Campus merger bill advances in General Assembly

ANNAPOLIS -- A House of Delegates committee yesterday easily approved a proposal to merge the University of Maryland's Baltimore City and County campuses.

The bill now goes to the full House, but it's expected to face its real test in the Senate, where Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. is opposed to the plan.

The combined Baltimore campuses would have about 15,000 students, less than half College Park's enrollment of 35,000. The governor envisions the merged institutions as a specialized center for the study of life sciences and medicine.