page_title: Waded Cruzado
section_title: Legislative relationships
hierarchical_section_title: Waded Cruzado / Presidency of Montana State University / Legislative relationships
caption_attribution_description: English: Looking northwest from West Grant Drive at Romney Gym on the campus of Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana. The gym was built in 1922 and in 1973 was named for George Ott Romney -- co-head coach of the MSU football and men's basketball teams from 1922 to 1928. During Romney's time as co-head football coach, his teams complied a 28-20-1 record, although this included the 1924 season in which his team went undefeated until the final game of the year. As co-head basketball coach, his teams compiled a 144-31 record and invented fast break basketball. After Romney left, coach Schubert Dyche coached the "Golden Bobcats" team of 1928, which went 36-2 and won the national championship. Romney Gym contained a swimming pool on the first floor, squash courts on the second, basketball court on the third, and running track and gym on the fourth. Over the years, many new interior walls were created within the structrure to create smaller, more useable classroom space. The pool was closed in 1973 after the Hosaeus Fitness Center opened. As fo 2011-2012, Romney Gym housed several offices of the Department of Health and Human Development, including Foods &amp; Nutrition, the Movement Science Lab, Heath Enhancement, and Extension Nutrition. It also housed the MSU employee wellness office, studios for the School of Architecture, and the MSU ROTC program. But most of the building was closed off, or served as storage space. Montana State University proposed a $20 million renovation of Romney Gym in 2010, and declared the structure's renovations one of its top four priorities during the 2013 state legislature. But the state legislature refused to fund the project (the only university project it did not budget for). Romney Gym currently has sagging floors; electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems which are not up to code; lacks handicap accessibility; and is not up to current earthquake codes. Many of the interior walls added over the years are now useless and the space created too small, and a quarter of the structure cannot be used due to safety concerns.
context_page_description: Waded Cruzado, is a Puerto Rican professor of Spanish language and Spanish literature. She served as Interim President of New Mexico State University from 2008 to 2009, and since 2010 has served as the 12th President of Montana State University in Bozeman, Montana.
context_section_description: Cruzado made a strongly positive first impression on the Republican-dominated Montana state legislature after her arrival in 2010.
  However, in the 2011 legislative session the legislature refused to approve a $20 million bond issue to renovate the iconic and decaying Romney Gym on the Bozeman campus, a major goal of Cruzado's.
  During the 2013 legislative session, the legislature imposed "performance-based funding" on the state's higher education system. Much of this funding requires that all state colleges and universities improve their graduation rates. It again declined to allow a $20 million bond issue to renovate Romney Gym. It did, however, vote to allow MSU to accept $20 million donation from alumnus Jake Jabs to fund the construction of Jabs Hall (which will house the College of Business). It also gave $19 million over two years for salary increases, which amounted to about 2.5 percent a year.
  MSU also received legislative support to expand two medical professional programs. Cruzado pushed for and won approval to expand the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho (WWAMI) medical program for the first time in 38 years. The program allows MSU students to spend their first year of medical school at MSU and then enter the University of Washington School of Medicine. The legislature also supported the creation of a cooperative veterinary medicine program with Washington State University. Up to 10 MSU students may be accepted into the Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. They will spend their first year of study at MSU, and then transfer to Washington State.
  In fall 2013, Cruzado sought approval from the Board of Regents to build a new 400-bed dormitory and elevate the university honors program into a college. These and other proposals would go before the state legislature in 2015.
caption: President Cruzado unsuccessfully sought legislative approval in 2011 and 2013 to have Romney Gym (depicted) renovated.
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