Taking a deep breath at UMass

CAN THE University of Massachusetts system be run better? Of course it can. Are UMass President Jack Wilson and trustee chairman Stephen Tocco the people to do it? Faculty, students, alumni, and others interested in public higher education ought to withhold judgment until a task force to be appointed June 21 finishes an examination of ways to reorganize the five-campus system.

Tocco and Wilson were caught short by faculty reaction to a report in the Globe that they had already decided to oust UMass-Amherst chancellor John Lombardi and spread the riches of the flagship campus around the system. Wilson's dream of "One University," better positioned to compete for students and research dollars, is in real trouble. Yesterday the faculty council at the Boston campus voted no confidence , following a near-unanimous no-confidence vote of the Amherst faculty last month.

In a meeting with the Globe editorial board yesterday, Wilson admitted that his reorganization concept -- which also includes UMass-Boston chancellor Michael Collins going to the medical school in Worcester on an interim basis, and university vice president Keith Motley replacing Collins in Boston -- "got started on the wrong foot." But he said much closer collaboration among the five campuses "is still the right conversation to have."

The task force described by Tocco in an interview yesterday is the right way to go. Tocco said it will be headed by Richard Freeland, former president of Northeastern University, and will include representatives of affected constituencies, including the governor and Legislature.

Freeland, who began the transition of Northeastern from a local, predominantly commuter school to a national university, would be an excellent choice. From 1970 to 1992, he worked at UMass-Boston, rising to dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. He was there in 1991 when the present five-campus system was created through the amalgamation of independent campuses in Lowell and Dartmouth with the Amherst-Worcester-Boston complex. He understands the sensitivities of faculty members toward changes in the operations of their institutions.

Wilson has denied that he might consolidate his job with that of the Amherst chancellor, but beyond that he resorts to generalities, leading to fears that he and Tocco are keeping secret a fully fledged reorganization plan.

The task force will have to dispel these suspicions. If it proposes changes, the governor, the Legislature, and significant elements at all the UMass campuses need to endorse them as well. Tocco said he expects the task force to report back in six months. It needs to unite and improve the five-campus system, not provide the fuel for further division.