We now all know that the University's budget this
year is disastrous and is predicted to be even worse next year.
Our state senator, Stan Rosenberg, and our state
representatives, Ellen Story and Steve Kulik, have told us that
only vigorous legislative lobbying can reverse the University's
dismal budget situation. When Stan was asked why this was happening,
he replied, "Nobody's screaming."
Yet we also know that departments have been reprimanded
for telling their students about their budget problems. We've
been told that student workers telephoning for the Annual Fund
have been instructed not to mention our budget crisis when they
ask alums to donate money. We've even heard it rumored that Gov.
Jane Swift does not want to cut higher education, but no member
of the University administration has contacted the Governor's
Office to ask for more funding.
We ask every member of the University community
to tell students, relatives, friends, and acquaintances about
our funding problems and urge them to encourage their legislators
to provide increased University support. We hope that all of you
will participate in the many advocacy efforts planned by Save
UMass and other campus groups.
We also call upon the President's Office and members
of the campus administration to take the lead in advocating for
our University or to explain to us why they are unwilling to do
so.
SARA LENNOX
professor,
Germanic Languages and Literatures
for the Save UMass Steering Committee
Interim Chancellor Marcellette Williams replies:
Advocacy on behalf of the University has always
been critical to the progress of the institution and is now perhaps
more critical than ever in its history.
I believe that it is the alumni, students, parents,
and employers of the Commonwealth to whom we must turn for advocacy
on our behalf. The Legislature and the Governor are responsible
to the voters and the voters direct the Legislators and the Governor.
The alumni, students, parents, and employers of the Commonwealth
are voters, voters for whom the University is and has been an
important and, for the vast majority we hope, a very positive
influence on their lives. The faculty and staff of this University
are a few thousand voters, and most of these are concentrated
in a relatively few legislative districts. But the alumni, students,
parents, and employers are hundreds of thousands in number and
are distributed throughout the Commonwealth. We must turn to them
to carry the message to their elected officials.
I also believe that the message of this advocacy
must be that investment in the University is an investment in
the future of the Commonwealth and in the people of the Commonwealth.
The present circumstances of the alumni, students, parents, and
employers is or has been defined in part by their experiences
with the University; they must recognize what it means to them
and, therefore, what it can mean to future generations in the
Commonwealth. There is no doubt that the state's finances are
in crisis and there can be no doubting that the University must
expect to participate in difficult budgets. But the Legislature
must be made to understand that abandoning investment in the University
at this time will mean more than "mortgaging" the future,
it will mean closing down the future for many of the present and
future citizens of the Commonwealth.
It is essential, however, that any such advocacy
be careful, focused, and based in fact if it is to be effective.
Dissemination of incorrect information and rumor or use of hyperbole,
no matter how well-intentioned, can quickly destroy credibility
and severely counter advocacy efforts. Similarly, in-fighting
between units of the campus only serves to draw energy and resources
away from effective advocacy. A front page article in last week's
Chronicle detailed efforts to coordinate advocacy; rather
than repeat that information I would refer you to that article
and the Web sites (www.umass.edu/ambassadors)
and (www.umass.edu/actnow).
I welcome the advocacy of all members of the campus
community who wish to do so, but I urge that this be done carefully
and with a focus on the future. In so doing, the University can
not only weather the immediate financial storm but also be positioned
to move forward as the skies brighten.
