“A VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE” BY FORMER STATE REPRESENTATIVE GAIL RIECKEN

“A VIEW FROM THE OUTSIDE”  BY GAIL RIECKEN

(Former Representative Sits The Record Straight About Tech-Evansville Being Part Of The IU Medical School)

Dear Friend,

If you are a supporter of Ivy Tech-Evansville being part of the IU medical school complex, then this letter is especially for you.

And, if you heard that Ivy Tech really isn’t a part of the IU medical school complex and never was, then please read further.

From the medical school’s inception, Ivy Tech was included as an integral part of the goals, purpose and prospects that having a medical school in our community would bring.

Mr. Jeff Fanter, Ivy Tech, is just wrong in his statement to the Courier&Press he made in January. In a recent Comments section of the City County Observer, Courier&Press reporter John Martin included the quote from Mr. Fanter discussing the lack of endorsement for Ivy Tech in the present budget cycle.

“Asked if the Downtown Evansville project would be submitted by Ivy Tech for a future General Assembly’s consideration, Fanter said in an email: “Prior to each legislative session, all of the capital projects will be reviewed and prioritized to determine which will be a part of our capital request.”  NOPE, Mr. Fanter! That answer should have been ‘Absolutely, we are committed to Ivy Tech in the medical school complex’.

There are 1100 or more Ivy Tech students projected to use that opportunity for training in the first year. Without Ivy Tech, there will be 400 to 500 students projected from the other institutions.

Evansville and communities around us only benefit from more opportunities for its youth to enter the health profession. Our youth need opportunities, and our community needs more health care providers.

The taxpayers of Evansville benefit from higher student numbers closer to what we were promised for the investment we, as taxpayers, are making.

It is true Ivy Tech was denied funding in the last budget cycle. But, the reason Ivy Tech was excluded is history.

Ivy Tech leadership in Indianapolis angered legislators. They inflated state growth rates and graduation rates, and as punishment, all Ivy Tech projects were excluded from the budget that cycle.

Ivy Tech has new leadership and this is a new budget cycle. IU should take a public position and confirm its continued commitment to Ivy Tech. It is not too late.

And, it is not too late for all of us to get involved. Here’s how.

A legislator on the Senate Appropriations Committee still has time, although precious little time, to bring an amendment to HB1001. It might be as dramatic as taking some other institution’s money; or it could be finding additional monies somewhere in the budget. But, whatever the source, March 30th looks like the absolute deadline in the Appropriations Committee.

Don’t let this opportunity for a better future for our youth disappear; don’t let those in charge of the medical school complex get away with the millions in tax dollars for one-third the students promised.

Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann, in a conversation with me over the lack of her endorsement of Ivy Tech in the complex this budget cycle, never said that she did not support funding. She said, if legislators could find more money, she had no objection.

Please, if you care, call your legislator now to help.

As one from the outside, I see opportunity and hope for a better future for our children compromised in the name of politics and self-interest, state and local.

I see that unless we all stand up and be counted, this project will move on without Ivy Tech. I’ve said this to as many individuals and groups I have spoken to and now I ask one more time “Stand up”!

Remember that 69 wasn’t built without a lot of hard work from Evansville citizens. My favorite example, French Lick Casino wouldn’t have happened, if the people of Orange County hadn’t stormed the statehouse in their orange shirts!

This is “My View From The Outside” as of March 22, 2017.

Regards,

Gail Riecken

Former Member of District 77 House of Representative

Editors Footnote:  To voice your opinion about this issue please call Indiana House of Representatives at (317) 232-9600 or (800) 382-9842 or the Indiana Senate at (317) 232-9400 or (800) 382-9467.