Special to The Washington Examiner Local and state leaders are divided over a proposed merger of the University of Maryland’s College Park and Baltimore campuses.
Supporters of the merger, which would include one university with two campuses and two presidents, say a combined college would create one of the largest research institutions in the country, which would lead to national acclaim, more research funding and an improved student experience.
Detractors cite different cultures and missions, forced collaborations and a disruption of existing priorities.
“One gigantic institution with two campuses far apart cannot be governed from one central location,” Kirby Fowler, president of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, said at a recent forum. “There are always winners and losers in a merger. Neither College Park or Baltimore should be put at risk of losing.”
Maryland Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr. proposed the idea last year, and asked for a study on the issue to be submitted the end of the year. The university is holding a series of hearings as part of the $1 million state-funded study. A report is due to the legislature by Dec. 15.
College Park, the flagship school of the University of Maryland System, has more than 37,000 students and the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The founding university in Baltimore has more than 6,000 students and professional schools including health sciences and law. Supporters of a merger say the two have complementary programs with minimal overlap.
Speakers at a recent forum split over a formal merger, but nearly all said increased collaboration between the two was needed.
Some, like William Wood, a board member of the University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation Inc., were concerned about a forced partnership within one huge institution, and instead advocated for smart, voluntary collaborations.
“Collaborations work and bigger is not always better, nor more effective, nor more efficient,” Wood said. “And forced mandates of this magnitude do not work, especially in higher education.”
Hunter Rawlings, Association of American Universities president, who has gone through mergers at Cornell and Iowa, listed examples of the benefits of science and medical collaborations, but warned of the difficulty of the process.
“It’s hard. It’s really hard,” Rawlings said. “No one should minimize the difficulty. It’s a culture change. It affects people viscerally and it affects the whole institution. ”
