Regents want a task force to solve CEU issue

OGDEN — To make sure they choose the correct solution for the problem, the State Board of Regents decided Friday to form a task force to investigate options for the College of Eastern Utah in Price, including a possible affiliation of the smaller school with Utah State University.

Regent David Jordan proposed the idea at the regent's regularly scheduled meeting at Weber State University, asking whoever is appointed to "spend the month of June working the issue hard" and have a solid recommendation for presentation at the regent's July meeting.

The concern of the regents is that the needs created by steadily decreasing enrollment at CEU, deeper budget cuts and the current size of the school, would not be met by the "Band-aid solution" inherent in a merger.

Ideas resulting from an intense look at the options by former CEU president Mike Petersen, current director of the Utah Education Network, were presented to the regents. Petersen delivered his plan to CEU's Board of Trustees last month.

Options for CEU have been studied for years, as it has faced significant challenges for some time, said William A. Sederburg, commissioner of higher education for Utah. Multiple studies have been done to develop a viable solution. At least one plan was shot down by a legislative committee earlier this year.

CEU has had an uncertain future since the 2007 session, in which then-Sen. Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, proposed a last-minute merger idea, which was met with much consternation.

"My goodness, what do you expect?" regent Brent Brown asked Friday. "I can't imagine this taking place in the business world."

The auto dealer said he would lose all his money-making and hiring capacities if he were told his business would be changing but that the change was yet to be determined.

"We owe it to CEU and to the community it serves to make a decision about the future of their institution," Sederburg said. He said that continuing in the current direction would only mean a slow decline for the school. Without available funds to offer the already struggling institution, a partnership seems to be a favorable solution.

USU President Stan Albrecht said the university already has a responsibility to provide community college functions at its three existing regional campuses in the Uintah Basin, Tooele and Brigham City, and that officials don't want to overpower the smaller CEU.

USU graduates approximately 250 associate degree students from its regional campuses every year, realizing a significant opportunity to extend upper-division level courses to those students. The same would be true in a potential partnership with CEU.

"This has been on our minds ever since it surfaced at the Legislature," said CEU interim president Mike King. "We want CEU to be around forever. We hope we come out at the other end of this process better than what we are and not less than what we are."

Appointments to the regent's task force will be made sometime next week and a resolution is expected in July at their meeting on Utah Vallely University's Orem campus.

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