Supporters gather for URI’s ‘vote yes on 4’ campaign
By Sam Wroblewski, reporting by Andrew Augustus WPRO News
Representatives from University of Rhode Island were joined by state, and business leaders Monday to kick off a campaign for referendum question number four.
The bond referendum would allocate $125 million for URI to build a new state-of-the-art facility to train up the next generation of engineers.
“It would give us facilities that are appropriate for modern engineering, teaching, and research, it would position the University of Rhode Island to be a leader,” said URI President David Dooley.
The new project would replace several old buildings with one large 195,000 foot facility to house all eight of the University’s engineering programs. The College of Engineering enrolls over one-thousand undergraduates and 231 graduate students.
If passed, 30 local companies including Taco Inc. and Toray Plastics have already pledged money to help fund the project.
Mike Brandmeier, CEO of Toray Plastics, says this program will produce future employees for his company.
“We put our money where our mouth is, we pledged two million dollars towards this project, so we believe strongly in in it and I hope the voter of Rhode Island will as well.”
Question four will appear on the November 4 ballot.
