The ability to learn from our mistakes is what facilitates knowledge - knowledge of our surroundings, our environment and the people in it. To err is human, but in the realm of progress, to flip-flop is divine.

What we've witnessed lately is a remarkable flip-flop from MSU officials. They're demonstrating an ability to learn from their mistakes in their initial assessment of moving the College of Human Medicine to Grand Rapids and finally taking the pragmatic approach the move would demand. Any move - which as of today is still just a proposal - won't be taking place until 2007 and will possibly be for half of the original estimated cost. This past spring, preliminary reports with deliberate-sounding intent to move the medical school 90 miles west in the dead of night spurred state Sen. Virg Bernero, D-Lansing, to say the proceedings were cloaked in a "veil of secrecy." Well, they might have been, but finally, it's safe to say they aren't.

Much like the proposed reorganization of the liberal arts program, undertakings of this magnitude take enormous quantities of time and input. It isn't wise - and wasn't wise - to make these sorts of decisions over a long weekend without a broad range of opinions or accurate financial estimates. Had the course of action that MSU officials had taken in the spring been allowed to continue, displacing the medical school would have been an unmitigated failure. This current report is proof to the exact opposite.

It's not an attractive option to sever a school from MSU. Supporters are making a case for its necessity to move to a city with deeper philanthropic presence, and opponents rally to keep things local. For an issue that's more than two-dimensional, it's assuring to see the MSU decision makers taking a beat to recognize this and study the best way to proceed from here. It's a flip-flop we've certainly been waiting for and is definitely appreciated.