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  • 1.  Facilities Consortiums

    Posted 24 days ago

    Hello,

    Has anyone explored - or considered exploring - entering into a facilities consortium with neighboring institutions to share staffing, equipment, and services? I'd love to hear about your experiences and any lessons learned.



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    Christopher Wilson
    Operations Manager
    Loyola Marymount University
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  • 2.  RE: Facilities Consortiums

    Posted 24 days ago

    Good evening,

    Yes, I have some experience with this. For more than 15 years, my institution shared a classroom and administrative facility with our regional university partner. 

    One lesson we've learned is the importance of clear agreements around space use, scheduling, maintenance responsibilities, and communication between the institutions. Having defined expectations and regular coordination has helped the partnership function smoothly over time.



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    Lisa Stanton
    Vice President of Operations and Fiinance
    Rogue Community College
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Facilities Consortiums

    Posted 23 days ago

    You should check out the work being done at The Claremont Colleges! https://services.claremont.edu/cfs/



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    Ryan Sullivan
    Director, Finance and Facilities for Advancement and Alumni Relations
    California Institute of Technology
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Facilities Consortiums

    Posted 22 days ago

    Hello Christopher,

    Auraria Higher Education Center in Denver is a good study for this. AHEC houses University of Colorado Denver, Metropolitan State University of Denver, and Community College of Denver. It also used to house the Emily Griffith Opportunity School.

    All campus buildings are shared, though de facto ownership of some buildings rotates from time to time. Since I chiefly work in libraries, I can speak to the considerable advantages in sharing physical and virtual library facilities across multiple institutions: students experienced much greater access to materials. E-resources costs are based on FTE and purchasing is generally cheaper at scale. There is a big push now by vendors to charge based on access, but for shared institutions, FTE-based charge is still dominant.

    The campus agreements as to which entity is responsible for which building in terms of organization structure is complex, but it works. Auraria Library is run by the University of Colorado Denver. Sporting facilities are generally run by Metropolitan State University of Denver. Parking, maintenance, and security (Auraria has its own police force) are run by cooperative AHEC agreement. The student union is funded in part by student body fees.

    That's not to say AHEC is without controversy: In the 1970s, Denver's decision to build the campus where they did wound up disenfranchising and displacing a thriving Latino/a neighborhood, despite other available sites that wouldn't have resulted in displacement. The feasibility and compensation studies are frankly appalling. This is still a sore spot for thousands of people. It may be better optics to repurpose existing vacant buildings.

    To read about AHEC's shared agreements and drawbacks, a good starting point is:

    Abbott, F. C. (1999). The Auraria Higher Education Center : how it came to be. Auraria Higher Education Center. This is available in print, and there should be plenty of used copies floating around.
    If you wanted to know about specific facilities arrangements and the most valuable updates on the AHEC plan, contact Auraria Library Special and Digital Collections. 
    I hope this is helpful!


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    Jennifer Goodland
    Technical Services Librarian
    San Juan College
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    Original Message


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