News

DCB takes first steps to becoming independent of Minot State

By Scott Wagar

09/24/2013

On Monday afternoon, Dakota College at Bottineau (DCB) started to take it first steps of becoming an independent college from Minot State University with a community meeting on its campus to discuss and hear the opinions of the local people.

According to Dr. Ken Grosz, dean of DCB, just over a year ago the former chancellor of the North Dakota University System, Dr. Hamid Shivani, made a proposal in making Dakota College independent of Minot State University to eliminate some uncertainty with the relationship between the two colleges.

“He (Shivani) thought is was a confusing situation to have to a couple of research universities, four regional universities and four community colleges that were independent and one community college that is attached to Minot State University,” Grosz said. “Dakota College at Bottineau has it own budget, we have our own foundation, we have our own athletic teams and a lot of others things we do independently. So, Shivani thought that for all practically purposes we are already independent so why don’t we call a spade a spade.”

Grosz added that Shivani had plans to come to Bottineau to discuss the issue of DCB separating from Minot State, but that it didn’t happen when he was removed from his position by the State Board of Higher Education (SBHE). However, the discussion of making Dakota College at Bottineau independent of Minot State has continued and it was decided to place the issue on the SBHE’s agenda to start discussions on the topic.

“The discussion has been out there for a while,” Grosz said. “So, Dr. David Fuller, president of Minot State University; myself and the current chancellor, Dr. Larry Skogen, felt it was a good thing and we should get it on the board’s agenda.”

The topic on DCB with the SBHE will take place this Wednesday, Sept. 25, at Bismarck State College.

“The only thing the board will decide on Wednesday is if they should start discussions of whether or not our college should be independent of Minot State,” Grosz said.

With the board meeting on Wednesday, Grosz held the local community meeting on Monday where the discussion turned to the pros and cons of DCB going independent of Minot State.

“The primary topic was that being affiliated with Minot State affords us some protection from being closed. They are a larger university, they have their own legislative delegation, they have a larger populated area and that bolds well in never closing Dakota College at Bottineau. Where if we stand alone we would be standing alone,” Grosz said. “The cons were that being affiliated with a larger school makes us look weak, makes us look as though we are not quite as good (as the other community colleges), those types of things.”

Although DCB is protected by the State’s century code from closing, a referendum vote could move to take DCB off the century code and the college could close.  However, being separated from a larger university grants DCB complete independence like the other four community colleges in the state.

Grosz stated that the connection between DCB and Minot State consists of Fuller overseeing the overall operations of DCB and its wellbeing, while he is the operational officer as the dean of Bottineau’s local college.

With the first meeting completed, Grosz said that he was pleased with the community meeting.

“I felt that the meeting went very well,” he said.

Grosz also stated that for the time being he will not be making a decision on this issue until he hears all the discussions on the topic.

If the SBHE decides to approve the discussion process on Wednesday in Bismarck, there will be a number of meetings before any final decision will take place on Bottineau’s possible independence from Minot State University.