Is $1 billion too high a price for a new Florida State University engineering school?

TALLAHASSEE, Florida -- $1 billion -- it seems like a lot of money to pay for new separate, but supposedly equal, engineering schools in Florida. But that's been the push of Florida State University president John Thrasher who has coveted splitting the exisiting school that serves FSU and Florida A&M University.

As a former state senator, Thrasher pushed hard to get a bill through the Florida Legislature to split the engineering school away from Florida's historic black university in hopes of boosting the national image of garnet and gold. Of course, the FAMU nation wanted no parts of a break-up.

Now as FSU president, Thrasher faces the reality of what the dreams of an individual engineering school with cost his university. According to a new study released this week, breaking up the school could cost $1 billion and would draw legal challenges on civil-rights grounds.

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