The University of Idaho "serves as the state’s flagship ... and it always will," two university supporters wrote in a guest opinion. Jeffry L. Stoddard, chairman of the University of Idaho Foundation, and Michael Higgins, president of the University of Idaho Alumni Association, wrote the guest opinion in response to the State Board of Education's decision Tuesday to strip the word "flagship" from the university's mission statement. "The University of Idaho is Idaho’s flagship research university," they wrote in a guest opinion, which also will appear in Tuesday's Statesman. "That is an undeniable fact. It is the state’s founding university, it generates 73 percent of the competitive research dollars in the state and it is the state’s land grant university." Stoddard and Higgins liken the flagship status to Boise State University's success on the football field — an analogy, I suspect, that won't go over too well with some Bronco backers/Kevin Richert, Idaho Statesman. More here.

Question: There's some talk of a petition drive by UI boosters to regain the word "flagship" in the university's mission statement. Do you think the state Bored of Education would pay attention to such a tactic?