COT needs legislative help

Construction on University of Montana's main campus has been prevalent the last five years, and our campus has  gorgeous new structures to prove it. The Payne Family Native American Center, Don Anderson Hall, even the glistening new luxury boxes in Washington Grizzly Stadium — much of it is a testament to the generosity of private donors who have devoted millions to this school's facilities.

This is what we see every day — and it's not hard for students on the main campus  to often take for granted how comfortable and spacious the facilities really are. A mile and a half south at the UM College of Technology, where enrollment has been booming in the past two years, many students are learning in trailers set up in a parking lot.  The primary COT facility was built 42 years ago and was intended to hold 700 students; today, more than 2,000 are enrolled on the campus.

It is important to remember that things could be a lot worse. But the sister campus isn't likely to see any seven- or eight-figure private donations soon — and even though the Board of Regents have made the COT a top construction priority when it disperses money from the Montana Legislature each year, the renovation process remains at an urgent pause.  

The promising news is that the construction at the COT has also been a priority of the UM administration for many years — and President Dennison reiterated its importance in his university address two weeks ago.  ASUM will put forth a pair of resolutions this evening that, if passed, will push for a student lobbyist to advocate for funding when the Legislature convenes in January and would install wireless internet on COT West's location. Those are steps in the right direction. A tough economic time naturally sends more students back to school, and students at the COT are developing workforce skills that will eventually help stimulate downtrodden industries. The Legislature has devoted nearly $1 million in feasibility and design projects for the new facility in two of the last three sessions, but with enrollment steadily overflowing the campus, it should be a primary goal of the Legislature to give these students a permanent home and the resources to be competitive in the marketplace.

Board of Regents and administration prioritizing can only go so far without a Legislature that delivers. It would be foolish to neglect the fact that this is a costly endeavor — $44 million total,  $33.5 million without a culinary wing — but even if the Legislature was unable to allocate a majority of the funding in January, the message is being sent loud and clear from UM administration and student leaders alike: The time to begin helping the COT build for its future is now.