SUPPORT GROWS FOR LEGISLATION TO ABOLISH THE SPOKANE JOINT CENTER FOR HIGHER EDUCATION
Substitute Senate Bill 6717, compromise legislation abolishing the Spokane Joint Center for Higher Education and designating WSU as the fiscal agent for all but one higher education building at Spokane's "Riverpoint" campus, was approved by the Senate Higher Education Committee Feb. 6. The bill is in the Senate Rules Committee today, awaiting assignment for a vote before the full Senate. The Joint Center is currently the landlord for WSU Riverpoint programs and has regulatory authority over programs that can be located there. Support for the legislation eliminating the Joint Center is increasing outside the Legislature as well. In a separate development, the state Higher Education Coordinating Board has released a draft of its preliminary recommendations, which also calls for the state to "discontinue the Joint Center for Higher Education and its Board of Trustees, and have WSU assume facilities management responsibilities for the Riverpoint Higher Education Park." WSU has endorsed the legislation and the HEC Board draft recommendations as a step toward offering more research and instruction programs to Spokane residents. The HEC Board will take a final vote on its recommendations Feb. 13, following hearings in Spokane.
Merger Proposals Abandoned. There has been substantial misinformation and some confusion about the legislation. While Senator Jim West, R-Spokane, advocated a merger of EWU and WSU in Spokane late last year, this legislation seeks to bring about improvements in Spokane higher education programs without a merger. In fact, West wrote the compromise bill in close consultation with Sen. Gene Prince, R-Thornton, who is absolutely opposed to a merger of the two institutions. Prince's 9th legislative district includes both the EWU Cheney campus and the WSU Pullman campus.
EWU Programs Remain In Spokane. Some have suggested that SSB 6717 would force all Eastern Washington University programs out of Spokane and back to the Cheney campus. Actually, the legislation simply requires EWU, WSU and all institutions to go through the same process for new program approval with the state Higher Education Coordinating Board. Every community in the state uses this process except Spokane, where a special "joint center" was established in the early 1990s. WSU anticipates that most, if not all, EWU programs in Spokane will be retained by the HEC Board. WSU also anticipates that many programs which could not win approval of the Joint Center will likely be approved by the HEC Board which will be evaluating the needs in Spokane on a statewide basis.
More WSU Programs Anticipated. Currently, WSU is required to get both the permission of the Spokane Joint Center for Higher Education and the HEC Board to offer programs in Spokane. It is a difficult process that has forced WSU to abandon attempts to offer more than 29 new programs to Spokane in the past years. WSU believes that abolition of the joint center board will allow for more likely approval of new programs when a substantial need and ability to cost-effectively deliver the programs can been demonstrated.
It Works In Tacoma. In testimony before the Senate Higher Education Committee, President Smith noted that the system of HEC Board approval for programs is working throughout the state, including in Tacoma, a city only slightly smaller than Spokane. There, under HEC Board supervision, the University of Washington has established a branch campus for upper-division and graduate programs much like WSU envisions for Spokane. Co-existing with UW's branch campus are numerous other institutions who offer programs to the community. The Evergreen State College has a campus in the Hilltop district of Tacoma. Central Washington University offers courses at SeaTac and Steilacoom. WSU operates a learning center at the Salishan housing development in Tacoma. And of course, Pacific Lutheran University and the University of Puget Sound campuses offer excellent access to private higher education programs in Tacoma. It is this mix of educational institutions and offerings that WSU envisions for Spokane.
DIFFERENT APPROACHES FOR THE SPOKANE INTERCOLLEGIATE RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE
The apparent consensus to eliminate the Spokane Joint Center for Higher Education is leading to a discussion of how to promote the applied research programs of the "Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute" or SIRTI. Gov. Booth Gardner signed the legislation creating SIRTI, an applied research building at the Riverpoint campus and occupied by a number of educational institutions. The building is currently managed by the Joint Center.
Substitute Senate Bill 6655, sponsored by Sen. Jim West and Sen. Lisa Brown, would transfer the SIRTI building and the 2.5 acres of Riverpoint property under the building to create a new state agency. An amendment adopted by the Sen. Higher Ed. Comm. identifies WSU the senior research partner with the other partners; EWU, CWU, UW, Gonzaga University, Whitworth College. The HEC Board draft recommendation proposes that SIRTI be discontinued as a separate entitity and that research at the building be coordinated by Washington State University.
