Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

[Nidaros]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

I feel like I have to step in and defend the BoR a little bit here (and yes, I am kind of surprised that I just typed that sentence.)

Outside of this decision, I have found since I returned six years ago, that the BoR has done a pretty good job of managing higher education in the state. This isn't the BoR of 30 years ago. Those of you who were around then will understand what I mean by that.

The Regents have boosted faculty salaries dramatically, to a point where SD isn't the laughingstock it once was. We are now relatively competitive in attracting good faculty. They have found resources to enhance research on the campuses. They have adjusted the funding structure so the larger campuses like SDSU and USD aren't forced to support the tiny campuses as much. They have decentralized a bit, giving local campuses a bit more control over things.

Have they done everything we would like? No. And I'm not thrilled with this decision, but I can understand the politics of it. Nonetheless, the board has done some good things that have benefited SDSU (and USD) over the past six years.

Good points JJ. The more time passes between when the announcement of putting the projects on hold and now shows good judgement especially since their capital outlay plan is not up to date and an updated plan will enable the bor staff to tell their story to the legislature better seems to make sense in my mind. A 6 month delay will not change the cost of concrete and mortor that much. I don't detect any anti SDSU or USD support here.

[RabbitObsessed]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

So they are doing a good job because you and your colleagues got a raise? As bad as this decision was I believe it's rallying even more support for these important projects. I know there is some interest in drafting a bill that would alter the decision process for the BOR and Legislatures on university projects when they don't have any skin in the game.

I have to mention, it is probably of greater importance to keep good faculty on campus and to increase research than it is to build athletic facilities.

And Jimmy said "outside of this decision"

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

[QUOTE=Nidaros;161176]
No doubt who shows up in the legislature after Jan 1, are those who the BOR will have to deal with. I blame Harvey Jewett more than anyone as he seems to be all concerned about images etc. and some of the things he said during the move to D1, give me the impression he is not sold on athletic facilities at either SDSU or USD, and yet he grew up Flandreau and a buddy of Janklow. QUOTE]

There are Jewett family connections to Aberdeen.

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

Exactly. The BoR is in a state of perpetual retreat. It's a governing board that wouldn't say bo to a goose.

They wouldn't approve a 15 year master plan that doesn't have a dime's worth of funding in it.

I recall Dr. Gambill's retirement ceremony when he said that he hired tough people because they were the only kind of people who could make it out here. BoR is the same deal. They aren't tough. There isn't an ounce of fight in them.

Been reading Hamlin Garland lately. This part of the country wasn't settled by spineless cringers, and if higher education is to be respected in this state, it won't be due to milquetoasts like those on the BoR. It will be through vigorous hard working individuals that refuse to give in to the legislature and the general public.

The public's attitude toward higher ed in this state is sod, and the regental institutions need sodbusters on the BoR. These regents couldn't hoe a row of radishes.

Kudos to Zoo, tell us what you think.

[JackJD]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

[QUOTE=Prairiehaas;161371]

No doubt who shows up in the legislature after Jan 1, are those who the BOR will have to deal with. I blame Harvey Jewett more than anyone as he seems to be all concerned about images etc. and some of the things he said during the move to D1, give me the impression he is not sold on athletic facilities at either SDSU or USD, and yet he grew up Flandreau and a buddy of Janklow. QUOTE]

There are Jewett family connections to Aberdeen.

Harvey was born and raised in Aberdeen.

I agree with JimmyJack's statements generally on the BoR...this BoR is quite an improvement and it has a difficult job thinking about all of the schools.

[zooropa]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

And in all fairness, and in a measure of contradiction to my earlier diatribe:

The regents aren't responsible for generating positive press and managing PR for the state schools. That's the responsibility of the BoR staff.

SD has reversed the brain drain, and the BoR should be all over that story. They should be highlighting the growth of small businesses started by graduates from regental schools. They should be beating the drum for DUSEL, and generating PR to support advanced physics research at DUSEL by faculty and grad students at Mines & SDSU. They need to lay the groundwork *now* for graduate research opportunities in physics at Mines & SDSU, or else be edged out by other institutions.

