Boldly Go, Vandals

The Idaho State Board of Education made a wildly unpopular decision yesterday to yank the word “flagship” out of the University of Idaho’s mission statement, as proposed by Boise State alumnus and SBOE member Milford Terrell.

The move is obviously political – a way to stroke the quivering egos of the Bronco crowd, who are dang good at celebrating the big Whatever Bowl win, but less able to quit pouting that the UI just straight-up shuts them down at academic pursuits.

But – what’s done is done. The real question now is what we do next. If we’re not Idaho’s flagship university anymore, what the heck should we be?

Here’s my proposal:

(Are you ready for this? Cause it’s awesome. And it was actually Tim’s idea, but I’m expanding on it and he doesn’t have a blog, so whatever. Annnnyway – awesome time …)

The starship university.

Heck. Yeah.

I’m totally imagining profs in Star Trek uniforms (the temporary lecturers get to be red-shirted ensigns), a remodel of the Commons into a massive Ten Forward (on tap: tea, Earl Grey, hot), a Holodeck installation in the Kibbie Dome (because, let’s admit it, we don’t really do much football playing there).

We could even invite Newt Gingrich to pour in a little cash and we’ll help design his moon base!

And why would the University of Idaho be such a good starship university? Because we’re damn good at the things starships do.

You want research? The UI received $89 million in research funding, which is almost 74 percent of the total research money for all Idaho public universities. (Do the math if you can, Broncos – that doesn’t leave much for you.)

How about brainy folks? The UI has more National Merit Scholars enrolled than any other public institution in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, or Montana. That’s 17 scholars at the UI, one at Boise State.

Of course, all good starships have an intergalactic focus – and the UI has both a higher number and a higher percentage of international students than Boise State.

And – wait for it – UI President Duane Nellis once referred to the UI as the “mothership” in an interview with a reporter I know. (Didn’t make it into print, though. Dang.) So we’ve got our Captain ready for liftoff.

So go ahead, SBOE. Take the flagship off the high seas. You suckers are going to be stuck on earth as the Vandals boldly go where no Broncos have gone before.

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Necessary caveat: Yeah, yeah, I've got some great friends who are BSU alums, this isn't all about BSU vs UI, etc. etc. It's a blog. And I like Star Trek.

Click here to read a whole bunch more about how the UI rocks the socks off the state of Idaho: 

http://www.uidaho.edu/president/letters/thebilliondollarimpact

Here are some more places I got my information:

http://admissions.boisestate.edu/international/studentguide/

http://www.uidaho.edu/international

http://www.uidaho.edu/newsevents/item?name=university-of-idaho-enrolls-highest-number-of-new-national-merit-scholars-in-nw-46420