I do not know how closely you are following events in the application by the Bitterroot Valley Community College (BVCC) people to establish a community college in the Bitterroot. I do not know if you have received, by e-mail the subject analysis of the proposal, to be considered by the Board of Regents at its meeting Nov. 20 in Missoula.

If not, the attachment, below, contains that analysis. As the analysis asserts, creation of a BVCC has implications for the state in funding another community college, and describes founding a BVCC as a “risk.” All in all, the analysis strikes, after many objections to a BVCC, a certain balance.

Among the points in the analysis are alternatives for you to consider, one of which is a higher education center in Hamilton, and outreach activities of the universities, the colleges, and the COTs. Whether you want an organizational spider web of Montana’s higher education system is up to you, and I’ve already stated my opinions about that, with charts for a more coherent, effective, organization regarding 2-year postsecondary education (2PE).

The Hamilton Higher Education Center (HHEC) and the lack of effort by UM-Missoula to establish a postsecondary institution in the Bitterroot has been well documented by the BVCC people. The analysis includes their argument. You must know, if you don’t already, that over the three or so years that this HHEC has existed, it has violated Guideline 1, in the Regents’ policy manual, namely, Policy 220 – Higher education centers. I quote: “A higher education center shall offer a structured, coherent educational program leading to a degree. It shall not be merely the physical location for occasional course offerings.” I submit that the so-called higher education center in Hamilton has never, and still does not, meet that guideline. Beyond that, Policy 220 does not define a higher education center as an institution as it exists in other states, and I’ve already commented on this. I submit that the Regents use the term, “higher education center” to mean whatever they want it to mean.

This brings me to my final and most important point: There is nothing in the current Regents’ Policy Manual that relates to establishing a community college. Policy 209.1 – Governance and Organization simply establishes the relationship between the Regents and an existing community college. What I’m saying, here, is that the conduct of the Commissioner of Higher Education (CHE) in requiring the BVCC people to go through hoops and hurdles in order to gain Regent approval is not based on any standing policy. In short, this entire examination, if you will, of the BVCC application and all that the BVCC people have had to go through has been conducted on an ad hoc basis. The BVCC people had no prior knowledge, until the CHE started asking and requiring, what was necessary, because there was no policy in place. It’s a miracle that in a short period of time the BVCC people have been able to supply the CHE with the information demanded, and even then the CHE has contested it with so-called “alternatives.”

It makes me wonder whether our current community colleges could have come into existence under this Montana University System.

The CHE’s analysis approaches the issue primarily as a funding issue.

It’s up to you whether or not to buy that. I believe the CHE is more concerned about the viability of the universities than about local needs for a postsecondary institution that fulfills a panoply of local educational needs. You must realize that the Bitterroot is on the cusp of exponential growth, a big issue there, now. It’s a quality of life issue for those people. And, you must know that as the Bitterroot prospers, which it will with a community college, so will Montana.

So, I’m saying to you, consider the subject analysis, consider the Regents’ recommendation when it comes to you, which you are not bound by, and most importantly, keep tuned to this BVCC issue, because it does raise the question for the future of 2PE in this state and what you can do about it.

David Werner

Read more in the February 8th article by ANTHONY QUIRINI – Ravalli Republic. Hamilton approves lift station.

Development of the plan took over a year and included several local focus groups. Throughout the process the RCEDA Board an staff and HIP Inc stayed very focused on serving our community and working with the >Economic Gardening concept in mind.