MSP BULLETIN

Summer 2000

Privatization Update

As most of you are aware, the State Auditor’s office has upheld the contract to Follett for the private operation of the bookstore. The UMass Labor Coalition is considering calling for a boycott of Follett and urging faculty to use other independent bookstores (e.g. Jeffery Amherst Bookstore, Atticus, etc.) for their fall textbook orders.

Distance Education

An article in the Fall MSP Bulletin informed our unit members of the University’s contract with PriceWaterhouseCoopers to develop recommendations for the expansion of distance education. The recommendations from PWC, reportedly costing $300,000 to prepare, are now complete and the following summarizes some of the major points:

  • In Fall ’99, President Bulger reported that the Trustees have identified distance education and corporate/continuing education as areas for strategic growth and development.
  • Goals for distance and corporate/continuing education include revenue generation, expansion of access, relief of capacity constraints, improvement of pedagogy, improvement of content through cross-campus collaboration and improved service to the Commonwealth.
  • Reasons to invest in distance education include population demand, corporate demand, potential for investments from capital markets and other revenue-enhancing opportunities through advertising, revenue-sharing with e-retailers (e.g. Amazon.com) and reselling academic content (with 50% margins).
  • Four strategic initiatives, called "UMass Online" are suggested including:
    1. FastTrack @ UMass – hybrid certificate and degree programs to professional enhancement learners in engineering, IT, health, education and management.
    2. Complete @ UMass– hybrid undergraduate degree programs to degree completers in management, IT, health, education, engineering, and liberal arts and sciences.
    3. UMass @ Work– tailored education, training and learning management services to corporations.
    4. UMass @ School – content-based training relating to MCAS, delivery of AP courses and other e-commerce services for K-12.
  • FastTrack and Complete could net 60 million dollars over 4 years. However, 15-20 million dollars in losses are expected during the first two years. Net profits could begin within three years.
  • UMass will need to absorb start-up costs including hiring professional staff (CEO, COO, CIO, Marketing Director, business and content developers, program managers and support staff). A total of 100-115 new staff would be needed.
  • Faculty and instructors would be paid $3,000-$5,000 for developing courses and $5,000-$6,000 for teaching courses. Faculty would sign over property rights to courses, have first right of refusal to teach them and would receive royalties if they were taught by someone else.
  • UMass will need to invest in infrastructure to deliver internet-mediated education.
  • A hybrid "click & mortar" approach is recommended that utilizes internet-based (80%) and face-to-face (20%) instruction.
  • UMass Online should use a combination of faculty and working professionals to deliver programs (1200-1500 instructors). The report notes that faculty unions are often averse to increased use of adjunct faculty and will advocate for preserving the prestige associated with UMass, noting that these issues will need to be confronted.
  • UMass needs to determine whether the University should form a new organization within its existing structure, form a not-for-profit subsidiary or a for-profit subsidiary (the latter could attract private capital and faculty could receive stock as a reward).
  • Campuses should receive compensation for assets that can be leveraged and should receive revenue streams proportionate to their contribution to the new system-wide initiatives.

The MSP has a number of concerns about the proposal, including:

  1. The loss of $15-20 million in the first two years from operating budgets that are already inadequate to meet existing needs;
  2. The excessive reliance on adjunct faculty with corresponding issues about program quality, faculty credentials, program accreditation and further casualization of the profession;
  3. An increase in demands or incentives for faculty to teach more, with negative effects on research productivity and service/governance activities;
  4. Lack of clarity about intellectual property agreements between the faculty and the University;
  5. Lack of clear provisions for faculty control over the curriculum and other governance issues.

While the MSP is not opposed to distance education, per se, we are concerned that quality (as opposed to revenue) is the paramount goal. We believe this can be best accomplished with a faculty-centered model that draws on our disciplinary and pedagogical expertise.

If you wish to examine the PWC document, you may call the MSP office (5-2206) for an appointment (the document is too voluminous to distribute). We also urge you to contact the President’s office with your feedback about this initiative. He can be reached at:

President William Bulger, One Beacon Street, 26th Floor, Boston, MA. 02108; (617) 287-7000. We called the President’s office for his email address, only to learn that he doesn’t have one. He will receive messages sent to agreene@email.umassp.edu.