FACILITATING INDIVIDUAL ESCAPE? The local news includes favorable public reactions to the City University of Rockford, with the mayor being more specific about this involving the existing higher education infrastructure rather than starting something new from scratch. The venture, however, has potential unintended consequences.

If the community seems to be in decline, should part of the mission of the cc be to facilitate individual escape? Given Florida's correct insight that age-based losses are hard to recoup, doing right by individual students could have the unintended side effect of hastening the decline of the service area. That's a tough sell to local taxpayers. “Help us drain this festering craphole of young talent!” It doesn't look good on a billboard.

A Richard Florida post suggests the effort has merit on equity grounds.

The ambitious and the resourceful may be able to navigate this spiky terrain, but many, many more will become stuck. This will lead not just to rising economic and geographic inequality but rampant political polarization, a greater cultural divide, increasing fear and anxiety, declining social cohesion and greater political and social instability.

Ambition and resourcefulness are attitudes that people can pick up. Does it really serve the declining region to not help develop them?