UM flagship, other schools pin futures on key details
The task force to study the governance, coordination and funding of the University System of Maryland is going to have a major impact on higher education in the state, regardless of whether it recommends major structural changes in the system.
The Sun's article "Dismantling unlikely for university system" (Dec. 4) suggested that the outcome of the task force's hard work will be nothing but "administrative details that will do little to alter substantially the face of higher education in the state." The article reports that observers say that such details "are much less important than the amount of money the state commits to higher education in the next session of the General Assembly."
As a member of the task force and as president of the flagship institution of the University System of Maryland, I disagree.
Having sat through three months of task force meetings and contributed substantively to the discussions in those meetings, I am convinced that the Larson Report will be the blueprint for higher education in Maryland for at least the next decade. The recommendations of the task force will establish the direction for the universities of this state at least as effectively as did the 1988 legislation that created the University System of Maryland. It is not necessary to destroy the system to make it work the way it was originally envisioned.
The problems within the system are in the implementation, not in the values the 1988 legislation represented. The 1988 legislation designated University of Maryland, College Park as the state's flagship institution, a vital concept for the economic growth and quality of life of the state and the region. But until this year, the state has not implemented that concept.
Contrary to the assertion in the article, details of the administrative structure are not less important than the amount of money the state commits to higher education. Indeed, the amount expended on higher education is strongly influenced by these administrative details.
For example, in the exiting process, the budget request of the flagship institution is folded into the requests of all the disparate institutions of the system. I and others have argued consistently that the president of the University of Maryland, College Park must be able to present directly to the governor the funding needs of the flagship institution, which has a mission and scope unlike any other university in the state.
Whether the task force recommends such a change in administrative details will have a great effect on how quickly this university can achieve its goals as well as on defining clearly the roles of the institutions in the system.
Likewise, will the task force reaffirm and will the General Assembly enact the practice of budgeting by benchmarking against our peers? What will be said about the role of the regents? Are they to be a governing board or an administrative body? What role will the system play in the private fund-raising efforts that play an increasingly large role in determining whether we can afford our aspirations?
These may seem to be "administrative details," but the answers to these questions will determine whether we have an institution of higher learning as vital to the interests of Maryland as Chapel Hill is to North Carolina and Berkeley and UCLA are to California.
Those are the models we offer the state of Maryland. In many ways, the future of the state depends on our willingness and our commitment to achieve those goals. They may not seem as interesting as "blowing up the system." It is often said that the devil is in the details, but in this case, I believe it appropriate to conclude that the future is in the details.
C. D. Mote Jr.
College Park
The writer is president of the University of Maryland, College Park.
Mike Lane's 'cartoon world' does not reflect Baltimore
At a recent meeting of the Downtown Partnership, First Maryland Bancorp President and Chief Executive Officer Frank Bramble noted the numerous comments he receives from visitors about the cleanliness of our city. He also stated that there is no doubt in his mind that this is true.
Unfortunately a cartoon that appeared on your editorial page on Dec. 4 gives the opposite impression. This particular attempt at humor certainly failed to raise a chuckle among workers at the Department of Public Works. We found it absolutely insulting.
In this exercise in poor taste, you show what is supposed to be a city worker sitting idly on a park bench with an empty cart nearby. Strewn around the worker are mounds of trash.
It is obvious that your cartoonist has chosen not to be informed about what has occurred in the areas of solid waste collection and maintenance during the Schmoke administration. Let me list some of the ways sanitation has been improved in Baltimore during the past decade:
Curbside recycling began during this administration. Baltimore's recycling rate of 28 percent is well above the 20 percent required by the state of Maryland.
Special recycling operations such as leaf collection, Christmas tree collection, household hazardous waste collection and school recycling are part of the legacy of this administration and are becoming more popular with each passing year.
Harbor cleaning. With the recent addition of two skimmer boats, our waterways are cleaner than ever.
The mayor's monthly cleanup program. Every neighborhood in the city is, for the first time, on a regular monthly cleaning schedule including collection of bulk trash.
The community pitch-in program. This Department of Public Works sponsored-program assists nearly 1,000 community cleanups each year.
Mechanization. The Department of Public Works has acquired the latest technology to increase efficiency in its cleaning operations, resulting in a cleaner city while saving money. Ten years ago we did not have the MadVacs, Green Machines, alley sweepers, blowers and other labor-saving devices.
Sanitation enforcement. A force of 25 uniformed officers now patrol the city to enforce our sanitation laws. Violators pay fines or go before the newly established Environmental Control Board.
Seven-day cleaning operations. Trash does not take a holiday on weekends, and neither do we. Two years ago we expanded our %% solid waste program to seven days.
