[Vision2020] UI Pres: UI in Need of Grass-Roots Support System

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (April 29, 2010) Moscow-Pullman Daily News.

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Nellis says UI in need of grass-roots support system
President says state officials must hear from students, alumni
By Holly Bowen Daily News staff writer

Duane Nellis said it will take more than just the advocacy of the
president of the University of Idaho to make state leadership understand
the importance of higher education.

For his State of the University address Wednesday that came at the end of
his first year as the UI's president, Nellis emphasized the importance of
developing and maintaining a grass-roots network of UI alumni, supporters
and families of students. He said legislators and other government
officials know he will speak up, but they need to hear from other sources.

"They expect me to bang on their desk or articulate the need for the
university," he said.

Nellis said the UI has tremendous support from that grass-roots network,
as demonstrated by a 30 percent jump in cash gifts and pledges since last
year. He said it shows those supporters have confidence in the university
even in this economic downturn.

"Our total number of donors making a gift this year could set a record,"
he said.

The UI will set another record this year with its 100,000th graduate in
May. Nellis said more than 1,500 students statewide are eligible to
graduate from the UI this spring.

Students returning in the fall will pay 9.5 percent higher student fees
than they did this year. The UI had asked the Idaho State Board of
Education for the ability to increase fees 12 percent, but the board
granted the lesser amount. Nellis said he thought the amount between the
two percentages could have been weathered by most students, but the board
apparently didn't agree.

"The difference between what we were asking for, the 12 percent, and the
9-and-a-half percent where we ended up ... It's the equivalent of about
one pizza per month per student at this university," he said.

He said the UI has already cut back in many other areas, such as
consolidating academic departments, eliminating many vacant positions,
freezing a large portion of state-paid travel and offering an early exit
incentive program that he said 48 employees are opting into. Energy costs
are also down about a million dollars this year over last year, he said.

Furloughs that UI employees are taking this spring will save the
university an additional $1.2 million, Nellis added. But more cuts will
have to come as the UI prepares to weather a $11.3 million reduction in
state general funds next year.

It's a "disinvestment in higher education" that Nellis has repeatedly
spoken of during his tenure. He said Wednesday the decline in education
will put at risk the United States' ability to innovate and compete on the
world stage. But he said many in the sate government still don't
acknowledge that a UI education is an investment that brings economic
return to Idaho.

"I felt like this year we carried a message, and people were nodding, but
in the end, it was like they had determined ahead of time what they were
going to do as far as this legislative session. That was very
frustrating," Nellis said. "But I'm not going to stop, that's for sure."

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Seeya at Rennaisance Fair, Moscow.

Tom Hanse
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown