On the value of “systemness,” or public college systems working as one unit rather than as a conglomerate of independent colleges. Collaboration, not competition or closure, is the way forward. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/04/22/financial-peril-prompting-calls-close-some-public-college-campuses-systems-can-often

And good for @dan_greenstein for reminding us of the harm of closing rural institutions: “It is difficult for rural communities to source the rural & business leaders they need. So they use universities as a way of training their teachers & their nurses & their...businesspeople.”

Rural institutions are often the largest employers and purchasers of goods and services in the region. The economy revolves around them. But the point about nurses is crucial. There can be huge public health ramifications to not supporting rural institutions.