Oh when the students go marching in

The University of Wisconsin, after taking refugees of Hurricane Katrina into its academic ranks free of charge, is reneging on its word, according to NBC 15.

Well, sort of.

The school opened its arms to those unable to spend their fall at Tulane and other hurricane-affected universities. Tuition was waived and a number of people found their way into the undergraduate and graduate ranks of UW.

Now that these students' original schools will be open for business once again, UW has introduced a wrinkle of sorts according to NBC 15: refugees may stay in Madison, but not only will they be asked to pay tuition from here on out, they will need to make good on the tuition they were never billed for in the fall.

While this doesn't sound too compassionate at first, there does seem to be a strategy of sorts on UW's part: students now have a very strong financial incentive to go back to Louisiana and help a ravaged portion of the nation return to greatness.

Some students will perhaps stay in Madison. Especially those who came here as freshmen never really knew New Orleans and may consider themselves loyal to UW above any other school. For those who were from Wisconsin in the first place, this option may be even more appealing because the financial penalty is not nearly as devastating as it is for those from elsewhere.

But the reality is that most will probably go back to the Big Easy. And schools like Tulane will rise from their ashes, mimicking the phoenix and returning to greatness.

Still, if what NBC 15 is reporting is true, the whole scheme wreaks of Machiavellian mischief. UW's open arms are quickly become a closed door with a very expensive key. Tuition is being charged ex-post facto. And those already forced to endure the trauma of moving against their will once are now likely facing the same.

You have to wonder how many students once-content in Madison will now feel the angst of those legendary Pretenders' lyrics, “I went back to Ohio, but my city was gone.”