State’s public colleges seek $121M in bonds

The proposed bonds, listed as questions 5, 9, 10 and 13, cover only a fraction of the colleges’ capital needs, which Higher Education Commissioner Jack Warner said are in the “hundreds of millions.” One item, a proposed Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences at URI, has been on the wish list for a decade.

But the requests are only part of a 14-point referendum covering $325.5 million in bonds; they are competing with such items as $66.52 million for transportation improvements, $70 million for open space, and the top priority for the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation this year, $48 million to revamp the Quonset Point/Davisville Industrial Park.

Gov. Don Carcieri and the EDC are also strong backers of the biggest item on the colleges’ list, $50 million to build a biotechnology and life sciences center at URI (Question 13). EDC spokesman Townsend Goddard called it “extremely important,” because biotechnology is one of Rhode Island’s best growth areas.

And the EDC also sees promise, Goddard said, in URI’s plan to spend $14 million to upgrade the Pell Marine Science Library at the Graduate School of Oceanography and set up an undersea research center to be led by marine explorer Robert Ballard.

Still, higher education leaders are campaigning hard for their bonds, taking nothing for granted at a time when money is scarce and, despite the colleges’ major role in Rhode Island’s economy, they are viewed by many as a burden, not an asset.

“From a purely business perspective, Rhode Island has never been able to recognize that higher education is one of the top three industries in the state,” URI President Robert L. Carothers said during a visit to PBN with Warner and his two fellow presidents. “Eight percent of all Rhode Islanders are college students.”

Carothers has been pushing particularly hard for the biotech center and Ballard’s “Inner Space Center.” All four items, however, play a role in boosting the colleges’ competitiveness, the men said – whether they help to attract students, improve athletic programs, or expand students’ academic horizons.

Here’s an itemized description:

Question No. 5: $50 million for residence halls at URI and Rhode Island College.

URI’s share, $20 million, will be used to finish a seven-year dorm renovation project started in 1999. The entire “freshman village” has been upgraded; now some older upper-class dorms will get new windows, heating and ventilation systems, and safety improvements, Carothers said. The $20 million had originally been part of the state’s regular capital budget, but was taken off during budget cuts.

RIC’s share, $30 million, will pay for a new, 366-bed residence hall, boosting dorm capacity by 44 percent. Despite RIC’s tradition as a commuter school, President John Nazarian said, there is now a “big demand” for campus housing, fueled in part by high off-campus rents. Research shows students who live on campus do better, Nazarian and Warner said, and with a “critical mass” on campus, RIC will also be able to offer a broader range of extracurricular activities that enrich the educational experience.

Question No. 9: $14 million for the Pell Marine Science Library at URI and for a new Undersea Exploration Center.

The Graduate School of Oceanography is an international leader in research, Carothers said, but its Pell Library building is old and “way too small” to house its extensive collection. The bond would pay for an overhaul and expansion of the library, with new office and laboratory space, a central computing facility, and a new campus gathering place for educational and research meetings.

Perhaps the most glamorous part of the project would be the new Undersea Exploration Center, to be led by Ballard, the famous undersea explorer and archaeological pioneer. Carothers said the center would be to undersea exploration what Houston is for space, with a satellite link to vessels around the world. Carothers lights up when he talks about what students could experience there: “(Ballard) says there are more artifacts and antiquities in the bottom of the ocean than in all the museums and galleries in the world.”

Question No. 10: $6.7 million for athletic facilities at URI

This bond, promoted by URI’s many athletic boosters, would provide for an expanded academic advising and study center for athletes, enhancements to the athletic training and sports medicine area at Keaney Gymnasium, strength training and aerobic fitness facilities, and renovations to the stands at Meade Stadium.

Question No. 13: $50 million for a new Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences at URI.

Aiming to build on its strength in the life sciences, URI is seeking to build a 165,500-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility with modern classrooms, high-tech specialty laboratories, core support instrumentation, faculty offices, incubator space for technology commercialization, and a 400-seat auditorium, all to meet the needs of URI’s growing environmental biotechnology and biological sciences programs and support the state’s economic development efforts.

“I think there’s widespread recognition that bioscience is very important to the economic development of this state,” Carothers said. And while the center would be at URI, Thomas Sepe, president of the Community College of Rhode Island, said the benefits would extend to students at other colleges as well.

The undersea and biotech centers are also important to URI on a whole other front, as Carothers sees it: They hold the key to greater financial independence from the state, which is increasingly resistant to funding the colleges as they request.

“We are a business unto ourselves, and we have to have a product that we can sell,” Carothers said. As the state cuts back on its support, “my guess is that in the next 10 years, URI will look more like Boston University or Syracuse than like other public universities.” High-profile research centers that attract investment are key, then, because to survive, “we’ve got to pay our own bills and grow our own markets.”