CEU could become

PRICE — Declining enrollment at the College of Eastern Utah might lead to its becoming a satellite of Utah State University.

"The College of Eastern Utah can position itself for the future better by having a quasi-autonomous status in the Utah System of Higher Education and an affiliate status with Utah State," said Mike Petersen, who was appointed by the state commissioner of higher education to investigate future options for the struggling institution. Petersen, a former CEU president and current executive director of the Utah Education Network, made the recommendation Thursday to the CEU Board of Trustees.

That "quasi-autonomous status," he said, would require the school to give up a portion of its autonomy for what he believes would be a major benefit for the area, resulting in a broadened mission to include a regional university component.

Petersen's proposal, which if adopted by both schools' boards of trustees, the state Board of Regents and Commissioner William A. Sederburg, would include a name change for the southeastern Utah community college, as well as re-assignment of many of its administration, faculty and staff as employees of USU. And as expected, the initial plan was met with much consternation from the CEU Board of Trustees, which expressed a collective desire to be independent.

"I don't see that the issues of enrollment, long-term leadership, finances and the (Western Energy Training Center) and associated problems are solved by this proposal," said trustee Scott Woodward. He sees the affiliation as "another level of approval that we have to go through to get anything done here."

"It is difficult to convince anyone that we exist down here," he said.

The board already reports to the Regents, which is governed by the Utah Legislature. Lawmakers recently abandoned a study of merging the two schools.

"We have a responsibility to think about how we can keep a strong institution there and serve the region well," Sederburg said, adding that his motive for the investigation was only to determine how to maintain a viable college. The "stand-alone model," he said, "is nice," but economic circumstances keep it from functioning well.

"If we had the authority, we'd keep it as it is," said trustee Elwin Atwood. "CEU is a wonderful, special place."

However, the school, now serving more than 2,100 students, has come under fire for having one of the highest costs per student in the state, which spends $13,000 for each CEU student compared to less than $10,000 at other two-year schools.