Olympia
Update
To WSU President Lane Rawlins
May 31, 2001, No. 8
From: Larry Ganders, Assistant to
the President, Washington State University
925 Plum St. SE - Building 4, P.O.
Box 43165, Olympia, WA 98504-3165
Throughout the 2001 Legislative Session, Visit Our
Web Page: www.olympia.wsu.edu
University Urges Legislators to
Fund Riverpoint Academic Center, WSU’s Top Spokane Priority
Washington
State University is urging legislators to fund $2.3 million in design funds for
an Academic Center building at Spokane’s Riverpoint Higher Education Park that
apparently is not included in a draft compromise capital budget that has
been circulating in Olympia this week.
The
2001 Legislature will reconvene Monday in Olympia and it appears poised to adopt
a capital construction budget that will put the 50,000-square-foot Academic
Center building, WSU’s top capital construction project for Spokane, on the
back burner for two years. Despite plans by legislators to proceed with capital
construction projects at other branch campus locations like Vancouver and
Tacoma, lawmakers are apparently prepared to slow down progress at the
Riverpoint campus. This will force
many WSU programs to continue to lease space in downtown, away from the
Riverpoint campus. WSU is asking legislators to reconsider this position that
could put off completion of the building, the centerpiece of Spokane’s
Riverpoint Higher Education Park, until 2007 or later. WSU urges capital budget
negotiators to accept the governor’s recommendation to design the project in
the upcoming 2001-2003 biennium and adopt WSU’s plans to construct the
building in the 2003-2005 biennium.
Center
Provides A New Library for WSU and Eastern Washington University Students
Downtown
The
single largest use of the building is the library, a joint program with Eastern
Washington University that gives a permanent home to 10,000 books and 400
journals and provides a single point of access to the entire collections of both
universities. The program is called CALS, Cooperative Academic Library System.
The library, currently located in temporary and insufficient space, will be
operated for both Washington State University and Eastern Washington University
faculty and students.
Substantial
New Academic Space to be Created for Spokane Students
Classrooms and the
library account for more than half of the proposed building. Based on WSU’s
pre-design information funded by Legislature for this biennium, here is what is
included in the proposed 50,000-square-foot project:
-
A 24-seat
classroom
-
Two 45-seat
classrooms
-
Three distance
education classrooms (Two 45-seat and one 20-seat)
-
A 150-seat
lecture hall
-
Two computer
labs (50-seat and 30-seat)
There is some
administrative space in the building, since this is the headquarters for WSU’s
Spokane programs, but this accounts for only about 6,000 square feet out of the
building. It will also be the headquarters for student services, which finally
can be located near where the students are going to class. Therefore, it is
well-named the “Academic Center.”
Programs
housed in the building include those offered by the College of Education
(principal and superintendent programs), Criminal Justice, Hotel and Restaurant
Administration, Real Estate, and Master’s of Technology Management. It will
also house the statewide office of the Small Business Development Center.
Local
Support: Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce Identifies Academic Center As A
Priority
A
number of projects for the Spokane area have been identified for funding in the
next biennium but the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce has identified three
priority projects, and the WSU Academic Center is on the list.
Key
Lawmakers
Strong
legislative advocates for this project this session have included House Higher
Education Co-Chairman Don Cox, R-Colfax, Sen. Larry Sheahan, R-Spokane; Rep.
Jeff Gombosky, D-Spokane, and House GOP Whip Mark Schoesler, R-Ritzville. Other
legislators who are playing a key role in the negotiations and could help
resolve this issue include Sen. Darlene Fairley, D-Lake Forest Park; Senate Ways
and Means Chair Lisa Brown, D-Spokane; Senate Minority Leader Jim West,
R-Spokane; House Capital Budget Co-Chair Gary Alexander, R-Olympia; Rep. Jim
McIntire, D-Seattle, House Capital Co-chair Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and Sen. Joe
Zarelli, R-Vancouver
