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January 18, 2008 10:23 AM

Support lags for UW North

As the Times reports this morning:

Advocates for a new University of Washington branch campus packed an Olympia hearing room Thursday to argue whether an urban Everett location or a more spacious Marysville campus would be the best site to serve the north Puget Sound region.

But support may be weakening for a north campus, no matter which city gets it. Randy Hodgins, the UW”s chief lobbyist in Olympia, says on his blog:

Not sure if anyone’s opinion was changed by the testimony but while the Everett site has gained some additional support this week, deep divisions remain in the legislature on the issue. More importantly, I believe a number of legislators are beginning to question the wisdom of moving ahead at all on the new campus given the cost projections and what appear to be concerns about how this really fits into the entire higher education system.

I wonder how the north campus will be affected by the university’s request for $150 million in state money to start work on a new Husky stadium. I ran into a legislator at the coffee shop this morning who suggested UW could finance the stadium by selling off all its branch campuses.

But perhaps the north campus will be helped by the stadium push. Could UW, the Legislature and Gov. Chris Gregoire agree on $150 million for a new stadium in Seattle while telling Snohomish County that it’ll have to wait to get its branch campus? I think that’d be a tough sell. (And the university won’t argue the stadium would be an economic boost to the community, would it?)

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Posted by Particle Man

11:39 AM, Jan 18, 2008

For all I care they could sell the naming rights to Blackwater to gain the 150 million. Education capacity and access in growing areas must come first.

Posted by redflag

5:12 PM, Jan 18, 2008

My sense is that it useful for interests supporting the Everett site to raise fears up north about the site fight might get in the way of UW north.

I'd say Skagit, Island and Snohomish all agree on one thing: UW north. There's no way to revisit that without causing an even bigger fight than a site fight.

Deep divisions? Sure. But they'll get a decision, make a deal, and move on.

Posted by Acadian

11:39 PM, Jan 18, 2008

Nice work, Ed Hansen.

Posted by Douglas Tooley

8:03 AM, Jan 21, 2008

I've met several of the UW administrators who would be at the level of participating in the branch campus decision - several years ago.

I've not met the current lobbyist, Hodgins, but the only thing I get from the quote above is that the UW isn't fit to manage a branch system. Selling the branches off to raise money might not fly, but some sort of INCREASED connection of the board through legitimate private sector involvement instead of the current corporate welfare scammers that now dominate the UW regents posing as 'businessmen' would be something to consider.

I have been in Olympia this session - and the only one that seems to working actively against the Everett location is Mary Margared Haugen, a senior leader to listen to.

Coincidentally Ms. Haugen spent a good part of the recent Port of Seattle Audit hearing questioning private citizens with an eye towards the governmental re-organization gambit to merge the Ports of Seattle and Tacoma. The Tacoma Port is not without its problems, but somehow I fail to see how a merger at this time benefits anybody - save perhaps those that have failed in Seattle.

Hmmm, I wonder if there is any link between the folks behind the Port of Seattle mess-up and those running the UW?

Mary Margaret, what do you think?