MENASHA (WLUK) — After canceling its meeting last month, the UW Oshkosh Fox Cities Board of Trustees met Monday afternoon to discuss the future of the campus.

The board presented its plans for the campus and listened to community members’ concerns about the outbuildings.

Richard Beal, president of Northeastern Wisconsin Stargazers, told us, “We recognize that the Barlow Planetarium, along with the Weis Earth Science Museum and the CAC, are important parts of our community fabric and it would be very, very painful for us as a community if they were to disappear.”

Beal says the NEWSTAR team is not the only group fighting for the buildings. “We want to advocate for the Barlow,” he said. “There are advocates for the CAC, there are advocates for the Weis, we want to join them and work together.”

At Monday’s meeting, the board approved the appraisal of the properties on campus. However, the board stressed that the appraisal does not mean that it intends to sell the properties.

“The two counties that own this property need to understand the value of this property as we move forward in exploring future uses for this campus,” said Walt Ulbricht, a member of the Board of Trustees and Winnebago County Supervisor for District 3.

Thomas Swan, chairman of the board, told us more. “Define the physical assets we have here. The square footage of the building. The physical characteristics,” he explained. If we’re going to bring in a new tenant for the classroom space, we need to know these things.”

At the same time as the assessment, the Board will also conduct an assessment of the condition of the facilities to determine what improvements need to be made on campus.