UMass Boston’s future plans prompt concerns

No shift in mission planned, say officials

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

ome of the celebration surrounding the groundbreaking for a new $75 million campus center at UMass Boston was eclipsed last week by reports that the Columbia Point campus plans to shift its focus away from its base of non-traditional, working class students.

     The Boston Globe reported that President William M. Bulger wants the 12,500-student commuter campus to become a residential university that competes for high school valedictorians and other top students. The Boston campus currently has no student housing.

     That could change, however, as University officials weigh a proposal to build dormitories for up to 1,500 students. The Globe reported that UMass Boston interim chancellor David MacKenzie is looking at undeveloped campus land as possible housing sites.

     "It would improve our campus, our sports programs, and the whole feel of the school here," MacKenzie told the Globe. "We have trouble attracting some good students because they get shocked by the housing prices here."

     MacKenzie also expressed a desire to attract more high school valedictorians and salutatorians to the campus, whose student body is comprised of many older, non-traditional students. About 80 percent of UMass Boston students are 22 or older.

     Bulger did not endorse the dormitory plan and said the matter should be discussed by University officials, faculty and community groups.

     According to the Globe, adding student housing to the campus could address some of the city's affordable housing concerns, but critics of the plan said dorms could adversely impact nearby neighborhoods and distance the school from its mission of providing low-cost education to Boston-area residents.

     The story also generated some concerns that changes at the Boston campus would come at the expense of the other campuses, particularly Amherst, which already attracts many top-notch undergraduates through Commonwealth College and the University Scholars program, which awards scholarships to in-state high school valedictorians and salutatorians.

     Two Western Massachusetts newspapers, the Union-News of Springfield and the Daily Hampshire Gazette, weighed into the debate this week, publishing editorials against any efforts to put UMass Boston into direct competition with the Amherst campus.

     In response, John Hoey, director of Communications at the President's Office, downplayed the fallout from the Globe story.

     "There is no decision to alter in any way what the UMass Boston mission is," he said. "Any activity over the next few years is going to be aimed at preserving that mission."

     Hoey also stated no decisions have been made about housing at the Boston campus, which he said "has been an issue since the campus was built" in the early 1970s. "As the president said, he's eager to hear from people with a stake in the issue," added Hoey.

     But Bulger's spokesman also emphasized the positive aspects of enhancements at the Boston campus.

     "Any effort to strengthen UMass Boston strengthens the University system as a whole and the Amherst campus benefits from that," he said.