Legislative Alert: Please call your senator and urge them to vote no on sb 402!

Dear Towson University Alumni and Friends:

We are sending this wider distribution of the TAP newsletter because YOUR ASSISTANCE IS NEEDED. Tomorrow, Thursday, March 12, the Maryland Senate will vote on  SB402 Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) Review of Duplicative Academic Programs. This is the 4th year this bill will come before the Maryland General Assembly and we need your assistance to defeat the bill on the Senate floor.

SB402 has 2 key components:

1. Retroactive provision targeted at the Towson University/University of Baltimore MBA program. If passed, the bill states MHEC would have to re-review its decision in 2005 to grant the joint degree program...an unprecedented act.
2. Another provision in the bill would allow institutions of higher education to seek judicial review for program approval decisions that were approved or implemented after July 1, 2007. This provision greatly reduces the authority of the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) and would subject program approval decisions to judges rather than the experts in higher education costing our institutions and the State countless time and money in legal fees.

It is time to have your voice heard. Towson and UB received approval for the joint MBA program in 2005 by following all of the required steps in the program approval process. However, this legislation is reintroduced annually, to retroactively undo decisions already put in place by MHEC. For the good of the institutions, the students, and the Maryland Higher Education Commission, it is time to move forward toward more pressing issues facing higher education in our state.

We need your help. Please call and/or email your Senators TODAY and urge them to VOTE NO on SB402. Talking points and the USM testimony are linked below. You can email your legislator on this issue directly through the USM Advocacy website. Or you can call the Senate switchboard at 410-841-3000 or go to http://mdelect.net to find your senator. 

Thank you for your action in support of Towson University and our students.

Sincerely,

Robert L. Caret
President

USM Testimony |  MBA Fact Sheet   |   2008 MBA Data

VOTE NO on SB402

USM FACT Sheet on the Towson University/University of Baltimore MBA Program

THE FACTS: The UB/Towson MBA is Educationally Justified and a State Model

In March 2005, the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) approved the joint UB/Towson MBA program. MHEC distributed a news release outlining that the joint MBA was educationally justified, not unnecessarily duplicative, and how the program's creation can serve as a state model. Excerpts of release:

On the need in the state:

• There is a state need for the joint degree MBA program.
• The joint degree MBA program helps position Towson University as a key USM growth institution for absorbing a large share of the expected 5,900 student enrollment growth over the next 10 years.

On duplication:

• There is no discernable harm to the MBA programs existing at a Historically Black Institution (HBI).
• There will be a pool of students for degree programs at all institutions including HBIs.

On educational justification:

• The joint degree MBA program will be the most effective and efficient use of educational resources.
• The joint degree MBA program will undoubtedly strengthen the educational programs of both Towson University and the University of Baltimore.
• Towson University will be better able to recruit and retain business faculty.
• Towson presently has faculty qualified to teach the proposed programs at the graduate level.
• The joint degree MBA program was offered by Towson University to Morgan State University. Morgan declined to participate in partnership with Towson University.
• The joint degree MBA program is consistent with State and USM promotion of collaboration and institutional partnerships to achieve cost effectiveness, institutional and statewide efficiencies, and economics of scale.

On being a 'state model':

• There is an interest in institutional partnerships which this joint degree program can serve as a model in the state.

Source: Maryland Higher Education Commission, March 2005 Press Release.

The Maryland Higher Education Commission ruled on November 9, 2005 by a 10-1 vote that the joint MBA program was educationally justified. MHEC determined that the program would:

• Strengthen the overall business program at Towson, which is the region's primary provider of undergraduate business degrees.
• Meet a documented unmet need of regional employers for business administration graduates.
• Increase access to a publicly offered MBA in the region at an affordable cost.

Maryland Higher Education Commission. (2005, November 9). November 2005 Press Release.