The UW System Board of Regents is expected on Thursday to approve Cross’ proposal to merge the UW Colleges into seven of the system’s 13 four-year institutions on July 1.

The changes would follow a “regionalization” of UW Colleges implemented two years ago in response to continued cuts to state funding of UW and a climate of increased legislative demands that the university better sync its offerings to the workforce and economic development needs of the state. County officials, like much of the UW System community, got no warning of the decision to merge campuses before it was announced on Oct. 11.

James Perry, emeritus campus executive officer and dean at UW-Fox Valley, is one of a group of former UW College campus leaders joining a small chorus of voices asking university administrators to slow down and study the likely impact of the mergers before implementing the reorganization plan.

UW Colleges collaboration with and support from their counties is one concern the group has raised, give the prospect that merger opens the door to possibly closing the two-year campuses.

“If things are not planned right and enrollment does not remain stable or grow, one can imagine somewhere down the line where the chancellor for a four-year campus finds they just can’t support the UW College campus,” Perry said.