University Officials

A citizens task force exploring the feasibility of building a state horse park in Howard County is planning a public hearing at 7 p.m. Jan. 10 in the County Council Chambers in Ellicott City. "I want to bring the public in," said Dr. Michael Erskine, chairman of the Horse Park Task Force. He said his group likely will present the County Council with a range of reactions and options this winter. "This isn't a proposal we're proposing or defending," Erskine said. The task force's charge from the council is to gather information and advise the council members.

It didn't hit Cheryl Peterson until she saw all 32 portraits leaning side by side against two adjoining walls in an art gallery on the campus of Virginia Tech. Her chalk pastel portraits of each of the students and teachers who were gunned down by a student on April 16 had been stored at home and at school and taken at different times to get framed. Peterson, an art teacher at Chesapeake Bay Middle School in Pasadena, had not seen all of them together until she made the 5 1/2 -hour trip July 22 to deliver the gifts and remove their brown paper wrapping.

Stung by community criticism, Towson University officials said yesterday they would delay for at least a year a plan to add seating to Minnegan Stadium -- and could scrap the expansion entirely if opposition continues.The university will go ahead with a $5.4 million request for state funding to repair the 5,000-seat stadium and to conduct impact studies to address resident concerns, said Towson President Hoke L. Smith."This seems like a win-win," Smith said. "The neighborhood wanted a delay, and we're able to give them that without delaying the parts we need to accomplish, which weren't controversial."

A state audit faults Morgan State University for not keeping tabs on its multimillion-dollar art collection, saying the institution lacks sufficient documentation on the location of its artwork.The university's James E. Lewis Museum of Art, renowned for an extensive African-American collection, closed abruptly for two weeks last year while university officials investigated allegations of security and management problems there.The facility has since reopened. Its director, Gabriel S. Tenabe, who was reassigned for several weeks during the internal inquiry, has returned to his duties, according to university officials.

Morgan State University for not keeping tabs on its multimillion-dollar art collection, saying the institution lacks sufficient documentation on the location of its artwork.The university's James E. Lewis Museum of Art, renowned for an extensive African-American collection, closed abruptly for two weeks last year while university officials investigated allegations of security and management problems there.The facility has since reopened. Its director, Gabriel S. Tenabe, who was reassigned for several weeks during the internal inquiry, has returned to his duties, according to university officials.

Towson University and Maryland Stadium Authority officials unveiled plans yesterday for a $28 million expansion to the university's football stadium that would double the facility's seating.Calling the upgraded stadium a "regional sports complex," officials said the proposed 11,000-seat facility would house five of the university's athletic programs as well as provide a location for high school tournaments and community events.Towson residents, however, worried about traffic and noise from the stadium, were reserving judgment on the proposal until they could hear more details.

When University System of Maryland employees pay for their auto or homeowner insurance under a benefit plan, state Del. Gerald J. Curran reaps 3 percent of every payment.It took Curran five years of prodding to secure the deal that he acknowledges could yield $30,000 a year in broker's fees for him, and in doing so he appears to have blurred the lines between his public office and his private business.Curran repeatedly solicited university officials -- going so far as to discuss the matter with a key administrator in his Annapolis legislative office, where, as a committee chairman, he weighs decisions on such issues as the system's purchasing procedures and state ethics laws.

Officials at the University of Maryland, College Park believe that C. D. "Dan" Mote Jr.'s appointment as the 27th president could make the difference between keeping the college at status quo and turning it into a top-notch public institution.College officials said Mote presents unique qualifications that they believe are critical to meeting their main goal-having College Park join the ranks of the University of Virginia, the University of Illinois and the University of Michigan."I think he will make people feel connected at College Park," said John Lippincott, associate vice chancellor for advancement for the Maryland.

UNWITTINGLY, a 19-year-old teen has become a flash point for what's troubling Americans.David Cash, a sophomore at the University of California at Berkeley, witnessed a crime allegedly committed by his buddy.The friend is charged with murder, kidnapping and sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl in the ladies room of a casino near Las Vegas.Most disgusting was Mr. Cash's cavalier attitude. He didn't stop his friend, notify police or try to help the child. He's quoted as saying: "I'm not going to get upset over someone else's life.

Towson State University's ambitious 10-year master plan, which includes the possible acquisition of several nearby apartment complexes, has alarmed tenants who fear they may lose their homes.To quiet the furor, university officials are trying to reassure the neighbors, many of whom are elderly, that the expansion won't have an immediate impact -- and might never occur. President Hoke Smith called the plan "a wish list," and said the campus has enough space to build new dormitories.But that hasn't stopped the criticism.

