University System

COLLEGE PARK - Holding candles and chanting "Save our school," nearly 1,000 students took part in a rally here last night asking Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to include more funding for state public universities in his next budget. "We are here in the dark, we are here in the cold to plead with our governor to fund us correctly," Aaron Kraus, president of the student government, yelled to the crowd from a raised stage on McKeldin Mall at the center of the University of Maryland's flagship campus.

The University System of Maryland, among the most expensive in the country for in-state students, is considering a major price restructuring that would include sharp tuition increases to offset flat state funding and to capitalize on the rising appeal of its campuses. In what officials are calling a shift in philosophy, large tuition increases - potentially 10 percent or more for Maryland residents and even higher for nonresidents - would be coupled with an expansion of need-based financial aid for low-income students.

ADELPHI - The University System of Maryland will likely need hundreds of layoffs and a tuition increase higher than the 14 percent already planned for this fall to absorb an impending $50 million budget cut, system officials and college presidents said yesterday. In an unusually candid and sometimes tense meeting, the Board of Regents and university officials debated how to apportion the imminent cuts between layoffs and a further tuition increase. They also debated whether to spread the reductions equally among the system's 13 institutions or to spare some from the brunt.

THE JOB of chancellor of the University System of Maryland always looked like an odd fit for anybody accustomed to being in charge -such as a governor like Parris N. Glendening, considered the leading candidate until he withdrew last week. On paper, it looks great - $340,000 a year and a wonderful mansion, Hidden Waters, on Old Court Road in Baltimore County. Its occupant gets to pontificate on issues of higher education while leading one of the hottest systems in the country. The University of Maryland, College Park is soaring in the rankings, and other campuses - particularly University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Salisbury University and several schools at the University of Maryland, Baltimore - attract favorable national publicity.

University System of Maryland Chancellor William E. Kirwan has quietly contributed seed money to an advocacy group lobbying for tax increases dedicated to higher education, a position at odds with the administration of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. State lobbyist spending reports filed this week in Annapolis show Kirwan among 10 donors who gave $1,000 each to launch the activities of Marylanders for Access to Quality Higher Education. The fledgling group worked the General Assembly this year for passage of legislation raising corporate income taxes and dedicating the proceeds to the university system, while limiting tuition increases.

Gov. Parris N. Glendening has turned to the man credited with restoring the Naval Academy's reputation to perform what may be an even more difficult task: leading a task force charged with determining whether Maryland should reshuffle or break up its decade-old system for running its public colleges and universities.Retired Adm. Charles R. "Chuck" Larson, who left the academy and the Navy in June, said he's got "an open mind" on the fate of the University System of Maryland, which has been accused by critics of stifling the initiative of the schools it oversees.

Maryland's public university students would face financial penalties for taking longer than four years to graduate and faculty members would have to teach more courses under a cost-saving plan being recommended by top University System of Maryland officials. The 16-point plan also calls for a review of the role of the University of Baltimore and three lesser-known institutions. Several of the authors said they hope that will lead to discussion of whether UB should be merged with another school.

WITHOUT A whole lot of fanfare, the University System of Maryland turns 10 this month.Donald N. Langenberg, chancellor for eight of those years, blew out the symbolic candles and issued a report "celebrating a decade."The system -- 11 campuses, an environmental science center and a biotechnology institute -- formed in 1988 with the marriage of the old state college system and the University of Maryland.Morgan State University and St. Mary's College in Southern Maryland, the other two public schools in Maryland, opted out.Here, based on interviews this week with Langenberg and several observers in and out of the system, are questions and consensus answers about USM at 10:Creation of the system was supposed to promote efficiency.

IF THE UNIVERSITY System of Maryland can't raise $700 million in five years -- the goal of the campaign it announced last week -- it should be taken to the woodshed and spanked.True, the university doesn't get a "The" with a capital "T" in front of its name, as in The Johns Hopkins University, which is in the middle of its own $900-million fund drive.But consider the university system's impact in sheer numbers: One of every 17 Marylanders -- more than 300,000 in all -- attends, works for or holds a degree from one of USM's 11 campuses or two research centers.

University System of Maryland chancellor Brit Kirwan acknowledged Friday that the Board of Regents violated Maryland's open meetings act by secretly convening to discuss the University of Maryland's move to the Big Ten, but said the group was merely “confused” and “overlooked” its responsibility to inform the public of its plans. “We feel quite chastened and regretful for not doing our duty,” he said. “We are determined to do better.” Advocates for open government have questioned the board's motives and see this high-profile incident as the impetus to push for more stringent punishment.