State Engineering Program Is Headed For Showdown

Fri., Oct. 13, 1995

Associated Press

The state Board of Education is headed for a showdown next week over control of engineering education in Boise.

Board member Tom Dillon of Caldwell is circulating a plan that would adopt a consultant’s recommendation to create a Boise State University engineering program independent of the University of Idaho. Dillon intends to press for a vote when the board meets next Thursday in Twin Falls.

Dillon’s plan is specific to engineering, but proponents say a Boise State-run engineering program also would break the rigidly defined roles and missions assigned to the state’s universities in 1983.

“We know that every day that goes by, a system that is going to be outdated is getting more firmly entrenched,” Dillon said Wednesday.

While some believe that will make higher education more responsive to regional needs, others fear it sets the stage for an expansion that a state with limited means and widespread anti-tax sentiment can’t afford.

Meanwhile, businesses that support leaving the Boise engineering program under the University of Idaho umbrella are lobbying board members heavily. Students attending University of Idaho engineering classes in Boise also are circulating petitions to keep the program as it is. Student and faculty representatives have secured a spot on the board agenda to make their case.

The board received a report last month from consultant Aims McGuinness that advocated a free-standing Boise State engineering program to better serve the needs of students and high-tech companies in the Treasure Valley. The board had decided in January, by a 5-3 vote, to expand the Boise program under UI’s jurisdiction over objections of Micron Technology Inc., which has spearheaded the campaign for a Boise State-run school.

Dillon must convince at least four of his colleagues on the eight-member board to reverse that decision. He can count on the support of Jerry Hess of Nampa and State Schools Superintendent Anne Fox.

“Ultimately common sense dictates that Boise State University will have its own engineering program,” Hess said Wednesday.

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State Engineering Program Is Headed For Showdown

Jesse Tinsley

Jim Meehan

Molly Quinn

Rob Curley

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