THE SPECTATOR – SHOULD BLINN COMPROMISE?

  

Should Blinn College compromise with Bryan State Representative John Raney?  My gut reaction is a resounding “No!”.  I don’t believe it’s the place of the Texas Legislature to stick its nose into a county-owned junior college’s business.  And I sure don’t think Bryan, College Station and Brazos County deserve a say in the decisions made by the Blinn College Board of Trustees.

Blinn has a Bryan campus because Allen Academy closed its junior college division in 1970, and Blinn was asked to step in by Texas A&M President Earl Rudder and the superintendents of the Bryan and College Station School Districts.  From its small beginning, the Bryan campus has grown to accommodate over 13,000 students.  Through the years, millions of Blinn College dollars have been invested in various campuses, buildings and equipment in Bryan/College Station.  Faced with tremendous growth, on several occasions the Blinn Board has attempted to purchase property for a larger campus….only to be thwarted every time by other property owners and residents in those areas who didn’t want a college campus nearby.  Only by keeping their plans a secret was the Board able to recently purchase 94 acres of land for a future campus for just under $4 million, and they have committed another $10 million to making improvements to the existing Bryan campus.  With Blinn making these huge commitments to the Bryan campus, it makes you wonder why Raney is continuing his attack on the college’s finances, trying to force the Board to spend money the way he sees fit.

So why should Blinn compromise on this issue?  Because it cannot afford for Raney’s bill concerning funding to be approved.  That’s why our State Senator, Lois Kolkhorst, has teamed up with Bryan’s Senator, Charles Schwertner, to author a bill giving Brazos County two seats on the Blinn Board.  Do I think they deserve two seats on the Board?  “No!”  But Senator Kolkhorst must line up enough support to block Raney’s bill in the Senate, should it be approved in the House.  That’s why she is willing to compromise on the board representative issue, because stopping the bill concerning funding is much more important.  Unfortunately, that’s the way things work in our state legislature.  Sometimes you have to give up something, in order to get what you really want.

And that’s the way it looks to this Spectator.