This evening, the Kansas and Kansas State teams will meet in Memorial Stadium for the 102nd football contest between the two schools.

Through the years, the Jayhawks hold a commanding lead in the win-loss column, 61-35 with five ties, but in recent years the Wildcats have dominated the series. The athletic competition between the two schools is intense, particularly in the recruiting of outstanding Kansas athletes — men and women — and in the win-loss records.

Competition between the two schools is good in many respects if it is conducted in the proper manner. However, it can be harmful if the various players in this competition — whether they are on the football field, basketball court, volleyball court, in engineering schools, in Strong Hall and Anderson Hall, or any other schools or departments — get out of hand.

Clearly KU and KSU are the top two academic institutions in the state, and it is natural that officials, chancellors, presidents, faculty members, coaches, students and alumni of the schools compete against one another for support in the Legislature, in the Kansas Board of Regents, for private support and for the best young men and women to enroll as students.

It is an intense competition and very likely makes each school better than it would be if there was not this ongoing effort by each institution to be as good as possible. Again, the competition should be played within the proper bounds of fair play, honesty and ethics.

Both schools play a tremendous role in the state, and they can play an even greater role in how Kansas grows and develops in the years to come. However, there needs to be a cooperative environment between the two schools if the state and its residents are to realize the potential of what can be accomplished in the state.

Kansas is too small with too few resources to have a civil war between its major universities. The state must marshal all its resources if it is to be competitive with nearby states, as well as states throughout the country.

Leaders in most states have made “economic development” their No. 1 priority. They want to build and attract good business and industry, they want to create good jobs that will hold their bright young men and women at home rather than to lose them to other parts of the nation, and they want to improve the quality of life and opportunities for all residents of their state.

In past years, as well as the present, the name of the game in industrial development has been to “rob thy neighbor,” do whatever you can, lower taxes, provide attractive incentives, anything to get officers and directors of companies to decide to move to locations where the grass appears to be greener.

However, there is a new development in Kansas wherein state officials, legislators and others have made a major effort to see what can be done about growing our own field of bioscience-related companies. This area of development is projected to be a giant economic force in the nation for the next 15 to 20 years. Kansas visionaries have pointed out there is no reason why Kansas cannot be a participant in this race, in fact, not just a “participant,” but a true leader in specific fields where there is the expertise to lead and develop such efforts.

The idea is to identify the strengths as well as the weaknesses of Kansas and identify areas of academic excellence that could play a major role in the development and growth of specific areas of the biosciences. The effort hopes to identify individuals — many of whom are natives of Kansas or attended a college or university in the state but have moved elsewhere — who have compiled superior records in developing successful companies. The state also needs to identify individuals who have demonstrated outstanding records in entrepreneurship and encourage such individuals to move back to Kansas and take advantage of new incentives to start biosciences-related businesses in the state.

The idea sounds great, and there is reason to believe it can and will be successful. Already, some extremely talented and successful researchers and entrepreneurs have been identified and expressed serious interest in the Kansas initiative.

But for this effort to be successful, there must be good cooperation between Kansas and Kansas State universities and the KU Medical Center. Universities and individuals will be seeking the fiscal support of the new Biosciences Authority established by the Legislature. Proposals will be presented for this or that program or building at KU, KSU, KUMC or some other school or by some existing business that has the potential to grow and become an even more important economic activity.

The state cannot afford a fight between KU and KSU for these monies. It cannot allow a competitive environment to develop where KU officials or KSU officials might say, “I’m not going to support your effort unless you give equal backing to my proposal for fiscal support.”

There is only so much money available to help fund these projects, and it is obvious members of the Biosciences Authority cannot give a thumbs-up to every proposal presented for funding. Given this situation, there must be a genuine spirit of “what’s best for the state,” “how do we get the biggest bang for the buck” and “what has the best chance of paying off for the benefit of the state?”

KU and KSU will continue to compete as toughly and fairly as possible on the athletic courts and fields, and the schools and their supporters will continue to do what they can to build their institutions into even finer centers of learning and research.

However there needs to be a new chapter of cooperation in the area of biosciences-related research, industry and business. It’s the only way Kansas can successfully compete with other larger states that have far more fiscal resources and other assets than we do here in the Sunflower State.

There is reason to be optimistic about the future of Kansas, but its goals will not be achieved if there is a harmful, negative, competitive mindset between KU and KSU.