(PROJECT) Langston University - Tulsa (Phase 1)

[sgrizzle]

Expected completion by next week, although this building is mainly offices and the nursing program will remain at OSU-Tulsa for the time being.

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?articleID=20080926_11_A14_TheLan256304

[VikingPoke]

Not completely true, Vision 2025... the reason it was delayed is not because the consultant failed to follow up, it was beacuse Langston didn't pay any of the design team for 9+ months and the design team was forced to quit working.  Only later did Langston pay past bills and kick the project back off.  They seemed suprised that the project had not progressed during that time.  Langston only had themselves to blame, not the consultants.

[Townsend]

Senate vote 'jeopardizes Oklahoma higher education funding'

http://tulsabusiness.com/newsletter/senate-vote-jeopardizes-oklahoma-higher-education-funding/article_e7497c24-8682-11e2-8c0e-001a4bcf6878.html

The Senate approved two measures Tuesday that Democrat Senators Jabar Shumate and Constance Johnson believe would jeopardize the state's higher education funding.

Senate Bills 58 and 59 would remove the mandate for a Langston University presence in Tulsa and would allow for the duplication of Langston University course offerings.

In a press release, the two lawmakers argued that both bills would be "in direct violation" of a 1978 agreement with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, which mandated that Langston University would have a presence in both Tulsa and Oklahoma City, and that it's courses would not be duplicated by other universities.

The State Board of Regents is currently in negotiations with the U.S. Department of Education to address the state's being out of compliance with that 1978 agreement.

Johnson said the bills would put Oklahoma even further out of compliance with the federal agreement threatening Langston and other schools' federal funding.
           
"This assault on the historic mission of Langston University with regard to the education of underserved groups is unwarranted," she said. "Not only does the passage of these measures put our federal education funding in jeopardy, it also demonstrates disregard for the value that Langston University has brought to our state in educating such populations."

Shumate, D-Tulsa, said he "feels this legislation should be killed in order to allow the State Board of Regents to continue to work on negotiations with the U.S. Department of Education."
   
"Those who supported these bills are putting the cart before the horse," he said. "We need to respect the process and allow the State Regents to continue negotiations with the U.S. Department of Education before we start passing legislation that could negatively impact our federal education funding."

SB 58, which passed 35-11, would eliminate the requirement that the Oklahoma A&M Board of Regents establish a branch of the university within the Tulsa metropolitan area.
           
SB 59, which passed 36-10, would allow the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education to establish a baccalaureate degree program in accounting at Oklahoma State University/Tulsa.
           
The bills will now move to the House for further consideration.