Maryland Higher

CAN'T WE all just get along? Apparently not in Maryland higher education. Fights over academic turf aren't unusual in the Free State, and higher-education politics are generally a notch above vicious, but the battle being waged on several fronts in the Baltimore area is the bloodiest in memory. Towson University wants to launch its first doctoral program in education. The University of Baltimore wants to offer a doctorate in business. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County wants to reinstate electrical engineering, a popular discipline it lost to Morgan State University nearly two decades ago. Morgan wants to protect all three programs from competition.

A lawsuit alleging that Maryland's historically black colleges and universities continue to suffer from policies that promote racial segregation is now in the hands of a federal judge, six years after it was first filed. U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake interrupted attorneys for both sides during the four hours of closing arguments Friday with questions and comments that gave hints at the issues she will weigh as she sorts through the six weeks of testimony and hundreds of pages of documents.

Szablya is named to post for higher education board Helen Szablya of Ellicott City has been named director of communications for the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Most recently, she was public relations and marketing manager for the College Savings Plans of Maryland. Szablya was named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women in 1996 and 2001 in recognition of her professional work and civic involvement. The Maryland Higher Education Commission is a 12-member coordinating board responsible for establishing statewide policies for Maryland public and independent colleges and universities, and private career schools.

With the economy in recession and government scrambling to trim budgets, this would seem to be an inopportune moment to consider committing a huge sum of money to a new, ambitious state initiative. But the future of Maryland higher education is so vital to the state's economy and job creation that the time to ponder such a long-term goal is sooner, not later. After more than 18 months of deliberation, a 28-member panel chaired by Del. John L. Bohanan Jr. is expected to recommend today that the state invest sharply more in its institutions of higher learning.

The owner and president of the National Training Systems Inc., which operates trade schools in Glen Burnie and Laurel, Md., as well as in Richmond, Va., has been indicted in Virginia on 46 counts of grand theft stemming from the NTS truck-driving school in Richmond.Charles R. Longo, 46, was arrested Tuesday and was ordered held without bond yesterday by Prince George's County District Court Judge Sherrie Krauser. He was in the Prince George's County Detention Center, awaiting extradition to Richmond, said David Eberhart, a prosecutor for the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Carroll Community College officials said there are pros and cons to Gov. William Donald Schaefer's proposal to abolish the agency that oversees the state's community colleges."

A task force is expected to recommend against merging Coppin State College and Morgan State University in a report next month to the Maryland Higher Education Commission.At its final meeting yesterday at Liberty Medical Center in West Baltimore, the task force completed a yearlong study of a proposal to merge the two historically black institutions. Task force members suggested cooperative ventures in a number of areas, especially urban studies. But the group said the two Baltimore schools should not be combined.

Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski has tapped a former state education official to become her next chief of staff, congressional aides said.Monday, former Maryland Higher Education Secretary Shaila R. Aery will become chief of staff, filling a major hole created by a job shuffle in Ms. Mikulski's office. Dr. Aery, an educator from Oklahoma, will take over from Stephenie Foster, who will become ZTC the top assistant to Ms. Mikulski in her role as secretary to the Democratic Senate Conference, a Mikulski spokeswoman said.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer appointed Charles B. Saunders Jr. of Bethesda chairman of the Maryland Higher Education Commission yesterday.Mr. Saunders is a former senior vice president of the American Council on Education in Washington. He has been a member of the commission since 1989.He replaces Walter Sondheim Jr. of Baltimore, who was appointed chairman in March 1993 and resigned this month.The 12-member commission oversees planning and coordination for Maryland's public colleges and regulates the state's private career schools.

2 real estate agents are offering a $1,000 college scholarship Annapolis real estate agents Gail Feirstein and Melanie Graw, who work for O'Conor, Piper and Flynn's Annapolis Plaza office, are offering a $1,000 college scholarship to a student in Anne Arundel County. Students attending an accredited high school in the county must have a grade point average of at least 3.0 to qualify. High school seniors can get applications through their school's guidance department or by calling 410-919-2596.

A senior official in the state comptroller's office has recommended that legislative auditors look into "unusual" accounting practices at the Maryland Higher Education Commission. John D. Kenney, director of the General Accounting Division, also said yesterday that he will ask the commission's chief of accounting to stop spending money out of a "nonbudgeted" state account - where spending authority controls are less stringent. The account has included millions in federal grant money. Generally, nonbudgeted funds in the state treasury are used as temporary holding accounts for money that is not appropriated by the General Assembly.

