Published on 11/4/2003

Now that Gov. John G. Rowland, the state's community college system and Norwich have agreed on a site for a new campus for Three Rivers Community College, let's get the new campus built, and not allow another political issue to derail it again.

The plan everyone has agreed upon is a political compromise with which the college and the city say they can live. The site, at the location of the college's existing Thames Valley campus, is not the best place in the region to develop the new campus. The best place has always seemed to us to be the Norwich Hospital property.

The Thames Valley site presents traffic problems that will need to be addressed, and haven't been in the solution Gov. Rowland brokered with Norwich.

But this is not an insoluble problem. Norwich and the state have obligated themselves to work out a solution and to make sure other matters don't deter the expeditious implementation of this plan. That means carrying out the necessary studies and getting the shovels in the ground without any additional delay. We stress additional, because moving sites again will cost the time it will take to complete the studies.

We assume no additional obstacles will appear, and that if they do, Mayor Arthur Lathrop, the other Norwich politicians who supported the Thames Valley site and the governor will work them out, and not let them spin out of control.

That having been said, this is good news for everyone. This new college will provide future students and faculty at Three Rivers a unified campus that looks and feels like a college campus, and not an outdated high school. The students will have modern classrooms and state-of-the art laboratories and equipment. The college will have room to grow, and it will grow. It will also help the region grow, because it will attract residents and businesses. The college will be in a better position to customize educational programs for existing and new businesses and industries.

The sad part of this story is that it has taken so long. The political bickering over Three Rivers has consumed a decade, and that is time squandered for the region, and for the students who attended the school. The delays have cost the people of the state money in the costs of operating two campuses and in inflated construction costs.

It is to the governor's credit that he has brought this matter to a satisfactory conclusion.

At least we hope he has.
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