The final decision by the State Board of Higher Education on whether the University or Oregon State University will fill Central Oregon’s need for four-year higher education is less than two months away, and both schools are confident their plans for the proposed branch campus will be the right fit for the Bend area.
A regional advisory board has already reviewed each university’s proposal, and several members said that each school could fulfill what the area wants and needs.
Comprised of the area’s education and business leaders, the 14-member Central Oregon Regional Advisory Board will hold its final meeting at the end of this month and each of the six voting members will make their recommendation to Oregon University System Chancellor Joseph Cox. After reviewing each member’s advisement, Cox will make his own recommendation to the State Board of Higher Education Feb. 5. The board is then expected to make the final decision Feb. 16.
Both schools are eager to tap the quickly developing Central Oregon region by opening a satellite campus in Bend. Almost every college in the OUS already offers courses through the Central Oregon Community College University Center, but the new branch campus would be a permanent site on the COCC campus to offer upper-division credit to fulfill degree requirements. Students at the branch campus would receive most of their general education credits through COCC.
While the members of the advisory board have read each university’s proposal, many said they will not make their final decision until comparison reports are compiled by University System Vice Chancellor Shirley Clark.
“It continues to stay true over time that both proposals are excellent,” said board member Jerome Colonna, superintendent for the Redmond School District.
Colonna said the University seems to have the advantage in student financial aid and staffing, but he said he is attracted to OSU’s innovative academic programs. In terms of cultural ties, he said the University would better fit the Bend community, while OSU would be more attractive to outlying communities in Central Oregon like Madras, Prineville and Warm Springs.
“It’s kind of like the difference between Eugene and Corvallis in terms of cultural and community ties,” he said.
Advisory board member John Rhetts, a retired psychologist who trains horses in the Bend area, said the issue is not which is the better school, but which best answers Central Oregon’s education needs.
“This isn’t a football contest,” he said.
At this stage, Rhetts said he does not know which school should open the branch campus until he can evaluate each proposal further.
Bank of the Cascades C.E.O. and Bend resident Patricia Moss said it was too early for her to choose which school should come to the Bend area. She said most of the differences between the two were philosophical.
“You can’t apply a scorecard to it,” she said.
She said it would be premature to say one school is better than the other because she expects many changes after the state board picks a university.

Competing Proposals
Gov. John Kitzhaber has earmarked $7.2 million in his higher education budget proposal that would help fund the new Bend campus.
According to the University’s proposal, the branch campus would be named UO/Central Oregon, and would be similar in organization to the Eugene campus’ professional schools. Instead of offering degrees related to just one discipline, however, the branch campus would offer degrees in the University’s core programs of science, social sciences, humanities and education. Several minors would also be offered, including chemistry, business administration, European studies and family and human studies. More minors would be included in later years.
For fall term 2001, the University expects to offer 70 courses taught by seven University faculty members, five COCC faculty and three others, for 96 full-time students. By 2005, the University projects there will be 875 full time students, 45 courses and 72 faculty members.
These projects do not include the courses and faculty members from other institutions already on the COCC campus.
OSU’s plan would create Central Oregon State University, which would offer degrees in liberal arts programs and biological and physical sciences, social sciences and humanities. Like the University, OSU would expand upon partnerships with other Oregon institutions, but it would also make Internet education a key element of COSU.

Both Schools Confident
When the institution is finally picked, COCC President and advisory board member Bob Barber said COCC will work closely with the chosen university to ensure Central Oregon’s four-year school is ready in September.
He said either school would serve the campus well.
“I truly believe that these are two strong universities,” he said.
Barber added the board is only advisory and its preferences may be overruled by the state board if it believes it is not in accordance with the OUS’ greater mission.
“Our biases and preferences need to be balanced with the system,” he said.
Despite the middle-of-the-road stance taken by those in Bend, both the University of Oregon’s and OSU’s provosts who helped draft their school’s proposals are confident their institution will be given the green light for a branch campus.
OSU Provost and Executive Vice President Tim White said COSU would be a “21st century campus” that would deliver exactly what Bend residents want.
“This campus is going to be a campus that really attracts students there and holds them there,” he said.
White said OSU’s existing programs in the area show the school has the experience and resources to open a successful branch campus.
After the state board makes its decision, White said OSU could incorporate elements of the University’s plan in its branch campus, but he said many of the University’s programs are already included in OSU’s proposal.
“I think it is clear that we have included UO [programs] in our proposal,” he said, “but that doesn’t appear to be the case as I read [the University’s] proposal.”
University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs John Moseley said the University has the stronger proposal because it offers programs more beneficial to students in the long run, sets up a better working relationship with COCC staff and offers more benefits for students.
He also said the University could include some of OSU’s proposals if the OUS felt it was necessary, but said they initiated a joint effort early on that was rejected by OSU.
The key element of the University’s plan, Moseley said, was that it would give Central Oregon residents a top-notch education in their own backyard.
“Our vision is to provide the same quality education in Central Oregon as in Eugene,” he said.