000 to make that up. I’m kind of disappointed in you because you are our representative out here. You should work to keep the campus open because that will encourage more people to come into our area. All you have to do is walk up the street, look at the town center and you can see that we have to vacant retail buildings. You can’t buy bread in town and you can’t buy a quart of milk.”

 The town’s general store closed in September 2014.

 “It exacerbates the problem by closing the school because there will be even less incentives for people to come to this area,” Hannafin said. I would ask you to reconsider your position on this and consider the indirect ramifications to the closure downtown.”

Witkos thanked Hannafin for his comments but did not respond to him.