Awaiting speculation/information about how this changes the reorganization of the UMass system.
Governor Deval Patrick today named five new members to the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, including former chairman James Karam, in a broad shift that could realign the balance of power on the committee.
Those who decried Wilson's “power grab” shouldn't laud this one. It's the same thing, done at a higher level. And I don't have a problem with this one anymore than I did when Wilson proposed studying organization. Like the previous moves by Wilson, I'm taking a wait and see. Interested to see Deval's plans. (iWas, iIs, UMass) And I'm sure everyone is looking forward to studying Deval taking on another “big” issue.
davemb says
The local papers note that two of the five are WMass residents, which is significant in that Armstrong (who resigned over the Lombardi matter) was formerly the only WMass person on the board. We have a major politico (Johnston) and a guy who appears to be a major confidante of Patrick (Harris). That strikes me as some confirmation of Patrick's stated intent to take a direct interest in UMass. We then have Karam, the previous board chairman, a doctor, and a labor leader. I'm pretty sure one of the the departing people was a labor leader, who I've heard was somewhat alienated by the other GOP appointees who were and are very business oriented. No academics, which is disappointing to our faculty who in general worry that the board has little understanding of how a university runs. (Johnston and Harris may be an improvement on that score.)
There's another general UMass faculty meeting at the end of the month — I'll report on it if I go, which I probably will. Between the June controversies and now, the Amherst/Boston faculty union has reached a contract agreement with the administration, and the Patrick administration has promised to submit it quickly for funding. It's only a one-year contract, at the administration's insistence, but at least it is negotiated only a few months after it enters into force.
Speculation I heard was that five new appointees would be enough to vote out Tocco, the current board chair, and Wilson and the board seem to have backed off on some of their stranger proposals from last June. Wilson and Collins both made a point of coming to the initial convocation of the UMass-Amherst college of science, along with the new interim chancellor, Thomas Cole. Cole is an experienced college CEO and comes from outside our system, which are good things, but I have heard the worry that since his experience has been with mostly-undergrad places he may not be as familiar with the research enterprise as we might like.