Colleges And Universities

It's amazing how often bad ideas about black people, and the institutions that serve them, get recycled. A case in point is the recent proposal by the state's higher-education secretary, Shaila Aery, to ''merge'' Morgan State University and Coppin State College.Ms. Aery, a widely respected administrator, came to Maryland expressing high hopes for boosting the state's institutions to the front rank in academia. Grand plans were launched to restructure higher education, merging all public four-year institutions into a state university system akin to California's and New York's, with strengths drawn from the lessons learned in Missouri, where she came from.

There's little question that George Huguely V, the former University of Virginia student on trial for murder, had a problem with alcohol. He had been arrested twice for drinking-related infractions, one of them violent, in his early 20s. And he admits to consuming at least 15 drinks - and likely had more, witnesses said - the day he confronted Yeardley Love at her off-campus apartment in 2010, assaulting her so severely she later died, according...

YES, THAT $25,000 gold medal they draped around the neck of Towson University President Mark L. Perkins at his inauguration was an example of wretched excess, even if taxpayers didn't pay for it. But the $850,000 mansion in Guilford, with its $600,000 in renovations? In the garden of college and university presidential residences, it's a common marigold. Million-dollar, even multimillion-dollar homes for university presidents are common across the country. They're usually supplied, along with cars, country club memberships, lucrative corporate board positions (paying well into five figures)

Regarding your recent editorial about the lawsuit over funding for Maryland's historically black colleges and universities, I thought that the purpose of these schools was to provide an education to those who were denied the opportunity to attend Maryland's traditionally white schools because of their race ("A troubled legacy," Jan. 9). Now that admission to any state university is no longer denied based on race, religion or sex, I fail to see the need for these black colleges and universities.

WHEN Gary Cooper met "High Noon's" villains in the classic showdown on a dusty main street in the Old West, there was little doubt who would win out.Old "Coop" gunned down the bad guys, tossed his marshal's star in the dust as a sign of contempt at the cowardice of the lily-livered townsfolk who failed to stand up with him against the evil forces, and left on his honeymoon with Grace Kelly. In "High Noon" the good guy won, and his reward was to ride into the sunset with his best girl.This classic shoot-out is now in the process of being re-enacted, but not in the dust of a godforsaken cow town.

At St. Mary's College, they call them "the madrigals."On three consecutive nights in early December, the Southern Maryland college entertained every constituency in its orbit with cocktails, dinner and songs of the season. Guests at the black-tie finale were college trustees and important people from the Baltimore and Washington areas. They came to hear the student madrigal choir and be entertained.They also came to be solicited."The madrigals show our constituencies what the college is all about," said Kay Redington, St. Mary's associate vice president in charge of fund raising.

NOTHING William E. Kirwan has said in his long career at the University of Maryland compares with the responsive chord he struck in explaining why he's leaving. His criticisms have given impetus to a major reassessment of how public higher education is treated in Maryland.It won't be easy to change a mind-set that has held state colleges in low regard for so long. In the past 10 years, state support for these schools has dropped from 50 percent of total budget to 30 percent -- far too little for Maryland's public universities to begin (or continue)

When Adam Gross moved to Baltimore in 1984 to help revive an old-guard architectural firm, he was eager to take on a wide range of commissions. Today, as design principal of the company, he is turning down many of the assignments he might have accepted 16 years ago. Yet his firm, now called Ayers Saint Gross, is as busy as ever. Billings are up. The staff is expanding. The company is increasingly becoming known as a "national" firm, with more work outside Maryland than in. All this growth is fueled by Ayers Saint Gross' decision to specialize in one area: design work for colleges and universities.

NOW THAT REGENTS have agreed to limit tuition increases to 4 percent a year at the University System of Maryland's 13 institutions, it is up to Gov. Parris N.Glendening to boost government support of higher education in Maryland. It would be the best possible investment in this state's future growth.The governor, as well as legislative leaders, protested higher tuition increases they felt might make a college education unaffordable for some students. That protest persuaded the regents to pledge to hold future down increases.

THE POWERS that be (and a few that were) in Maryland higher education and business held a first-ever "summit" yesterday and looked south, across the Potomac, for advice and inspiration.Filling an auditorium at the new University of Maryland Baltimore County Technology Center, leaders of the state's colleges and universities heard "the Virginia experience" from a former commonwealth governor and from a current chairman of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council.Maryland has an inferiority complex about Virginia colleges and universities.

