University of Massachusetts president William M. Bulger hasdecided that UMass-Boston should be transformed from a working-classcommuter school to a residential university that competes for highschool valedictorians and other top students, UMass officials saidyesterday.
The change would mark a radical and potentially expensiveelevation of the city's only public university, which now enrolls12,500 students but has no dorms and few frills.
It would likely pit the school in a battle for money with thestate's flagship Amherst campus, while also inflaming some UMass-Boston students, faculty, and Dorchester neighbors, who saidyesterday that the idea represents an arrogant departure from UMass'smission to serve the urban community.
The first step toward this new vision will come today when Bulgerpresides over the groundbreaking for a $75 million student center,the first new building at UMass since the campus was completed in1978. The center, with arching walls,
wraparound windows, and skylights, will overlook Boston Harbor andhouse student services, game rooms, and lounges, as well as thecollege cafeteria and bookstore.
Bulger says he is eager to expand UMass-Boston's niche as a $4,200-a-year university in a high-tuition market, and envisions a campusrich with the kind of amenities that would attract top students toits growing honors and graduate programs.
According to UMass officials, Bulger sees dorm space as a logicalnext step to enhance the campus's appeal. Officials talk of dormrooms for up to 1,500, perhaps set aside for elite students andmaster's and doctoral candidates.
In an interview yesterday, Bulger said the UMass-Boston dormitoryproposal has been discussed and should now be formally considered byUMass leaders, faculty, and community groups. He declined to discusshis own opinion on the matter.
'There is space. There is a need,' Bulger said. 'But it's an ideathat I have to let everyone else consider first.'
Dorms may also help relieve Boston's affordable-housing crunch, anissue that Bulger allies such as Cardinal Bernard Law and MayorThomas M. Menino have called on colleges to address.
David MacKenzie, UMass-Boston's interim chancellor, said yesterdaythat he is eyeing dozens of undeveloped acres on the Columbia Pointcampus for at least one dormitory. The vast majority of studentswould remain commuters.
'It would improve our campus, our sports programs, and the wholefeel of the school here,' MacKenzie said. 'We have trouble attractingsome good students because they get shocked by the housing priceshere.
'We want more valedictorians and salutatorians, too, and we thinkthere are real strategic values to our plan,' he said.
The new thinking about UMass-Boston can be seen in the CampusCenter's design. Its sleek white surfaces and glass exteriorscontrast sharply with the fortress-like red-brick towers of theschool now visible from the Southeast Expressway.
Its supporters say the building will provide a dramatic newentryway to the university. Today, the first thing students see uponarriving at UMass-Boston is either a shabby concrete stairwell by thebus stop, or a dimly lit parking garage that even MacKenzie admits isa great aggravation to many on campus.
But critics of UMass's rising ambitions say the Campus Centerreflects exactly what the university is doing wrong. Pointing tocracked, uneven pavement, weed-ridden sidewalks, and science labswith outdated equipment, they said UMass should improve existingbuildings and academics before investing in new projects.
'They're pouring money into changes that get UMass away from itsmission of serving the Boston community,' said Paul Nutting, theoutgoing vice president of the Columbia/Savin Hill Civic Associationand a 1989 graduate of UMass-Boston. 'This new Campus Center is aboondoggle. And if dorms are put in, it's just going to create a new`ZooMass' here, and draw our public safety dollars into breaking upparties on campus.'
The center is also busting cost estimates. It was originallypriced at $50 million in 1995, but was raised to $65 million once thedesign was complete. Ultimately, Suffolk Construction's low bid of$75 million was accepted, and will be financed by state anduniversity bonds.
Bulger has negotiated once to increase UMass's borrowing authorityto cover the Campus Center, and may have to do so again because ofthe $10 million difference between the estimate and the bid, UMassofficials said.
The president said separate renovations are underway at theschool, and noted that UMass students have long sought a campuscenter. 'They know they are missing the advantage of a comfortablesetting for studying together, talking together, and learning fromeach other,' Bulger said.
Earl West, a junior working toward a management degree, said thecenter will be a boon to students, but expressed concern that itwould put UMass on a slippery slope toward dorms and other changesadult students don't need. With 80 percent of UMass-Boston studentsolder than 22, West said, the university's money would be betterspent on cutting parking costs and offering more classes and flexiblehours.
'We have a very good niche right now for commuter students,' saidWest, 28, who travels from South Boston on a scooter to avoid garagefees. 'The biggest draw to UMass are the low fees - making thesekinds of changes may just make those go up.'
UMass and state officials have been on a campaign to keep tuitionand fees low, however, after sharp increases in the early 1990s.MacKenzie said funds for a new dormitory could come from private fund-raising, borrowing, other parts of the UMass budget, or an agreementwith a private developer who would build and maintain the facility.
As UMass-Boston gears up to write a new strategic plan and welcomea new chancellor, Jo Ann Gora, next month, both Bulger and MacKenziesaid the school was evolving in ways that students will appreciateover the long term.
'We're trying to bring this campus more together as a community,'MacKenzie said. 'It will help make UMass a much better place forstudents.'
Patrick Healy can be reached by e-mail at phealy@globe.com.
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