Kansas University is suffering growing pains. Enrollment is up; that means more students. Megamillion-dollar federal research grants roll in every week; that means more researchers. And increased tuition dollars mean, in part, more faculty.

The good news is success. The bad news is — you guessed it — success.

In most buildings on campus, people are packed tighter than cattle in a feedlot. The worst job at KU right now is being in charge of space. You have to face down folks in search of a spare closet. KU needs more classrooms, offices and laboratories to handle its success. And it needs the state’s support to help build them.

For its part, KU needs to fashion a strategic plan to deal with the problems of success: What are the blue chip, high growth and risk venture landscapes in education and research for the 21st century? What are the niche areas KU should focus on? Given these landscapes, how should resources be allocated to keep guaranteeing Kansans a first-class education and a world-class research enterprise? KU’s fast growth must also be smart growth.

Problems of success are a good sign and ones we should welcome. Kansans know we’re a basketball powerhouse. But do they know we’re a powerhouse in many areas of science, the arts, engineering, education and the humanities? The Legislature needs to know this too and fund the university accordingly.

Naysayers will ask: Why? Higher education is only one of many worthy agencies feeding at the public trough and is already getting a hog’s share.

The answer is brutally simple: higher education is a contract with the people of Kansas. KU educates their children. KU prepares and trains them to be the next generation of scientists, artists, journalists, lawyers, engineers, teachers, social workers, architects, doctors, what have you. And, through research, KU discovers the knowledge that builds a stronger economy, brings social progress, fuels the imagination, and improves the life of every Kansan.

Every contract has a quid pro quo, and the state needs to honor its part of the bargain. That means funding for buildings with modern classrooms, laboratories and offices. It means decent raises and benefits for its classified and unclassified staff and faculty. But it’s not clear the Legislature understands how much KU contributes to the common good of Kansas and the state’s knowledge economy. States that invest in this knowledge economy will win. States that don’t won’t — they’ll go bankrupt, economically and socially. It’s a message that needs to penetrate the Capitol, which is a tough task for KU and most public universities.

A successful message will take more than indignant arm-waving, or op-ed pieces written by yours truly. First, the KU story must count in the day-to-day lives of every Kansan and every Kansas community. Second, the KU story must have pride in place — terrific education and fantastic discoveries happen here in Kansas, not just on the East and West coasts. Third, remember physicist Ernest Rutherford’s test for simplicity: “A theory you can’t explain to a bartender is probably no damn good.” I would have liked to have heard Rutherford explain evolution to a bartender.

But Rutherford’s point is well-taken. The message must be simple, personal and local. The KU story should be delivered along a broad media front, adapting the medium and the message to the local Kansas terrain. Let’s start with the local newspaper in every community in Kansas — the Chanute Tribune, the Iola Register, the Wichita Eagle, the Holton Recorder, the Salina Journal, and a hundred others. Pepper them weekly with the KU story.

If need be, buy the space in every newspaper — nothing less than a whole page. Tailor the weekly message of KU education, research and service accomplishments to each community. Feature their students and alumni. Ballyhoo the breakthroughs that make them proud to have KU in Kansas. Every community has a legislator. Affect them locally, through their constituents.

Such a targeted media campaign, or any other, portends an enormous effort. As it does for faculty, staff and students, the best advertisement for KU. As much as we can, we should spend “up close and personal” time in every community in Kansas chatting about the terrific education and research at KU that their tax dollars have purchased.

Bad advice used to be cheap, proof of which might well be this column. Good advice is the kind you can chisel in granite. Start chiseling. Building the political capital and good will for higher education in Kansas won’t just happen. Whatever the medium, we will all need to reach out to the people of Kansas with down-to-earth smarts, sweat and sincerity. It’s the way of the Great Plains.

Leonard Krishtalka is director of the Natural History Museum & Biodiversity Research Center at Kansas University.