For the University of North Texas, is the money in Denton or Dallas?

It’s interesting that the University of North Texas System has moved offices from its long-established home in Denton to set up shop in downtown Dallas.

Interesting. Politically sensitive — especially in Denton. But not improper or wrong, despite what state Sen. Jane Nelson of Flower Mound is saying.

Nelson, a UNT alumna, wrote a letter to Chancellor Lee Jackson saying that she "strongly objects" to the move, which occurred in August.

It’s understandable that she would object. She sticks up for her senatorial district. Denton sits in it, and Dallas does not.

UNT leaders must take her concerns seriously, for several reasons.

She is a senior member of the Senate, and the fortunes of all Texas public universities rise and fall with the biennial meetings of that very powerful body.

History is on her side. UNT was founded in Denton in 1890 as Texas Normal College and Teacher Training Institute. It has had six other names; the current (and thought to be final) one was adopted in 1988.

No doubt, sentiment also favors Nelson’s stance. UNT’s Denton campus is only one part of the system but accounts for most of the students and faculty. The campus has more than 36,000 students and is growing.

But Jackson also has powerful arguments. And although the location of the system’s headquarters has great symbolic meaning, the move involved only 11 employees. More than 100 system employees continue to work in Denton, as do some at the University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth and some in Austin.

Here’s what Jackson wrote to Nelson: "The location of System staff is a business decision that we think best allows us to fulfill our commitment to the academic missions and future plans of UNT and our two other campuses."

Whenever somebody says they’ve made "a business decision," that mostly means they went where the money is or where they believe it will be. It’s a forward-looking term, a shift from the way things have been done.

The Denton campus is on solid footing; has good leadership under President Gretchen Bataille; and will continue to increase its student count, academic offerings and research.

The health science center in Fort Worth also has a long history and is moving forward.

Dallas is a growth area for the UNT System. Its campus in south Dallas has gone from an initial class of 204 students in 2000 to about 1,900 today. It’s phasing out its old name, UNT Dallas Campus, in favor of a new one, the University of North Texas at Dallas.

On the way is the UNT at Dallas College of Law. Classes are expected to begin in 2011 at 1901 Main St., where the system headquarters have relocated. The law school will move to the 100-plus-year-old Old City Hall nearby after that building is renovated.

So Dallas is where Jackson and the rest of UNT’s top brass must do their heavy lifting.

And there’s the money part. If UNT is to grow in Dallas, as it clearly intends to do, it must find new financial support. Some will come from the Legislature, but that’s never enough. Finding more is a big part of Jackson’s job.

Jackson will be expected to plow the fertile fields of Dallas for that money. It seems wise for him to do that from Dallas rather than Denton.

If along the way he also cultivates more support from Dallas’ local and state political leaders, which he is very good at doing, Nelson’s objections will be but a memory.

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