CWI stumbles to start 

Idaho’s newest community college was created with great hope and enthusiasm by Treasure Valley voters. So far the return on investment has been pre-launch cuts, underperforming enrollment, thousands of dollars in wasted and just awful advertising, and a non-functioning embarrassment of a Web site.

Understand, I love community colleges, having served two and have long been a fan and a student of their mission and place in communities. An outgrowth of the old junior colleges, today’s comprehensive community colleges are a wonderful blend of the juco transfer function, vocational and technical training, and adult literacy and related education, and more.

For the College of Western Idaho, first the awful – $165,000 spent on advertising and no one knows the college exists. Of course it is marketing and community relations that gets your name and brand out, not advertising. Advertising only sells your sizzle.

Yet recent television ads running in the valley not only don’t sell any CWI sizzle, they disparage universities. Presumably styled after the Mac vs. PC commercials, these stinkers pit “the university” vs. CWI. The end result is that we discourage potential students from attending universities, and don’t promote what is unique and special about our state’s newest community college.

The college’s stumbling started early with a botched interface with BSU’s Selland College of Applied Technology. Existing Selland College functions and its faculty were being blended into CWI, yet employees were left hanging not knowing if their long earned benefits were secure as they were moved from one state college to another. Wasted time and undermined employee confidence and morale took a toll.

Now the Web site – just try to contact an instructor of anything to ask about a class or program. CWI says it has faculty. Who are they and what are their bio’s and credentials? Many savvy students out of the work force want to know a faculty member’s experience and interests before signing on. Classes start in January, yet something as critical in today’s market as a vibrant, interactive Web site seems to be an afterthought, or even a non thought. If a start-up’s technology is not up to speed with its potential customers it is doomed from the get-go.

I know CWI President Dennis Griffin and he is an experienced and solid administrator. But launching a college, while not easy is like launching any enterprise – it requires a multi-step launch strategy. It requires a business plan. Like football it requires a play book with the first 12 offensive plays scripted. Media, businesses, community groups – shoe leather, cold calls, and events…; start-ups are hard but CWI has had a long launch calendar runway and it is inexcusable for it to not be on the tip of every target student’s tongue.

There is hope with newly elected incoming trustees Stan Bastian and Tammy Ray. Both are proven leaders with a wealth of education experience, so the future should be better. But right now one only hopes the business faculty who teach for CWI are stronger than the business model we have seen from the college.

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