All of that requires looking at universities as revenue generating entities. When a university obtains research funding from a federal agency or a private business, it is contributing to the local economy. It's an economic engine.

If the mindset remains, "we are paying a subsidy to educate our kids so they can get a job in Minneapolis and come back to _________ for the holidays, and maybe move back to Sioux Falls when they start a family," then the regents are missing the value of research intensive universities--and they're ignoring the economic opportunities that exist right here in SD for graduates of SD colleges. Blend Interactive and Electric Pulp in Sioux Falls are both doing work for the largest ad agencies in the world.

[zooropa]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

Here's the short version:

The BoR needs something like SDSU's "You Can Go Anywhere From Here."

A clear consistent message repeated regularly.

[Nidaros]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

[QUOTE=JackJD;161386]

Harvey was born and raised in Aberdeen.

I believe that JackJD probably knows Harvey better than most of us so i trust what you and Wikapedia say when you say he was born and raised in Aberdeen. Jewett is a name I have long associated with Flandreau. I suspect there might be blood ties with those in Flandreau.

[JACKGUYII]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

Every person on this board should have something to say about this editorial in the Argus:

http://www.argusleader.com/article/2...12/-1/voices01

[Prairiehaas]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

Not suprising coming out of the Argus. The editorial board there has long needed a glass stomach.

IMO, as long as the 6 state colleges & universities are looked at as local economic engines there will be some form of paralysis in decision making with the Regents. The Regents are generally selected from each of the institutions surrounding area and tend to represent the local interests. Recent decisions by the Regents indicate they are taking a less parochial view with the university system. But, politics in Pierre are bound to foster a "me too" from the northern and western politicians. While the SF and central area will question how so much money can be spent in Brookings & Vermillon when we are in a budget crisis.

[Jacks#1Fan]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

Having been a registered lobbyist for higher education for most of a decade (several decades ago!!), having led the creation of a public support group (Citizens for Higher Education) during a time when higher ed was nobody's favorite for funding, and having attended almost every BOR meeting during that time, I've somewhat reluctantly decided to weigh in on this thread. While I'm not as close as I once was to the day-to-day workings of the BOR and its staff, I think I'm still fairly knowledgeable with the current situation.

IMHO, the BOR staff (and the BOR itself) has been more persistent and successful in boosting higher ed's status in the past decade than it was in previous years. It's not an easy sell, regardless of what we believe is obvious, when you get into the political environment. Regents are appointed by the Governor, and the political nature of that fact obviously leads to complications. The board members serve at the pleasure of the governor. They are not an independent board and they are just one constituency dealling with a legislature that controls their purse strings.

I might not like the BOR's decision in laying aside the institutional requests for first-step approval of the athletic facilities requests, but I'm also not shocked by it. I think the 3-6 month "delay" is absolutely a tactic to keep the facilities plans out of the limelight while higher education gets ready to fight the battle for funding that took a big hit last year, and won't be much easier this year.

Delay in construction usually leads to higher construction costs, but as a personal opinion, I would caution anybody against believing these projects are ready to go. Please note that the plan is a Master Athletics Facilities Plan through 2025...and both institutions have a long ways to go in turning them into reality...certainly not happening as quickly as we fans would like.

[JackJD]

Re: Preliminary Athletics Facility Plan

Good post, Jacks#1Fan. This Board of Regents is actually slugging it out for higher education. They have to be sensitive to the political winds in order to drive higher education in the direction we want to see it take. We have to appreciate the sensitivity of asking for big dollars in this economic climate -- even though those dollars ultimately will not be public dollars.

There are legislators who think way too much money is being spent on higher eduction generally, and too much on athletics specifically. Get to know your legislators and watch how they vote on these issues...that's where the action is. How many posters on this board have discussed such issues with their legislators?