Quote Originally Posted by tony View Post
Actually, it's worse than that.

NDSU: "Hey we've raised this money and we'd like to expand a program that has a proven track record and meets a definite need."
Port and his ilk: "What unmitigated gall! What insolence! Program duplication! Loud noises! Bresciani! Chapman!"
Legislature: "We're very skeptical about this. Allow us to grill you for a couple hours. Seems like it would make more sense to create a new nursing school in, say, Tioga because oil. Or, failing that, we'd much rather throw $20 million at literally any other campus in the system."

UND: "Hey we'd like $80 million to pimp our medical school."
Port and his ilk: <crickets>
Legislature: "That's crazy! You need a lot more money than that! We need more doctors and this new building is guaranteed to give us 0 more doctors per year. And if my math is right, that means each new doctor this new building produces will cost $0 because $150 million divided by zero is zero... Shut up! Shut up! SHUT UP! if we say that we can divide by zero, it's the law! We are more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
Not that I'm actually defending the idiocy behind Port and his ilk, but there is a good reason for the SBHE and the leg. to approve building requests. While a university might provide the funds to construct a building, the state usually ends up on the hook for other costs. Maintenance, staffing, insurance, etc. In the long run, the state probably ends paying more for the new building than the construction cost total.

I completely agree that the process is being manipulated for scummy political reasons, but misuse of the process by one group doesn't mean it should be removed entirely. (IMO)