Romney revamps Massachusetts universities

Governor Mitt Romney announced that Massachusetts would dismantle the University of Massachusetts system, regrouping state and community colleges into seven regions and completely overhauling higher education in Massachusetts.

In a press release Romney said the Commonwealth was at a "crossroads" and that he plans to close a $3 billion budget gap without raising taxes. Almost $2 billion of this money will come purely from the restructuring with $150 million in savings planned because of the UMass restructuring.

The major component of the plan would be to separate the renowned UMass Amherst campus from the rest of Massachusetts' university system. According to the governor's office, the school will not be privatized, and it will still receive a significant amount of funds from the Commonwealth.

The objective of spinning off UMass Amherst is to turn it into a "premier research university" so that it will be able to "more successfully recruit out-of-state students and compete for top research faculty and grants", the governor's office said.

By dividing the schools into separate regions Romney is hopeful that they will be able to pool resources and obtain research grants more easily. Romney discredited the existing system saying that, "the current hodge-podge of 29 public campuses has no rational basis and is based more on politics than sound planning."

Another important element of the proposed plan is to completely eliminate the Presidents Office, which oversees direction of all the UMass campuses. Besides the elimination of 68 jobs, the current president William Bulger would be removed from office.

UMass president spokesman Bill Wright, however, denounced Romeny's plan saying "the system put in place ten years ago works well and is beneficial to all five campuses."

Removing the Amherst campus from the UMass system will make it harder for the university to obtain grants, according to Wright, which would be the opposite of what Romney claims will happen.

In addition the separation of the Amherst campus will make it more difficult for first generation college students to attend there, Wright said.

There is a great deal of controversy surrounding the elimination of the President's Office because certain officials in the university are not satisfied with the way Bulger has run the university, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported. Many claim Bulger has not done a good job of controlling costs, payroll has increased, and there are many aides from his political days earning $100,000 or more.

Before he was president, Bulger spent 17 years as the president of the State Senate. His political ties are deep and fellow Democrat, Senator David Magnani, defended him, telling the Chronicle that, "The burden of proof will be on the governor that the president's office has not done the two or three things that it was created for in the first place."

The new plan would allow each of these regional schools to retain all of the money they earn from tuition. Instead of sending it through the state they will be in complete control of their budget. However, Romney promised that 46 percent of the funds would be committed to providing need-based financial aid.

Romney's proposal for a replacement to the President's Office is a hierarchy consisting of volunteer regional boards, with the chair being a voting member on the Board of Higher Education.

In addition, a new Executive Office of Education with Peter Nessen as the secretary will oversee the entire education system from elementary school through university.

Students at UMass Amherst are positive about the separation of the campus. "As a student here, I think it's a good idea to help the financial situation and make it more of a national player when it comes to public universities," UMass Amherst student John Munro said.

Munro also said that "it would be great if this school became like a University of North Carolina or University of Virginia, academically and athletically."

This will raise tuition to a certain degree, though Massachusetts is currently below the average state university tuition.

The seven geographic regions which will encompass all of the current state and community colleges include Berkshire, Pioneer Valley, Central, MetroWest, Boston, Northeast and Southeast.

The plan calls for the merging between the Berkshire Community College and the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts; Greenfield and Holyoke Community Colleges; and Mount Wachusett Community College and Fitchburg State College.