Medical school will change community's identity

Wow!

That has been one frequent reaction to the news that a medical college will open in Lebanon in about three years.

Another is skepticism: I'll believe it when I see it.

After hearing that the college has some hoops to jump through in the way of approvals from government and accreditation agencies, reporters asked leaders of Samaritan Health Services and Western University of Health Sciences how likely it is to come about.

Western's president, Philip Pumerantz, was positive: "No question. This is going to happen."

Dr. Benjamin Cohen, Western's provost and chief operating officer, said Pumerantz has a good track record. He built Western from nothing, starting with one college. Thirty years later it has five colleges and will open three more in 2009.

So what will the college mean to Lebanon?

"The spin-off from this is just going to be huge," said Mayor Ken Toombs last week.

For starters, the college will add jobs, from clerical to professorial. That's money going into the economy and circulating in the community.

People filling those jobs will need homes to live in and hopefully will choose to live in Lebanon and nearby. Students also will need housing.

They'll want to shop, and the evidence says college towns have more stores and a greater variety than Lebanon does now. Corvallis is an example, as are towns with smaller universities - Newberg (George Fox University), Forest Grove (Pacific University) and Ashland (Southern Oregon University). The people gathering together in the latest effort to revitalize downtown should dream big about the possibilities.

During its history, Lebanon has undergone several changes in identity. The small pioneer community of a century and a half ago became a market town for the surrounding farms as the 20th century approached. Timber fueled the economy from the 1930s through the 1970s. When timber was dethroned by environmental concerns and technology, the town faltered economically and became a bedroom community for cities from Eugene to Salem and beyond. The city's focus on economic development in the past decade is bringing new jobs to Lebanon. Lowe's is by far the largest, but others also contribute to the community.

Now it appears Lebanon's identity will change again. It will become a college town.