Board hears update on UMass Online, approves room and board fee increase

by Sarah R. Buchholz, Chronicle staff

oard of Trustee members heard an update on plans for the University's proposed distance-learning program, UMass Online, and approved a 4.5 percent increase in room and board fees for the 2000-01 school year Nov. 8. It was the first full trustee meeting presided over by new board chair Grace Fey.

     Meeting at the Mullins Center, trustees also heard of a new plan to acquaint them with the campuses they serve, approved the splitting of a committee and the establishment of an endowed professorship in the Isenberg School of Management, and listened to remarks by President William M. Bulger about the potential impact of the Nov. 7 approval of Ballot Question 4.

     Bulger said the passing of the ballot question would create "an added burden on all of us." Question 4 requires the state to reduce its income tax rate from 5.85 to 5 percent over the next three years, beginning with the next fiscal year, which starts in July.

     "We're going to have to all become greater advocates for resources as a result of the referendum," Bulger said.

     Trustee Edward A. Dubilo, chair of the Administration, Finance and Audit Committee, told the board that the University will have "to be more cautious about state support" and "ever vigilant with its finances" given reports in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere that Massachusetts will be vulnerable to economic problems should a recession begin.

     Dubilo also reported that a recent tour of campus facilities he took had been "quite an eye-opener" and urged any trustees who had time to take the same tour. The campus has been asking for board support as it attempts to deal with nearly $400 million of deferred maintenance.

     One of the board's goals in developing UMass Online has been to increase revenue for the University to help with issues in its physical plant and to ease bumps in the road of state revenue.

     Vice president for Economic Development Tom Chmura announced that UMass Online is scheduled to be underway during the first quarter of 2001.

     Chmura described UMass Online as "a University-wide and integrated effort to enhance UMass's position in the professional and distance education marketplace."

     Bulger reported having productive meetings during his distance-learning visits to the Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell campuses.

     "There have been several legitimate concerns raised and we are doing our best to address those concerns," he said.

     Chmura said six issues in the implementation remain to be resolved:

• system vs. campus roles;
• academic quality and the role of governance ("making sure faculty have control");
• policies and procedures for things like intellectual property and articulation transfer;
• an investment model and a formula for fair allocation of profits back to campuses;
• an organizational model;
• and the best platform for the technical infrastructure.

     Chmura said that six or seven platforms are currently in use across the five campuses.
"We're trying to be mindful of quality everywhere we can," he said.

     Chmura said the University's early offerings will include an MBA, nursing and public health degrees, a specialized degree in education, a bachelor of liberal arts, and a bachelor of information science.

     Other short-term goals for UMass Online include hiring a CEO in early 2001, pursuing external resources, such as funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and developing and marketing Complete@UMass and five professional degrees.

     Complete@UMass is designed to allow former University students who do not have undergraduate degrees to complete them online.

     In other business, the board voted to split Academic Affairs, Student Affairs and Athletics Commitee into two committees, one for athletics and one for academic and student affairs. This was needed because athletics had enough work for its own committee, Fey said.

     Fey also announced the establishment of a new program, called Adopt a Campus, in which all trustees will serve on a committee focussed on one of the five campuses in order to get to know their particular make-up and needs. Trustees will rotate their campus of focus each year in order to learn about all of them, she said.

     "[These are to] serve a key educational purpose for trustees and not to create parochial advocates for each campus," she said.