DSC trustee Steve Caplin, while supporting the concept of an affiliation with the U., continues to express his own discontent with the process. Caplin withdrew his formal support of the proposal last week until the governance issues can be clarified.

That process, said Gubler and Dryer, is likely to take the task force many months.

"We all just have to trust that at the end of the day this will be a thoughtful, thorough, transparent process," Gubler said. "There is nothing more that we can say about it. We just have to let the process run its course."

Once the joint task force completes an affiliation agreement, the document would be sent to the board of trustees at both schools for a vote. If it passes muster there, the Utah State Board of Regents would need to approve of the affiliation. Finally, the state Legislature would have to fund the new school.

At this point, no one knows how much money it would take to create the U.'s campus in St. George, Dryer said.

"We're realistic enough to know that this has to supported by more than the board of Dixie State College," said Dryer. "The community has to get behind this. It doesn't have to be unanimous, but we've had just enough of a question raised in our minds to wonder about it."

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E-mail: nperkins@desnews.com