The University of Idaho is getting poked from any number of directions. Politicians would rather extend tax breaks to high rollers and corporations than repair the damage they inflicted upon higher education during the Great Recession. Budgets are being balanced on the backs of students at a time when Idahoans are less able to afford it. Student debt is rising and enrollment is flat. Not to mention the fact buildings and grounds are aging with no money to properly maintain them. In southern Idaho, UI gets as much attention for dangerously intoxicated students falling out of buildings or freezing to death as it does for its research programs. ...The institution's drift compares unfavorably to an ascendant Boise State University, where the football team wins, the campus is expanding and enrollment is growing. So what is UI's response? How about new digs for the next president?/Marty Trillhaase, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Thoughts?