Has Maryland reneged on its promise to desegregate the state's public institutions of higher learning? Has the state, in defiance of the law, continued to operate a dual system of separate and unequal schools based on race? The answer to such questions will decide the outcome of a potentially historic case that opened last week pitting the state's four historically black colleges and universities against the Maryland Higher Education Commission. At issue is whether the state has truly succeeded in overcoming the shameful legacy of its segregated past, or whether it has simply extended the policies and practices of that era into the present under a different guise.

The trial date in a five-year-old civil lawsuit claiming bias against Maryland's historically black state colleges and universities has been postponed until December, so the parties can attempt to mediate the case. "The issues at stake in this case are of concern not just to the parties but to the entire community," U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake wrote in a memorandum opinion issued late last month. "Better results often can be obtained, and can be more quickly obtained, through mediation rather than through trial.

After nearly five years of litigation, a coalition representing Maryland's historically black public colleges and universities has agreed to discuss a settlement with the state, which it accused in a 2006 lawsuit of discriminatory practices and multiple civil rights violations. A private hearing between the two sides will be held Monday in Baltimore's U.S. District Court, less than a month before the case is scheduled for trial. Among the issues likely to be discussed are whether competing programs at "traditionally white" schools should be dismantled and whether black schools are underfunded because of a racist funding formula.

If Gov. Martin O'Malley wants to make some real money when his second term ends, he might want to apply for work at the University System of Maryland. The great majority of the 1,346 workers who match or beat the governor's $150,000 annual salary, including the 15 highest earners, work for the university system, according to a Baltimore Sun analysis of state employee salaries for 2010. Most of the exceptions are doctors with the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, a few judges and a scattering of others.

Brendan Timothy Sullivan, a college student who enjoyed sports and music, died Monday of a cardiac arrest at his Marriottsville home. He was 19. Mr. Sullivan was born in Silver Spring and spent his early years in Hyattsville before moving to Marriottsville in 1999. He was a 2008 graduate of West Nottingham Academy in Colora, where the 6-foot-9-inch player was the varsity basketball team's center. His athletic prowess earned him the school's Best Male Athlete Award. At the time of his death, Mr. Sullivan was studying business at Howard Community College and the University of Phoenix.

The tragic death of University of Virginia student Yeardley Love last Monday ought to be a wake-up call to the nation's colleges and universities not only of the peril of violence on campus but of the alcohol abuse that helps fuel it. George Huguely, the former boyfriend charged with her murder, has a history of public intoxication and incidents of violent behavior. That both victim and alleged perpetrator are Marylanders — raised in the seemingly protective shelter of affluence, private schools and lacrosse fields — has made the episode all the more chilling.

It's crunch time at many college campuses.The coffee is percolating. Almost-new textbooks are cracked open. Fingers click away at computer keyboards from morning until night. The stress level is high as college students across the state prepare for end-of-the-year exams.Too many all-nighters? Got the caffeine jitters?To help students calm their wracked nerves, many colleges are offering some relief. Whether it's free massages or color therapy at Towson University, yoga at the University of Michigan or free Ben & Jerry's ice cream bars at the University of Iowa, colleges around the country are getting into the game.

Has Maryland reneged on its promise to desegregate the state's public institutions of higher learning? Has the state, in defiance of the law, continued to operate a dual system of separate and unequal schools based on race? The answer to such questions will decide the outcome of a potentially historic case that opened last week pitting the state's four historically black colleges and universities against the Maryland Higher Education Commission. At issue is whether the state has truly succeeded in overcoming the shameful legacy of its segregated past, or whether it has simply extended the policies and practices of that era into the present under a different guise.

The president of Anne Arundel Community College has announced ambitious plans to double the number of students earning degrees, certificates or industry-recognized certifications in the next decade. Martha A. Smith announced the plan, called "Student Success 2020," Tuesday afternoon at a gathering at the college's Arnold campus, which state and national education officials attended. Smith said the initiative to double the number of graduating students by 2020 includes an examination and possible overhaul of the college's programs and functions, close tracking of students' progress in order to better offer support services and mentorships, and an increase in scholarships.