We expect Washington State University and the University of Washington to scrap when they face each other in the Apple Cup and in other athletic contests. It’s not productive when they squabble over money and academic prestige, particularly when it involves training medical students who are sorely needed in this state.
The two schools have cooperated in a multi-state program, dubbed WWAMI for the states in which it trains medical students, Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. But that cooperation has apparently ended and the UW is now seeking a partnership with Gonzaga University, WSU’s neighbor in Spokane, to continue with the WWAMI program.
The partnership with WSU is no longer an option, the UW claims, because WSU has gone its separate way in seeking to establish its own medical school in Spokane. WSU had made it clear when its regents approved the plan for its own school that it intended to continue its partnership with WWAMI.
Legislation now being considered would lift a restriction that dates to 1917 that gives the UW the exclusive right to operate a medical school in the state. Currently, the UW can admit only 120 students a year, when other states Washington’s size admit more than 400 a year.
In seeking its own medical school, WSU has cited the need not only for more doctors but for more family physicians placed in the state’s less populated regions. Not surprisingly, those doctors trained in Seattle often remain there. Nearly half of the state’s physicians are in King County, while 18 of 39 counties in the state have fewer than 10 or fewer physicians per 10,000 people. The ratio in King County is more than 40 doctors per 10,000. WSU’s proposal would seek to place medical school graduates in residency programs throughout the state.
A couple of months after WSU’s regents approved its plan, a UW-created advisory panel suggested the UW expand its enrollment in Spokane, admitting 120 students more a year.
The disagreement, not surprisingly, centers on money. The UW says WSU is welcome to start its school, provided it doesn’t result in a loss of funding for the UW. A WSU-funded study estimates it would cost the state $1 million to $3 million a year to start a school in Spokane. By 2024-25, with an enrollment of 480 students, the program would need up to $47 million annually.
Gov. Jay Inslee effectively took no side on the issue; he included nothing in his budget that would have boosted medical school enrollment for either school.
State officials may be waiting to see some accord between the state’s two biggest universities before moving forward, as evidenced by Oak Harbor Republican Sen. Barbara Bailey’s response during a recent public hearing on the competing plans.
“Work a little closer and try to work some of this out,” Bailey said. “Work this out to the benefit of citizens that we all serve.”
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