VIEWPOINT | Goodbye Vermillion, hello common sense

Guest column by Joe Kirby

The South Dakota Board of Regents made news last week with an announcement that many thought would never come: the state’s only medical school is moving from small-town Vermillion to Sioux Falls, the state’s population and health care hub. It is a rare example of state government breaking with tradition to do the right thing, choosing logic over sentiment.

For decades, medical students in South Dakota have split their time between Vermillion, home of the University of South Dakota, and Sioux Falls, where the state’s largest hospitals and clinics are located. The result has been a lot of wasted “windshield time.” Students spend hours on the road between classrooms and hospitals. That is inefficient, environmentally unfriendly, expensive and unfair to young people preparing for careers that will benefit the state.

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