Boise State Faces Higher Challenges

Boise State University could finally shed the image of the community college it once had if it followed recommendations from a team of evaluators who visited the campus last fall.

But there’s a catch. Many of those recommendations will be tough to accomplish at a time when state funding is flat, the number of students is growing and some state leaders are clinging to the notion that any gain Boise State makes robs prestige from the University of Idaho.

The recommendations are part of a December 1994 accreditation report written by a team representing the Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges. They include: cautions about overuse of adjunct faculty, a reminder that the university cannot be all things to all people, and an underscoring of the need for library materials to support graduate-level work.

Boise State’s accreditation report will be the subject of discussion Wednesday at the State Board of Education meeting.

“Boise State is no longer this little community college that people think it is; it’s poised to become a very good university,” Boise State President Charles Ruch said.

The No. 1 item on the evaluators’ list is a recommendation for Boise State to stop leaning so heavily on adjunct, non-tenured faculty.

Boise State University has fewer Ph.D.s on board than the University of Idaho in Moscow or Idaho State University in Pocatello.