Patronage passing as aid for college? After reading The Sun's article "College grants under attack" (April 4), it occurred to us that this issue has been debated for several decades. Yet no one seems to discuss the fact that the legislative scholarships are an unnecessary duplication of other state programs. The Maryland Higher Education Commission has overseen the administration of the Guaranteed Access Grant and the Educational Assistance Grant for many years. These programs provide help to needy students who want and deserve to attend colleges in Maryland.

An advocacy group with ties to Morgan State University believes the state has failed to desegregate its colleges and universities, and has asked to weigh in on a pending federal government decision about whether to certify Maryland's system of higher education as free of the vestiges of racial discrimination. The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights in Philadelphia is evaluating progress made by the state during a five-year desegregation partnership that ended in December.

State taking applications for loan repayment program The Maryland Higher Education Commission is accepting applications for a loan repayment program for those who work in certain fields and provide service to low-income or under-served Maryland residents. Through the Janet L. Hoffman Loan Assistance Repayment Program, qualified applicants may receive up to $7,500 annually to repay college loans. Applicants' gross salary cannot exceed $60,000, or $130,000 if married. Eligible teachers must have graduated from a Maryland college and be employed full-time at a Maryland public school designated as a Title I school or one identified for improvement by the state.

Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. asked his higher education secretary yesterday to recommend ways to strengthen the MBA program at Morgan State University in the wake of a decision this week to allow Towson University to offer the degree. In a letter, the governor asked Maryland Higher Education Secretary Calvin W. Burnett to review several issues - including funding levels for the Morgan program - and report back to him by Dec. 15. Henry Fawell, a spokesman for Ehrlich, said the governor isn't seeking to overturn a decision to permit Towson to launch a joint MBA program with the University of Baltimore, which already offers the degree.

Szablya is named to post for higher education board Helen Szablya of Ellicott City has been named director of communications for the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Most recently, she was public relations and marketing manager for the College Savings Plans of Maryland. Szablya was named one of Maryland's Top 100 Women in 1996 and 2001 in recognition of her professional work and civic involvement. The Maryland Higher Education Commission is a 12-member coordinating board responsible for establishing statewide policies for Maryland public and independent colleges and universities, and private career schools.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening says he is a man of consensus, not conflict -- that he prefers to work out problems quietly rather than engage in public controversy. Yet his actions belie his words. In naming a new secretary of higher education, Mr. Glendening chose someone he knows will draw sharp criticism from legislators and leaders within the academic community who worry about tilting more state resources toward the governor's -- and his new secretary's -- old stomping ground, the University of Maryland's College Park campus.

Carroll Community College officials, warning against possible budget cuts and tuition increases, pressed the county commissioners yesterday to help them secure an additional $843,000 in state funding.Executive Dean Joseph F. Shields told the commissioners that the Maryland Higher Education Commission has agreed that the college is entitled to an additional $843,000 as an independent institution.However, Mr. Shields said, the funding didn't appear in the governor's fiscal 1994 budget. The money would be given to the college to correct an "inequitable funding formula," Mr. Shields said.

HERE IS the problem in a nutshell: In 2008, Maryland high schools will graduate the largest class in history. At least half of its students will want to go on to college. But Maryland's public colleges and universities don't have enough room for them. That's very simplistic, of course. Taken as a whole, Maryland higher education may have the room, but it's unevenly distributed. The University of Maryland, College Park, the flagship school, is full to the brim. The University of Maryland Eastern Shore has the space, but how many white kids from Howard County will cross the Bay Bridge to live and study at a historically black university?

MARYLAND'S leaders have been running in place instead of making the tough decisions necessary to keep higher education affordable and accessible. So it's notable that yesterday, just a day after the governor vetoed lawmakers' well-intended but underfunded plan to cap tuition and replenish the previously slashed higher-education budget, a new round of public hearings on higher education began. There have been hearings aplenty already, by the University System of Maryland regents, by House Speaker Michael E. Busch, by the General Assembly - and the facts have not changed: The public colleges are still reeling from the loss of more than $143 million, cut to help balance the state budget, since 2002.