Editorial: Research park a pipedream

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Posted: 10/17/07

10/17/07 - In a 138-page report presented yesterday, a consultant outlined plans for a research park that would attract students, faculty and private companies conducting cutting edge research. The only problem is the whole scheme appears a pipedream and the effort required to make the park a reality would surely detract from other projects.

The proposed park would add a complex of research facilities across 30 to 60 acres of vacant land opposite Flagg Road. While the park would surely raise the caliber of the school, reality threatens its potential before the first shovel ever hits the ground.

The consultants, George Henry George Partners, warn that it would take $1 million to build the required roads. It is doubtful that a state university that appears to struggle to find money to repair sidewalks will be able to cough up $1 million to build roads.

"There are a number of obstacles that need to be overcome, including site access, the commercialization process and securing anchor tenancy," the consultants warned. That's putting it lightly. Before the university even begins to address those concerns it must muster political will and build support among students, faculty, the General Assembly and public.

To do that, administrators will need to rearrange priorities. Already the university is juggling a number of major projects including the new Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences, pharmacy building and a push to build a new life sciences quad.

The university has already proven it's incapable of juggling even a single major project, as evidenced by the delays and cost overruns that plagued the construction of the new three residence halls. The university constructing and managing, as the report recommends, a park is a recipe for disaster.

It also only furthers the impression - true or not - that the administration pours all its resources into sciences, while leaving humanities to wither and die. During the last few years the university has launched a new building for biotechnology, a new pharmacy building and plans for a health and life sciences quad.

If the university sees its future as a primarily science-based school, then administrators are doing a disservice to the thousands of students majoring in English, music, economics and women's studies that will likely never use any of the new buildings or the research park. When was the last time the university paid for a study for a new center for the humanities or a new library for English novels?

The university contains eight colleges. If the university is serious about ensuring the success of all students then it should explore the same opportunities for every college.