Effort to create separate Gillette College now in hands of state commission

n effort to establish Gillette College as an institution separate from the Northern Wyoming Community College District is now in the hands of the Wyoming Community College Commission.

Campbell County Commissioner Rusty Bell said a task force created by the commissioners compiled and submitted a lot of information to the state commission in a meeting Thursday, but the commission has requested additional information.

In addition, Bell said, the state commission must look at preparing an application for what Gillette College wants to do.

Gillette College was created in 1969 as part of the Northern Wyoming Community College District, which is based in Sheridan County with Sheridan College. All of the college trustees are elected from Sheridan County.

There is a Gillette College advisory board consisting of Campbell County residents, but those individuals have no voting rights. Bell said he thinks the move to separate Gillette College from the Northern Wyoming district is really strong.

Gillette College has reportedly tried in the past to separate from the Northern Wyoming Community College District, but the latest attempt was precipitated when college district trustees approved a budget that cut athletics from the programs of both Sheridan and Gillette colleges.

Trustees rejected an offer from the Gillette College Foundation to fund sports at Gillette College. Bell said that action doesn’t give Campbell County residents any confidence that future decisions would be made in the best interests of Campbell County.

The state community college commission has 90 days, starting this month, to vote on whether state commissioners would allow the separation. After that, Bell said, the measure has to go before Wyoming’s Legislature then be submitted to a vote of Campbell County residents.