Re: DN editorial on corridor

[Daniel Kronemann <kron4155@uidaho.edu>]

Priscilla and Visionaries:

There was a point raised in the email about development between Moscow and
Pullman that I found quite interesting, and more far reaching than just
the issue of development.

Getting help from the University of Idaho and Washington State University
for community development is a wonderful idea.  Could you imagine what we
could do if these to entities of higher education would combine there
resources not only for community development and local issues, but in an
effort as merging the academic and educational goals, what we could do for
education, not only here but for the nation and the world?

However, it seems there is relentless de facto opposition to this, which
has its basis, as most opposition does, in money.  As a student in the
Microbiology/Biochemistry Department at the University of Idaho, I
remember students being able to take classes from both Universities at no
penalty, financial or academic.  But recently, the powers that be, decided
that if students from the UI went to WSU for certain classes, and vice
versa, the corrosponding departments didn't really need as much money they
were given, seeing as how the individual departments were not directly
giving the classes.  So for each student sent across the Washington/Idaho
border to attend a class at the other University, money was taken from the
department that sent the student over.  Finally, our department couldn't
afford it and had to pass the expense on down to the student.  We can
still take classes over there, but not without paying out of state tuition
and dealing with the bureacracy ourselves, something the department was
doing for us.

So the potential for a great agglomeration of education here on the
Palouse, consisting of the UI and WSU, is not possible.  So if you want UI
and WSU cooperation in helping with local development, and in the future
with other issues, you must not financially penalize them.

I don't know.  This is a hard and complicated issue to address.  People
want services but they don't want to pay for them.  Its a never ending
vicious cycle.

Regards

Daniel Kronemann