The South Dakota Board of Regents made news last week with an announcement that many thought would never happen: the state’s only medical school will relocate from small-town Vermillion to Sioux Falls, the state’s population and health care hub.
It is a rare instance of state government defying tradition to do the right thing, prioritizing logic over sentiment.
For decades, medical students in South Dakota have divided their time between Vermillion, home of the University of South Dakota, and Sioux Falls, home to the state’s largest hospitals and clinics.
The end result has been a lot of wasted “windshield time.” Students spend hours traveling between classrooms and hospitals. This is inefficient, environmentally damaging, costly, and unfair to young people preparing for careers that will benefit the state.
