Most Kansas taxpayers probably don’t realize the savings to the state provided by the Kansas University Endowment Association’s ownership of KU’s west campus.

This acreage has been acquired over the years by the association through the generous gifts of many alumni and friends. Most state-aided universities are cramped for space in which to grow. When they want to add a new building, university officials have to figure out how to squeeze the structure into an already tight space, tear down a building and replace it with a new and larger structure or find adjacent land, which usually comes with a high price tag that the university and state must pay.

Fortunately for KU officials, the KUEA land west of Iowa Street has been made available at no cost to the state. The KUEA is a totally independent, separate association with no formal ties to the university, but it exists for one purpose only: to help the university become an even finer center for education and research.

At the Thursday meeting of the Kansas Board of Regents, KU officials outlined a plan to build a $40 million research building on an 11-acre site made available by KUEA on the west campus. Neither the state nor the university had to pay a penny for this choice piece of land.

Actually, something should be done about this situation. The state should pay KUEA for the land as a way to help the association continue its efforts to provide financial assistance to the university. If land on west campus hadn’t been provided by KUEA, the state would have had to buy approximately 11 acres of land to accommodate the new research building and contribute to the growth and excellence of KU. All of the land used for development on west campus has been made possible at no charge by KUEA. Why not reimburse the association for the land, at least the property’s original purchase price from years ago?

Another example of how the state and city benefit by the association’s land is how Lawrence officials were able to work with KUEA to acquire a sizable site at the southeast corner of 19th and Iowa streets for a new fire station. The city will lease this valuable property from KUEA for $1 a year, thereby saving city taxpayers the cost of acquiring land for a new, strategically located fire station.

The city and the university help each other in many ways. Many past chancellors have said they had never been at a university where there was such a favorable town-gown relationship.

The role KUEA plays in this equation is an important factor, and the visionary and astute thinking of past KUEA officials in acquiring land on all sides of the campus has proven to be invaluable. The KU campus totals approximately 1,000 acres, and all but about 100 of those acres have been acquired by private money, not city or state funds at taxpayers’ expense.