Coast campus in the news - USM Forum -- Message Board

qwerty · Status: Offline

Coast campus in the news

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

Rebuilding a public college campus on the beach in a hurricane flood zone makes no sense. Buildings that can be repaired with minimum cost can be used in the interim while a new campus is being built north of I-10. The Gulf Coast politicians are in a state of denial on this one. Surely they drive on Route 90 enough to see the devastation south of the tracks.

First Ant at the Picnic · Status: Offline

Curmudgeon wrote:

". . . . while a new campus is being built north of I-10."

Great idea, Curmudgeon. We could name the new permanent campus built North of I-10 "The University of Southern Mississippi at Kiln."

Robert Campbell · Status: Offline

Could it be that the new campus will end up as the University of Mississippi at ______ ?

Or Mississippi State at __________?

Robert Campbell

LVN · Status: Offline

Welcome back, Robert Campbell!!

Coast Watcher · Status: Offline

Curmudgeon wrote:

Rebuilding a public college campus on the beach in a hurricane flood zone makes no sense. Buildings that can be repaired with minimum cost can be used in the interim while a new campus is being built north of I-10. The Gulf Coast politicians are in a state of denial on this one. Surely they drive on Route 90 enough to see the devastation south of the tracks.

Robert Bass, appointed as special assistant to the IHL for higher education on the Coast, spoke at an campus assembly at USM's temporary digs at the old hospital in Gulfport a couple weeks back. According him, not only is the Gulf Park Campus going to be rebuilt and/or restored, but, also, an announcement is forthcoming, shortly, about land acquisition for an additional USM Gulf Coast somewhere immediately north of I-10. Further, Bass was emphatic that it was USM that was going to deliver higher education on the Coast--not UM or MSU or some chimera of a consortium--and he insisted that Governor Barbour was deeply committed to all these plans. At one point Bass silenced and amazed the assemblage by saying, about the political will behind these plans, "Thank God for Katrina! If it wasn't for that we would have had a hard time. . ." I'm not making this up. And, in fact, there's some truth to Bass' statement, extreme as it may be: Fleming was fired, in part, over his enthusiastic support of Coast expansion, and He Who Shall Not Be Named did just about everything imaginable to weaken, impede and frustrate the Coast operation. The persistent power of North over South can be and has been discerned in these things, eh?

Some questions: wasn't there any newspaper coverage of all this? And would Bass, whose credentials as an advocate for Coast development are impeccable, just flat out misrepresent what was going on? Or am I missing something?

qwerty · Status: Offline

C.W.,
I'm not surprised by your report (although I hadn't heard this myself). I do think that Katrina has changed the political balance a bit. Barbour has really put his shoulder to the wheel on Katrina issues, and higher education is a critical component of the coast's rebuilding plans. I've been here long enough to remember when Steve Wynn lambasted coast leaders for not having enough college graduates in the labor pool, back in the day when the Beau Rivage was still a blueprint.

There are problems with the Gulf Park campus that go beyond storm vulnerabilities. Its hard to get to. Something closer to the interstate would be much more efficient for the commuter students.

The rumor I hear is that IHL is picking up land near the proposed site for the new Harrison Co. High School, off I-10 west of Gulfport near the canal rd intersection.

Coast Resident · Status: Offline

The latest word : http://www.msbusiness.com/article.cfm?ID=4051

"The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) will offer a limited number of classes this spring on its Gulf Park campus on the Mississippi Gulf Coast..."

"Robert Bass, the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning's appointee to oversee restoration efforts, said insurance costs have risen four to five times what they were before last August..."

From what little I have heard it is my understanding that the front buildings of the campus will all be taken down (no news there) and it is unlikely that anything will be built in there place because of the insurance issue. Only the back part of the campus (the two new buildings and the business school complex) will be usable. I also understand there may be an effort to restart the police training center back up at Gulf Park.