Cartoonist Mike Lane obviously does not realize what Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke and Director George Balog have accomplished.
He is living in a cartoon world.
Kurt L. Kocher
Baltimore
The writer is spokesman for the Department of Public Works.
Don't dump problems in Carney
Why does the state feel that the Carney area of Baltimore County should be designated as the dumping ground for juveniles with histories of sex offenses and emotional problems?
I am well aware that the Hickey School has for years been housing these types of offenders, but quite honestly the opening of a formal unit designated for these individuals will give the state ample opportunity to transfer more of these juveniles to this campus.
The history of the Hickey School is anything but sterling, plagued with numerous escapes and administrative problems. The residents of our area do not deserve more difficulty with this facility.
The state has tried to locate these juveniles in other areas. Towson residents didn't want them; the folks in Ellicott City would not allow them. So is it supposed to be the Carney area's obligation to accept what other fine communities rejected?
Residents of this community have long accepted the existence of the Hickey School, which has been a neighbor since the 1850s but has in recent years been a hornets' nest of adverse publicity, a threat to public safety and a constant source of irritation to homeowners.
Let the state put this proposed facility somewhere else.
Michael A. Rupp
Parkville
The writer is president of the Carney Improvement Association.
Show more sensitivity to hearing-impaired
Recently, my wife took our grandson and his parents to "Babes in Toyland" at Goucher College. A few minutes into the production, the woman sitting next to my wife angrily asked her to tell our 5-year-old grandson to stop making obscene gestures with his fingers. My wife informed her that he was using sign language to explain to his parents what was happening in the play. He is a hearing child of deaf parents.
For the deaf and hard-of-hearing, this is not an isolated incident.
When our daughter, the boy's mother, was young, people would ask her to move out of their way in the grocery store and become angry when she wouldn't move.
Since losing hearing in my left ear, I've experienced the same reactions when someone is on my deaf side. I've even been bumped with a grocery cart.
When will people become aware that everyone is not as fortunate as they and think before being rude? Their actions ruin an outing or shopping trip for those who are handicapped with hearing loss.
Joe Baxley
Reisterstown
Need debt cancellation
The stories I have read in your paper about the impact of Hurricane Mitch in Central America have been heartbreaking. What I find equally heartbreaking is that despite the death, misery and destruction of productive capacity, the urgent appeal for debt cancellation being made by these countries is being ignored by the U.S. government.
How will Honduras and Nicaragua rebuild people's homes or replace the many bridges damaged beyond repair? Emergency assistance is certainly needed and at a higher level than first thought. But the reconstruction will be a tragic failure if Nicaragua and Honduras must each spend more than $1 million a day to pay off their tremendous debts. These debts are essentially unpayable, and it's cruel and unfair to pretend otherwise. Writing them off would cost only a fraction of their face value.
It's time for our government to get behind full debt cancellation for these countries, with careful oversight by nongovernmental groups. That's the least we can do to help these countries down what will be a long road to recovery.
Loretta Whalen
Columbia
What's behind the effort to impeach president?
Could it be that the Republicans' hate campaign against President Clinton is because the president believes all people are created equal, regardless of race, color, creed, gender and financial standing; because he has done the most for the American people since Franklin D. Roosevelt; because he is loved and respected for his leadership by the majority of the American people; or because he is considered the world leader?
The president has lied about his past inexcusable personal behavior and indiscretions, not about state matters.
To say he is not trustworthy is a blatant lie. He has delivered his campaign promises, despite stiff opposition.
He has worked for the welfare of all Americans, equal educational opportunities for all, needed health care for all, Social Security for all and safe air and water for all.
Where in the Constitution does it say that a man's alleged lies regarding sex become a high crime and misdemeanor that warrant impeachment?
M. D. Clifford
Baltimore
Impeachment proper, even absent conviction
Your paper continues to describe impeachment as removal from office. Either you do not understand the Constitution or you are deliberately trying to misinform the public.
Polls consistently show that the American people believe that this president lied under oath and had sex with Monica Lewinsky. They believe that there should be some type of punishment for these misdeeds, but in their minds, impeachment is removal.
The House of Representatives vote impeachment on a sitting president, and if a simple majority vote yes, it is sent to the Senate for trial.
The Senate must have a two-thirds majority for conviction. If the president is convicted, the Senate determines what punishment impose, including removal from office.
Impeachment is not removal; it is the House's determination that adequate evidence exists to send the case to the Senate.
That is not difficult to understand. If the American people want some type of punishment, impeachment is the route. If impeached, that cannot be removed from the record. A censure means nothing.
