GORDON GARNOS

01/14/2006

A seventh college campus for South Dakota needs to be put on the scale

AT ISSUE: There has been a movement afoot for the state to establish a seventh public university in Sioux Falls. The proposal may not have been a big secret, but far be it for those involved to tell all the facts of the proposal to the voters of South Dakota. The latest is that Governor Mike Rounds announced his support for constructing three new buildings on a new campus in northwest Sioux Falls over the next six years - with appropriate funding. The question is how does this weigh with funding education for our children in our public schools?

REMEMBER THEMIS? She was that Greek mythological goddess who carries the scales of justice in one hand and a sword in the other. You might ask how in the world does this connect with today's issue about having another public university campus in South Dakota? Please let me back up a bit with some background.

There apparently is a need for more classroom space in Sioux Falls for the non-traditional college student. The State Board of Regents already has a classroom built on the campus of Southeast Tech, but promoters for the new campus say it has been out-grown. By the way, the proposed campus is not part of nor is it near the Southeast Tech campus.

Already there are millions of dollars floating around somewhere for the new project and Governor Mike Rounds is asking the Legislature for $8 million to pay for the first new building.

NOW, HOW MUCH of this idea has been discussed in public and how much in private (secret) is hard to tell. There is no mention of the new campus in the minutes of regents' board meetings.

However, legislators were assured two years ago that if USDSU (that's its name at least until they come up with another) was to expand, it wouldn't be through construction of its own campus and building. With the new proposal the two-year-old assurance has gone up in smoke.

In fact, it goes back further than this. A former state legislator from Mitchell, Mel Olson, said when lawmakers approved $400,000 in 1999 to lease space for higher education classes in Sioux Falls, he warned the lease would move the state closer to adding a seventh state-supported university. The latest proposal now being mulled over is yet the third step in that direction.

Apparently, the presidents from USD, SDSU and Dakota State, whose universities now provide classes in Sioux Falls, as well as the president of Northern State University publicly supported the new campus proposed by their bosses, Yes, bosses, Board of Regents President Harvey Jewett and Governor Rounds, with little fear it will hurt their individual campuses, they said.

HOWEVER, IT IS HARD to believe that such a campus wouldn't hurt our other schools of higher education, some of which, we have been told, are already having some recruitment problems.

Still, the need for more classrooms in Sioux Falls apparently is there. Some feel with the private colleges already in Sioux Falls and existing classrooms at Southeast Tech a more economical approach to the space problem needs to be further explored, one legislator told me. In retort, higher education officials say with the population growth facing Sioux Falls, such a new facility would fulfill the needs of an estimated 300,000 Sioux Falls residents by 2040.

HERE IS WHERE Themis comes into the picture. Remember, she is holding in one hand a two-sided sword with both sides very sharp. Compare those sides with the struggle of financing our public school system, which is mandated by the State Constitution, vs. the dollars demanded by the Board of Regents and its domain. Which side of that sword cuts the deepest? Or at least, should?

Then, don't forget the scales of justice in her other hand. Divide all the money in the state kitty for one education program or another and put these equally on each side of the scale. When you take funding from one side of the scale and move it to the other, the scales of justice tip, but in whose favor? With the limited funding available in the state for public education, the important question becomes should all of our kids in the state be short-changed in their education at the benefit of the non-traditional post high school student in Sioux Falls?

"Ridiculous reasoning," you say? Is it any more ridiculous than for a state already strapped for education money to build yet another university campus?

ACCORDING TO THE Associated Press, Tad Perry, the exec for the regents, says, "If you define university, Sioux Falls is not going to be a university. It's going to be a site for instruction." To some this means it will be like our other six universities, but without a football team - for now.....