Central Oregon University

Now that citizens in the Central Oregon Community College district voted for expansion of COCC in Bend and in other cities in the 10,000-square-mile region, it shows once again that higher education is valued here. COCC is evolving into COU (Central Oregon University).

The vote reveals a couple of things. This is reminiscent of the last great recession when citizens, in 1982, rallied to hope in the future by passing a stable tax base for the COCC district. Here we are in the Great Recession and voters are willing to increase their property taxes by $41.58 million even as unemployment hovers at 20 percent and foreclosure notices fill the daily classified section. This is remarkable.

It also guarantees another $11.47 in state funding toward the various projects in Bend and Redmond. Yes, the state is willing to support higher education in Bend, when the local citizens show they back it, too.

This won’t put to rest the ridiculous talk of an LSU (Les Schwab University) at Juniper Ridge in northeast Bend, but it should. Juniper Ridge is a business “park” that some city leaders and some editorialists believe will one day be home to a Stanford-like research university. This is nonsense. They need to get over this fetish. COCC will slowly morph into a university and the COCC campus in Redmond will one day take over the community college function. This is how it should be.

Continued talk of a university at Juniper Ridge will only divert attention and resources away from COCC and confuse higher education officials west of the Cascades as to what Central Oregonians want. The vote on Nov. 3 shows that the region wants to see expansion of COCC on Bend’s west side and believe that is the future of higher education in the “middle of nowhere.”