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http://amarillo.com/news/local-news/2016-12-10/am-looking-after-itself-or-after-west-texasQuote:
Is A&M looking after itself or after West Texas?
Jon Mark Beilue is an AGN Media columnist. He can be reached at jon.beilue@amarillo
.com or 806-345-3318. Twitter: @jonmarkbeilue.
My first response to the Tribune Article:
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This article is very misleading. While it is understandable that Tech feels like it should be the leader in the Texas Panhandle in all things, the staff of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board said in July that the state of Texas doesn't need another traditional veterinary school, arguing the cost would outweigh the benefits. The State had already provided over $120M in recent funding to A&M which significantly enlarged the primary tertiary Vet school at College Station and has made satellite several locations around the state who have been designated as feeders into this expanded program for the final Vet School training. This addition can be seen at:http://today.tamu.edu/2016/11/07/texas-ams-new-veterinary-biomedical-education-complex-to-open-friday/ WTA&M at Canyon is one of those feeder programs and has been linked to the main campus at A&M for many years - and is being strengthened as this drama unfolds. The idea that ANY "healthcare professional" will opt for rural vs a city office is a shot in the dark at best as has been proven in the past by similar well meaning application requirements. And, like all professional programs, the industry does not want to become overburdened with practitioners who will subsequently reduce the income possibilities of those already licensed. In addition, all feed lot activities and large ranches have their own vets or contracts with vets without any "shortage" being identified. Tech ill-advisedly took this project on without fully investigating the requirement - and made up a reason without substantiation. Furthermore, getting into a Vet school anywhere is extremely competitive - just because a person wants to be a vet does not mean he/she has the acuity to do the basic classwork and eventually make it into final Vet school. In fact, it is more difficult to get into Vet school than into Med school in many instances. To have guaranteed slots from a feeder program at WT is fantastic for those local persons from the Panhandle who can cut the mustard and get into one of those guaranteed slots. While Tech is making many inroads into other areas of medicine, to think that picking up hours OJT in a local Vet's office in lieu of in a proper classroom setting is also far fetched. Interns and residents get their OJT practice AFTER matriculating from Vet school (and medical school) - not while still a student - which is generally an 8-10 year process. To be a registered board certified Vet the candidate will become familiar with nearly 300 types of animals - not just farm and ranch animals - that can only come with a very large established curriculum program in a proper setting with all the requisite animals available for study - and not in a local vets office which probably does focus on a particular type - and that's assuming the local vet is qualified and interested in taking on "students" to begin with. West Texas A&M University: Texas A&M System to Extend Reach of Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
My Second response to the Amarillo Globe News Article:
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Your article is well written - but terribly bias... main reason is that Texas A&M has had this expansion plan in the works for many years - and the $120M of which you speak has now been built and is now occupied (see references below) - which has to have been budgeted for, funded, and constructed long before the Tech proposal hit the wall to see what might stick... Your article would make it appear as though this recently completed addition was a rebuttal to the Tech proposed Vet School in Amarillo.
As a former student at WT, Tech and graduate of A&M and having grown up in Amarillo I understand the economic impact that might have occurred had this proposal been approved... But, to think that duplicating the already existing services (being expanded) at WTA&M and thinking that an "animal hospital" (with associated pens, etc.,) could be located in the Amarillo Hospital District area is feasible is simply not rational.
And, neither is the idea of getting logistical support from local veterinarians - who are either already gainfully employed (or contracted) by the feed lots and slaughter houses and ranches - or are small animal focused (where the real $$ are) - certainly not qualified to teach large animal care - none of whom have "teaching credentials" to support the plan offered. But, there are qualified personnel already in place at WTA&M - which, is expanding to meet the perceived need - as elsewhere throughout the state by A&M.
I realize your frustration - but, like others have proposed - duplicating the main campus capabilities at College Station is simply too monumental a task to attempt within reasonable funding. You really must visit there sometimes. They have entire centers of excellence for equine, bovine, chickens, pigs, etc., to support the Vet School there - in addition to Clinical Animal Hospitals, Clinics, and do clinical research as well. None of which could be done at the Amarillo Medical Center - and only some of which can even be done at WTA&M.
Your last bit of information about a branch campus in Costa Rica is interesting - as is the Dental School in El Paso. Maybe the Dental School should be in Amarillo? There are several off-shore Vet schools in the Caribbean as well - but none able to provide the final years required to become licensed. Each of them still have to go to OSU, KS State, or A&M, etc., to be finally credentialed - and slots are reserved for their graduates as well.
And, FWIW, when Gov Preston Smith was governor in the early 70's he kabashed the proposed A&M Medical School which was planning to partner with the Debakey Heart/Houston Methodist and got the Tech Med School funded instead... And, A&M ended up with a later Health Science Center in 1977 (grads of '81) and finally a full fledged Medical School in 1994 approved and partnered with Waco VA and Scott and White in Temple - not nearly so prestigious - but a recent agreement with Baylor Hospital in Dallas is helping. A&M presently has over 800 students enrolled in Med School - and yes, they do some work at the Vet College as well. And here's the best part - guess what the basis for the new Med School at both places was? ....yep, to provide for a shortage of rural docs! Which, sometimes works but more often as not, the better students end up at the bigger, more prestigious hospitals where they can get residencies and much more $$. Regardless, just so the record is somewhat clear - the A&M-Tech battles are not new and have been nip and tuck for many years.
Not sure this helps, but I feel better... 
IF some of my information is incorrect - well, so was theirs...
in fact, much of the Beilue argument is overriding butthurt re the PUF... tsk tsk...
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Fact is, this is basically business as usual in higher education in the state. Look no further than the Permanent University Fund (PUF), the largesse of oil reserves in West Texas that is the sole province of Texas and A&M.
Eight years ago, the PUF had $8.8 billion in investments.
In 2014, UT earned $430 million, and A&M took in $215 million from PUF.
AAAAAAAAAAg - Air Force Aggie Architect and Hospital Administrator fm Amarillo, Altus, Austin, Arabia, Arkansas, Africa, Seoul, Bahrain, Amman, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Saudi, DFW-Fairview, Ramstein, San Antonio, Pentagon, OKC, JCAHO/JCR - '65, '69, '73 - A&M Letterman (ret).
Winston Churchill: “If you’re not a socialist in your twenties, you have no heart. But if you’re not a capitalist in your thirties, you have no mind.”