Donald J. Myers
Sparks
Who is undermining our system of justice?
If President Clinton is not impeached for perjury about his sexual involvement with Monica Lewinsky, our system of justice will be totally undermined, we are told.
However, justice is being undermined in other ways.
The Supreme Court's decision in the Gideon case required states to provide lawyers for defendants who cannot afford attorneys.
But often, as recently demonstrated in Cecil County, this safeguard is defeated by officials who fail to assign a public defender for a long period after the individual is brought into court. Money for public defenders is insufficient.
The Miranda decision specified that defendants must be notified of their rights and that any waiver of these rights must be made "voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently."
But some officers rattle off the Miranda statement and disregard the mental capacity and emotional state of the suspect.
The Burger and Rehnquist courts have chipped away at constitutional constraints on police and prosecutors.
Prosecutors threaten to charge witnesses with minor offenses for which people are rarely prosecuted and use tactics of intimidation in less than major cases.
Police can lie to suspects and keep juveniles from seeing their parents.
A Supreme Court decision has ruled in favor of prison guards who severely beat a prisoner.
A suspect may be kept in jail for months after such evidence as DNA tests show the person cannot be guilty.
The federal government seeks to overrule state statutes that would, for example, set ethical guidelines for investigations. Congress passed an independent prosecutor law so unlimited that individuals associated with government have been investigated and harassed for years and then found not guilty.
Now who is it that will ruin our system of justice?
Mary O. Styrt
Baltimore
Where was criticism of Reagan and Bush?
The Republicans seem to make such a big deal over President Clinton's allegedly committing perjury, but they dismissed and made excuses when Ronald Reagan and George Bush were accused of also lying about the much more important Iran-contra scandal.
These Republicans did not speak of impeaching Mr. Reagan and Mr. Bush when their lies became evident, but with a Democratic president, it seems to be a different story.
I predict that if the Republicans go against the American people's will and continue to pursue impeachment of President Clinton, their party will self-destruct.
Christopher Krieg
Baltimore
Focus on infirmity clouds big picture
Joseph Addison, an English essayist, wrote his thoughts on absurdity that are relevant in today's political climate. "What a sad thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities," he wrote.
I believe this applies to the independent counsel and the rabid Republicans. Former U.S. Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy's infirmity was taking gratuitous gifts amounting to $35,000, which of course warranted a four-year, $17 million investigation. By all accounts, Mr. Espy was one of the best secretaries of agriculture we've had. Luckily, the jury had enough sense to see through the baloney.
President Clinton has been a good leader of the country. Yes, he has his infirmities too. But he did nothing to endanger the United States. You don't throw a president out of office because of a sex scandal.
We did very well for many years without the aid of runaway independent counsels. The cost to Mr. Espy, Mr. Clinton and the people is too high a price to pay for having one's private life investigated for four or more years.
Absurd.
Marlene Berg
Glen Burnie
Tobacco settlement does not cover costs
Congratulations on your excellent news and editorial coverage of the tobacco settlement and the Michael Olesker column "Tobacco pushers purchase a $206 billion license to kill" (Nov. 24).
As Mr. Olesker points out, the settlement for Maryland of $4 billion over 25 years is inadequate to cover even the direct costs of tobacco deaths and illnesses.
Missing from the estimate of the cost of ill health from tobacco poisoning is the overwhelming burden of indirect costs that the tobacco industry imposes on the United States.
The loss of productivity from early deaths and prolonged disability from tobacco poisoning far outweigh the sum the tobacco industry is paying for its "license to kill."
The pain, suffering and hardships inflicted on relatives of people who suffer from tobacco poisoning are incalculable.
Although $4 billion for Maryland impresses people as a huge sum, the tobacco industry got away with murder in the settlement.
It will continue to have a license to kill innocent Americans.
Timothy D. Baker
Baltimore
Council should pass city tobacco tax
I am dismayed by the maneuvering that unfolded at a recent session of the Baltimore City Council.
It appeared that Rochelle "Rikki" Spector, Helen Holton and certain other members of the Council were allowing business interests to take precedence over the manifest health benefits of the proposed tobacco tax.
The research clearly shows that increasing the price of tobacco products reduces their use by children and adolescents.
I would urge City Council President Lawrence A. Bell III to use his wise leadership to ensure that the council passes the tobacco tax.
Jeannette M. Hobbins
Baltimore
Outside candidate rates this attention?
Only in Maryland could it be front-page news in the major Sunday paper that a resident of one jurisdiction has declined to run as mayor of another.
F.J. Clark
Baltimore
Pub Date: 12/12/98
%%