ISU chief on med school

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POCATELLO -- Idaho State University President Arthur Vailas doesn't want supporters to think that an Idaho State Board of Education decision on Thursday not to approve a new three-year law school in Boise enhances the chance of a medical school being approved.

"That's still for the Legislature to decide," Vailas said.

Board members and University of Idaho officials, meeting on the ISU campus, spent more than two hours discussing the pros and cons of a satellite law school campus in Boise.

Steven Daley-Laursen, University of Idaho's president, and UI Law School Dean Don Burnett said a Boise campus would allow students the advantage of practicing in a larger metropolitan area, broaden the program and increase job and internship opportunities.

However, the university's bid for a three-year law program was nixed by the board in favor of a scaled-down proposal that would allow students to complete their third year of law school in Boise. The board's decision allows the Moscow-based campus to ask the state to allocate funds in 2010 for its smaller satellite program.

Vailas said both medical and law programs are important, and that the Gem State has a significant shortage in both professions.

Idaho currently ranks 49th in the amount of doctors per capita, according to the Idaho Medical Association. Burnett said the per capita number of lawyers in Idaho is similarly low.

Vailas said he supports both a law and medical school, even if the state chooses one over the other.

"They can either fund each one of them, both, or none," he said.

The board seldom mentioned the medical school Thursday, but focused primarily on the law school proposal, which they determined would be too costly, given stagnant revenues and economic predictions.

"There is a limited amount of money available," said Tom Luna, the state's public school superintendent. "I'm pretty pleased with the way we ended up."

Luna pointed to building costs, which he estimated would have been three times as much if the state decided to implement a three-year law campus in Boise.

Daley-Laursen said he was disappointed that his university's original proposal fell through. He said he supports both another law school and a medical school, but acknowledges that funds are tight.

"They are equally important and there's an increase in demand for both," Daley-Laursen said. "It's hard to quantify."

But the U of I president believes the recent board decision makes the odds of implementing both a new law and medical school slim. He reiterated an earlier statement that Idaho needs to learn how to better acquire public and private funding for such projects.

"We ought to be very good at leveraging public and private funds. I think Idaho can learn from other states," he said, citing Minnesota as a model to emulate.

On Sept. 15, Vailas will return to Boise to present a model for a medical school to an interim legislative committee. He is hopeful the committee will pass their recommendations for a medical school on to the full Legislature next year.

By Yann Ranaivo

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