Have you looked at downtown Pullman lately? It isn't only WSU that is struggling on all fronts. You know you are struggling when a plasma center is a main downtown tenant, and it is among many boarded up shop fronts. How come Pullman has struggled for decades, despite having cash cow employers and a captive audience next door? You can write it off as caused by Pullman's isolation and surrounding poverty, but neither Starkville nor Oxford, Mississippi suffer the same problem. They too are isolated communities, and in the poorest, least educated state in the union, but they are islands of prosperity, in a sea of poverty. These cities work with their universities, and are business friendly. They make it inviting for people to travel to games and events, because they recognize that people must travel. They make the it as inviting as they can, not only for fans, but for potential students. Instead of the landlord/tenant model of real estate, they have adopted and promoted the condo model. They have upscale/trendy downtowns, with no defunct plasma centers in sight. They are making it work.
The hope of big fish donors coming to the rescue and things trickling down from there, is not going to happen. WSU/Pullman need to seriously look at the successful isolated university communities, and chart a new symbiotic course. Both WSU and Pullman are slowly dying. Bearing in mind that the lotto donor concept will never happen, meaningful change starts by turning Pullman from a clearly negative draw for both fans and potential students, to a positive, and slowly building from there. The city needs an adjustment change, and the university needs to accept that new "on campus" bells and whistles for students/athletes, doesn't overcome the net negative effects of surrounding urban blight.
It is time for new leadership. Schultz has had 8 years, it has only gotten worse, not only academically, but the in terms of the surrounding community. He has no answers and is just playing the fiddle.
The hope of big fish donors coming to the rescue and things trickling down from there, is not going to happen. WSU/Pullman need to seriously look at the successful isolated university communities, and chart a new symbiotic course. Both WSU and Pullman are slowly dying. Bearing in mind that the lotto donor concept will never happen, meaningful change starts by turning Pullman from a clearly negative draw for both fans and potential students, to a positive, and slowly building from there. The city needs an adjustment change, and the university needs to accept that new "on campus" bells and whistles for students/athletes, doesn't overcome the net negative effects of surrounding urban blight.
It is time for new leadership. Schultz has had 8 years, it has only gotten worse, not only academically, but the in terms of the surrounding community. He has no answers and is just playing the fiddle.