Letters To The Editor

Tue., Feb. 17, 1998

HIGHER EDUCATION

Nirvana only an ouster away - maybe

I am ever grateful to Opinion editor John Webster for his editorial, “Bill maps the way to a better future” (Feb. 8). Although I have been associated with Eastern Washington University for almost 29 years, I have never known that EWU’s presence in Spokane was so powerful.

Looking behind Webster’s verbs, “enhance,” “enrich,” “fuel,” “link,” etc., I discover that the community colleges have been unable to link vocational training to Spokane high-tech firms, that despite having other colleges and universities, Spokane culture lacks college town amenities, that health services industries haven’t expanded, and that family incomes and better jobs have failed to develop, apparently because of EWU.

Eastern, representative of the Evil Empire, seems to be the Darth Vader of the Inland Northwest.

What Webster didn’t tell you is that once Eastern is confined to Cheney, it will rain only at night, flowers will bloom all year and fire storms, ice storms, black ice and potholes will exist only in the memories of the old and in the files of the newspaper’s morgue.

By the by, have you a written commitment from Washington State University regarding the research it will perform at this wondrous branch campus? University researchers are notorious for their independence about what they will and will not research. Many are interested in pure research only, leaving the applied research to lesser lights. Faculty members teach what they believe to be appropriate, whether or not the content is what Spokane believes it wants.

Perhaps you should look more carefully into the poke that WSU is so eagerly offering. Patricia Hahn, professor emeritus Eastern Washington University, Cheney

We’re alive, well and kicking

Re: “Bad timing a habit at EWU” (Feb. 8).

As a graduate student at Eastern Washington University, I find your articles informative and I most often read them from start to finish. I assure you that although our troubles are very real, we are all very much alive and kicking on campus.

Could you please run your cremation ad in another location? We aren’t dead yet. Nina Stoddard Spokane

Let voters decide EWU funding

Thank you Spokesman-Review, for your expose on the business of Eastern Washington University.

As a former taxpayer, if not a present taxpayer, all I have to ask is: $5,055 for an undergraduate student at EWU?

Put it to the voters, as they put it to the voters to decide whether or not to fund K-12. Judith L. Maibie Spokane

Rushed takeover plan ‘appalling’

I appreciate coverage of the Eastern Washington University student-faculty rally at Riverpoint on Feb. 11 by The Spokesman-Review. As a graduate student attending the downtown Riverpoint location, I can assure you the upper division and graduate students do not favor Senate Bill 6717.

Efforts by Sens. Jim West and Eugene Prince to push this bill through despite the overwhelming lack of support of the EWU students attending Riverpoint and Spokane Center is appalling. There are several facts the senators continue to ignore.

First, in the weeks prior to Jan. 25, students knew of a merger, not a takeover of EWU. Most of the students were notified of the “new” bill, 6717, via the Easterner on Jan. 29. The bill was presented Feb. 2 in Olympia. Students and facility drove to Olympia to be heard.

Second, no one from WSU has made any guarantees that our graduate programs will be continued. If this is true, put it in writing to the students.

Third, why was this bill so silently and hurriedly pushed in Olympia, despite protest from facility and students of EWU? Fourth, enrollment of graduate students is up by 70 students over last year.

Lastly, This university should not have to prove its need to exist. EWU has been quietly graduating talented students for years!

SB 6717 ignores the educational needs of the nontraditional, working students in Spokane. Deborah Cox Spokane

Crow’s idea worth pursuing

Idaho state Rep. Gordon Crow’s proposal to allow residents of Kootenai, Bonner or Spokane counties to enroll in any public college in these counties for the cost of in-state tuition is a small step in the right direction.

Entitlement to 12 years of public education has been an American value of the 20th century. Broad access to postsecondary educational resources has become an American value in the final third of this century.

For our own selfish interest in a competitive work force and a stable society, we should encourage young people to pursue higher education opportunities. Removing or lowering the artificial barrier of higher tuition for our out-of-state neighbors is overdue. Ideally, each student would select a college that suits their interests and talents, without regard to state lines, and pay the same tuition as their peers at that college.

Let’s encourage our legislators to forge an arrangement with Idaho that will permit Idaho residents to attend any public college in Washington, at in-state rates, in exchange for an equal number of Washington residents attending any public college in Idaho at in-state rates. The number of interested students could be determined during admissions. The reciprocal agreement should accommodate the maximum number of students.

I recognize that if the number of interested students from each state is unequal, some students would be denied relief from the present practices. My proposal falls short of the ideal but could be a big step toward the ideal. Pete Duffy Spokane

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