OLYMPIA – New colleges don’t get started very often, especially in Snohomish County.
One did Saturday and it triggered smiles – real and forced – from those in the Capitol who’ve sweated through months of negotiating to make it happen.
“Let’s get going,” Gov. Chris Gregoire said. “If ever there’s a time to move forward, it is now.”
The governor wants to “get going” on the University of Washington opening a four-year branch campus to serve residents of Snohomish, Island and Skagit counties.
Language in the capital budget making its way to her desk could lead to the UW offering classes in science and engineering in leased space in the fall of 2008.
It does direct the university and the state to look for a permanent site in one of the three counties; most lawmakers expect the focus to be on parcels in Everett and north Snohomish County. The state will provide $4 million for the effort.
The legislation also allows the UW to enroll lower- and upper-division students from Day One – making this the first new four-year university approved by the state since Evergreen State College in 1967.
“We’ve created opportunity,” said Rep. Mike Sells, D-Everett.
Rep. Hans Dunshee, D-Snohomish, agreed: “It’s a great win for Snohomish County.”
Area residents interviewed Saturday welcomed the news.
“I think it would be awesome,” said 17-year-old Christina McMahan of Everett, who’s considering enrolling at Everett Community College when she graduates from Sequoia High School. A UW campus would give her more options, she said.
Jack Kline, 64, of Marysville said the United States needs more colleges and universities focused on science and technology.
“It will be good for the economy here, and it should bring in a little more culture,” he said.
In Olympia, when the Senate approved the capital budget Saturday, not everyone who voted for it did so happily.
“It is very disappointing that the opportunity for a true regional university has been diverted, diverted to a branch campus,” Sen. Jean Berkey, D-Everett, said in a floor speech.
She and senators Steve Hobbs, D-Lake Stevens, and Paull Shin, D-Edmonds, would have preferred an independently run four-year university. They hoped the governor would back a study comparing the value of that option with a branch campus.
“We lost one battle, but the war is not ended yet,” Shin said in an interview before the budget vote. “I’m not giving up on my desire to create an MIT-like university.”
Hobbs focused on the silver linings in the agreement.
Senators pressed for the $4 million, the curriculum and a review of the college’s progress in five years.
“We’re very pleased with the focus the college is going to take,” he said. “During the five-year period, I will be watching them closely. I want them to be a full partner, not a fair-weather friend.”
Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon, who was closely aligned with the senators, rejected the idea that not getting an independent college amounted to a loss.
“No, it’s not,” he said. “We went from having no university in this community to having the University of Washington providing classes for freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors in the fall of 2008.”
Gregoire said she hopes the UW can do that.
“The issue very clearly all the way along was how we quickly get higher education opportunities in Snohomish County.
UW President Mark Emmert said “that’s the goal. It is doable.”
But, he cautioned, the UW must first figure out where it will run the classes and second how to pay for it in future years. He emphasized the UW won’t be relocating any programs from its Seattle, Tacoma or Bothell campuses.
“We’ve got a direction to move and that’s very good for everyone,” he said.
Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson invested his time and city money on three lobbyists to win support for a branch campus.
“This opportunity we’ve been given will mark this region for decades and beyond,” he said “This is going to be a robust branch campus.”
When it opens, there’ll be plenty of fans such as UW alum Danielle Bogle of Mill Creek, who is excited by the possibility of a branch campus in her back yard.
“With the way the population is booming, it wouldn’t have a problem with enrollment,” she said while browsing through racks of purple Husky apparel at the Mill Creek Town Center’s University Bookstore.
“I think the area needs another university,” she said.
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