Zinser Says Universities Should Unite Outgoing UI President Says Duplication Wastes Resources

Outgoing University of Idaho President Elisabeth Zinser says Idaho should move to a single-university system.

But Zinser’s vision wouldn’t mean any savings on administration. She sees each of the state’s three universities continuing with its own president and adding its own board of trustees.

A state legislative committee has begun to study new ways to govern Idaho’s universities, which are prone to turf wars and duplication. A single-university system is among the possible answers.

“A University of Idaho system could work,” Zinser said Friday during the taping of the public affairs program “Viewpoint” at KTVB. “The future of Idaho depends a great deal on bringing about … unity.”

Instead of a university system with branch campuses, Zinser sees UI, Boise State University and Idaho State University at Pocatello each becoming a University of Idaho. Each school would stick to its mission, and they wouldn’t compete with each other.

The UI is the traditional, land-grant university, BSU is the “urban university” that provides a wide variety of services for non-traditional students and businesses, and ISU is a regional university.

A board of regents would oversee the whole system. Students at any of the three colleges would get University of Idaho degrees.

Zinser said it makes sense for more than one university to offer business or education courses. But when it comes to the expensive, high-tech fields like engineering and medicine, a state the size of Idaho would be foolish to divide its resources.

Zinser, who leaves UI this summer to become chancellor at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, also was a candidate for a job at West Virginia University. She said that she found in West Virginia a state that had done just what Idaho should avoid.

Though a small state, West Virginia has three medical schools - two within 30 miles of each other, Zinser said. “They succumbed to political pressures.”

“You end up with mediocrity,” she said.

That’s the last thing Zinser wants for Idaho. Though she’s been criticized during her six-year tenure for everything from her personal style to delays in deciding whether to move the UI from the Big Sky to the Big West athletic league, she’s known as a dedicated and tireless worker for the university.

“I’ve had a grand experience here,” she said.

The most recent controversy for Zinser involved a push by Boise-area businesses for a BSU college of engineering. Engineering long has been the province of UI.

UI and BSU are now cooperating to expand business offerings in Boise under UI’s program. Zinser says new technology will make it easier in the future for UI to offer its programs to residents statewide, and she thinks that’s the way to go.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color photo