To the Luddites among us

In 19^th century England, there arose a sort of social movement bent on reversing the gains of the industrial revolution. There were new ways of doing things in textiles and it was putting people out of work; people who’d been somebody under the old ways of doing things.

Of course, it was futile, because some things are inexorable. But that didn’t stop the disciples of one General Ned Ludd, a figure whose reputation was not unlike that of Robin Hood in his day. For this reason, those who sought to undo the advances in textiles bought about by mechanized looms became known as Luddites.

Luddites is a name now given to people who oppose new ideas or new ways of doing things that threaten either their livelihood or privileged positions they hold. We are seeing some latter day Luddites appear in Kentucky in response to the suggestion that the University of Pikeville be made a state-supported institution of higher learning.
They come from both governmental and educational backgrounds, but they have one thing in common: They are opposed to establishing a new, state supported school for southeastern Kentucky.

Those from government who oppose a state supported UPike include both members of the state assembly and various county fiscal courts. Let’s say they are well-represented by state Senator DamonThayor from Scott County. Senator Thayor, like the members of the various fiscal courts who are also opposed, is concerned about the funds that will be needed for the new-look UPike. There’s not enough now, he says, for those schools out there.

Senator Thayor might remember when then-Governor Martha Layne Collins proposed spending $125 million dollars to bring Toyota to Georgetown. This proposal also generated a lot of opposition, but he’d have to agree that the much smaller amount of money that would be needed for a state-supported school in this area could also hold the same promises for Eastern Kentucky that Toyota held for Scott County. And may I add that that $125 million was money well spent.

Senator Thayor also mentioned it was the strong Eastern Kentucky powerbase that was behind this proposed new state-supported school. Really? A strong Eastern Kentucky power base? Listen, if that was the case, Thayor and the rest of the Golden Triangle would be a lot poorer, because a strong Eastern Kentucky power base would have kept 100% of the coal severance tax in the counties that generated it.

From the educational opponents, none is perhaps more vocal than Morehead State University. Both the Board of Regents and the Rowan County Fiscal Court have passed resolutions opposing a state-supported UPike and for the same reasons. They see the new school taking students from Morehead, and they don’t like it.

But it isn’t that the University of Pikeville wants to rob them of any potential students from this area. Those who have the wherewithal can continue their two hour plus commute to that campus. It is those students who might not go to college at all because of the distance to schools like Morehead UPike is after.

And if the new state-supported school manages to increase the percentage of area residents with a college education to the level found elsewhere around the state, then the funds needed for a state-supported school, like the money spent for the Toyota plant in Georgetown, would also be money well-spent