Seeking to avoid layoffs amid budget cuts, the 11 campuses of the University System of Maryland are scrimping everywhere they can, leaving positions vacant, deferring purchases of new equipment and canceling faculty trips.
But there's one area in which university officials are spending more freely: postage.
That's because the system is in the middle of an unprecedented lobbying campaign to stave off deep budget cuts in the coming legislative session. Fearing reductions of up to 17 percent of their state support, campus officials are enlisting alumni, employees, students and students' parents to urge lawmakers to shield higher education as the state seeks to close a projected $1.8 billion budget gap.
The University of Maryland, College Park, which has led the way in drumming up support for the system, is mailing 7,500 letters to alumni, students' families and others, encouraging them to "press the Maryland General Assembly to protect higher education."
Last week, UM held the first of several training seminars to show citizens how to lobby their legislators on behalf of college spending - a step the university has never taken. The free session drew about 35 people, and organizers are expecting many more to attend future forums.
For a system that a decade ago found itself largely defenseless in the face of big cuts, the effort represents an unusually assertive and sophisticated entry into the political arena.
"We're pressing ahead as quickly as we can," said UM Vice President for University Relations Brodie Remington. "Our objective is to encourage as many as possible of our alumni and parents and students to speak up on behalf of all of higher education, to do so by speaking personally with their own delegates and senators."
The systemwide lobbying effort, dubbed "Maintain the Momentum," occurs as the state's public colleges are trying to cut 3.5 percent of their budgets for this fiscal year, as they were told to do under statewide reductions announced by Gov. Parris N. Glendening last month.
Most campuses have managed to reduce their budgets without layoffs or furloughs, mainly by not filling posts that opened this year. Towson University, for instance, has met much of its $2.5 million cut by eliminating 15 open posts in finance, development and student services.
Colleges have tried to limit the freezes to nonfaculty positions, but some teaching jobs are going unfilled.
"When we lose faculty, we're not able to fill those positions," said UM math professor Denny Gulick. "This makes it very difficult, because we need bodies" to teach classes.
Other cost-saving measures reported throughout the state include delaying the purchase of new computers and vehicles, cutting back on housekeeping and restricting faculty travel.
"We've frozen all discretionary expenses," said Robert L. Bogomolny, president of the University of Baltimore, which has had to cut $1.3 million. "If there's a major need to travel to a major conference where we're presenting, we'll do that, but other than that, we're locked down."
Having survived this round of reductions without debilitating steps, officials are turning their attention to the prospect of much deeper cuts as Gov.-elect Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. seeks to close the projected $1.2 billion shortfall in next year's budget.
At a recent Board of Regents meeting, Vice Chancellor Joseph F. Vivona said the worst-case scenario is for a $100 million cut in the system's $868 million in state funding, which he said would be roughly equivalent to having to raise tuition 17 percent or lay off 2,200 employees.
Maintain the Momentum is an attempt to prevent such drastic measures. In addition to mailing letters to "build and mobilize a large cadre of individuals" to lobby lawmakers, an internal UM "Legislative Action Plan" calls for steps including a "broad call to action via e-mail and phones to [the] volunteer pool" and evaluating the "need for tactical shifts" this winter.
The university also has prepared letters to send to legislators that indicate how many UM employees, students and alumni live in their districts.
Remington acknowledged that there is some concern that the campaign could make the system appear as if it is using students and alumni to fight off the reductions that all state agencies are expected to share. For that reason, he said, UM is keeping the costs of the lobbying down and relying on private donations for the mailings.
"We understand that whenever people speak up for something, it may be perceived in different ways by different people," Remington said. "We are going about this in a very careful way."
The state's other public universities say that they also hope to rally support for higher education but that a lack of resources will keep them from matching the efforts of UM, which claims to have 150,000 alumni living within an hour's drive.
The University of Maryland, Baltimore considered mailing 50,000 letters this year but decided it couldn't afford the $25,000 cost.
"They're so powerful," University of Maryland, Baltimore County President Freeman A. Hrabowski III said of UM. "I just can't do that."
Bogomolny wondered how effective lobbying lawmakers will be, given that the most important decision rests with Ehrlich. Under Maryland law, the governor draws up the budget and the General Assembly can only make reductions to it.
"We're managing without layoffs so far, but if it goes any further than this, we have nowhere else to go," he said. "Maintaining the momentum is important, but having really serious discussions with the governor is even more important."