If saloon-smashing Carry Nation had her ax, then the late Mary M. Avara had her scissors. And if Avara were alive today and still head of the now-defunct Maryland State Board of Motion Picture Censors, those students down there at College Park viewing Pirates II: Stagnetti's Revenge last week might not have been watching it at all if she decided to excise its sex scenes with her scissors or outright ban its showing. The Baltimore Sun reported that more than 100 students took in the pornographic film that in recent weeks pitted lawmakers, who had threatened to withhold funding from the University of Maryland, against anxious university officials, who in the wake of such a threat canceled the screening.

Maryland lawmakers decided Tuesday to take more than $160 million in road maintenance funding from local governments to help plug a hole in next year's state budget. Senators and delegates are nearing completion of their negotiations on the state's almost $14 billion spending plan for the fiscal year that begins July 1. The two chambers must resolve their differences before the General Assembly adjourns Monday. They also addressed higher education funding, pornography at the University of Maryland, College Park and excess profits earned by Medicaid contractors.

Towson University officials have offered representatives of the Rodgers Forge community several alternative sites for a proposed $45 million sports arena on the campus, all of them adjacent to the current arena. While the residents said none of the options presented at a meeting Monday night was satisfactory, they agreed to continue discussions next week. "It was a good first step, but we need to continue to talk until the university understands the residents' point of view," Patrick Foretich, a Rodgers Forge resident, said yesterday.

They arrived with numerous signs saying "Halt TU arena now." They circulated a petition against the proposed $45 million Towson Center expansion, and they besieged university officials with questions as to why the building was being constructed. Towson University officials provided campus neighbors with maps, architectural drawings and a construction timetable for the expansion project last night during a meeting between university officials and Rodgers Forge residents. Groundbreaking for the 5,000-seat addition to the center is scheduled for spring 2010.

The University of Maryland, Baltimore broke ground yesterday on a $67 million addition to its School of Pharmacy, an expansion officials hope will help to address a nationwide shortage of pharmacists. University officials say the expansion will allow the school to increase enrollment by nearly 60 percent. Growing demand for prescription drugs, particularly from an aging population, and higher demand for pharmaceutical research to battle chronic diseases are fueling the need for more pharmacists, according to school officials.

It's just three storefronts now, just half a block with a jewelry/pawn shop, a carryout and a barber shop. But to city officials, this half a block in the 400 block of W. Baltimore St. is a critical piece for revitalization, a bridge between the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus to the west and the Hippodrome Theatre and Starbucks to the east. And so the city is pressing the university to put a planned student bookstore, to be managed by Barnes & Noble, at the northeast corner of Baltimore and Paca streets, a move officials hope will inject more energy and visibility to an area undergoing a slow transformation.

A citizens task force exploring the feasibility of building a state horse park in Howard County is planning a public hearing at 7 p.m. Jan. 10 in the County Council Chambers in Ellicott City. "I want to bring the public in," said Dr. Michael Erskine, chairman of the Horse Park Task Force. He said his group likely will present the County Council with a range of reactions and options this winter. "This isn't a proposal we're proposing or defending," Erskine said. The task force's charge from the council is to gather information and advise the council members.

A University of Maryland, College Park official delivered a major blow this week to hopes of locating a state-sponsored horse park on a 900-acre farm in central Howard County, but members of a citizens task force haven't given up exploring the idea. Cheng-I Wei, dean of the university's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which operates the Clarksville farm, told the Horse Park Task Force that senior university officials are not interested in turning over or sharing the site for use as a $114 million Maryland Stadium Authority horse park.

It didn't hit Cheryl Peterson until she saw all 32 portraits leaning side by side against two adjoining walls in an art gallery on the campus of Virginia Tech. Her chalk pastel portraits of each of the students and teachers who were gunned down by a student on April 16 had been stored at home and at school and taken at different times to get framed. Peterson, an art teacher at Chesapeake Bay Middle School in Pasadena, had not seen all of them together until she made the 5 1/2 -hour trip July 22 to deliver the gifts and remove their brown paper wrapping.

Should an undergraduate studying business pay more than one studying psychology? Should a journalism degree cost more than one in literature? More and more public universities, confronting rising costs and lagging state support, have decided that the answers may be yes and yes. Starting this fall, juniors and seniors pursuing an undergraduate major in the business school at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will pay $500 more each semester than classmates....