I don’t have any inside information, but my traffic spiked today—mostly related to search queries on “bcm rice merger” and originating from BCM. It could be nothing, but I haven’t seen much traffic to this blog lately related to the merger.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Update 1: Chron has the story. Citing the economic crisis as a reason, BCM will delay building out the interior of the new hospital. The delay will also allow BCM to raise more money for the project and to find partners. Butler emphasized that the board is committed to completing the hospital despite speculation that an exterior shell will be easier to sell than a completed hospital.
My take? Come on, who are they kidding? Everybody knows that BCM is in financial straits and the hospital is a hang up in the merger negotiations. Stopping construction at this point saves BCM money while it sorts out its finances, which is especially important if the merger falls through. On the other hand, if Rice won’t do a deal that includes the hospital, this makes it easier to sell or re-task the building.
Update 2: Something was up indeed! The Houston Chronicle is now reporting that the presidents of the two schools have signed a memorandum of understanding. This is a positive sign for those of us who support the merger and means that they are working through the process.
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Traffic was probably due to a TV news story from Tuesday night. The administration sent around an e-mail today downplaying it.
Thanks, Ward. I updated the post. I’ve almost forgotten that there’s another medium out there called television.
FYI – from Claire Basset to all BCM:
After some digging, we found a summary of the news story:
Not that exciting, but created a little flurry of searching, even before we heard the hospital news.
FYI – the merger is official:
http://www.chrisamiller.com/blog/2009/04/07/ricebcm-merger-official/