The future of Bend’s new four-year
campus was the main topic at the annual
State of the University Address.
At the $20 per head dinner attended by
nearly 400 community members and OSU
alumni, OSU President Edward Ray discussed
the need for community support
and the plans for the new four-year university
in Bend.
“I expect us to prevail,” said Ray when
asked about the current delays with the
Oregon Land Use Board of Appeals decision
regarding the Truth in Site organization’s
opposition to the proposed location
on Bend’s West Side and was optimistic
that this setback would only be a small
blip in the larger history of the university.
“You know, 30 years from now, nobody
is going to care when the first building
opened,” said Ray. “As anxious as many
of us may be or as frustrated as some may
be, in the long history of what I know will
be accomplished here, this is a footnote to
a very extraordinary future.”
However, he was adamant that the citizens
of Bend step up and show their support
for the university.
“This is not a spectator sport,” said
Ray. “If you aspire to have your own fouryear
college or university for 30 years, get
off your hands and make it happen. It’s not
going to happen if you don’t […] and it really
depends on the people here.”
Looking to the future, Ray discussed
the university’s plans for region-specific
developments across the state – such as
the proposed new $50 million marine
studies campus in Newport and the new
wood manufacturing research lab in Corvallis
that is hoped to revitalize Oregon’s
timber industry – and plans to offer similarly
unique courses and programs that
are specific to the demand of Central Oregon’s
students and economy.
“You want to have programs there that
speaks to the needs of the region and the
city and really provide people with the
skills to be successful in central Oregon,”
said Ray. “This needs to become a destination
of choice as a campus, just as Bend
is a destination of choice for people who
appreciate quality living circumstances.
The two ought to be complementary to

Kelli Pangle | The Broadside

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