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Press releases

March 1, 2005

STATEMENT FROM JOHN V. LOMBARDI, CHANCELLOR

            AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst gratefully thanks Chair Orlando Taylor and the other members of the Commission for their exceptional dedication and commitment that has led to the presentation of their executive summary and report today. The issues they have addressed are of critical concern to the entire campus and its extended community, and I look forward to studying the document carefully. 

            Thanks to the Commission and its very thorough engagement with the extended communities of this campus, I anticipate the Commission’s report will provide a comprehensive view of the issues before us as well as reflections of the many perspectives of our constituencies. We thank the members of this commission for their commitment of time, experience, expertise and concern. We are grateful that they accepted our sense of urgency and engaged fully in this challenging task. I am particularly grateful for the superb leadership of Dr. Taylor, whose strength of character and exceptional accomplishments were visible throughout as his wise guidance brought this effort to a successful conclusion.

            Now that the Commission has concluded its work and delivered its report, we have the obligation to study its recommendations and move quickly to develop an implementation plan that will address the recommendations. To ensure success, this plan must be specific, effective and funded. We will develop a draft plan that identifies actions and resources, and assigns responsibilities for implementation. We will post this plan on the UMass Amherst web site for a period of comment. Once that period of comment concludes, we will revise the plan as needed, post the final plan on the web site, and proceed with implementation. A schedule for the development of this plan appears below.

            Although I have just received the report and need to study it thoroughly, I expect that some parts of an implementation plan will involve immediate changes and actions, while others will require longer-term actions extending over several years. In either case, the plan will include specific actions, identify the reallocation of resources needed, and specify the measures by which we will know that we are making appropriate progress. 

The schedule for the next steps is as follows:

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