Governor to oust three from UMass trustee posts
Critics suspect failed efforts on law school fueled move
In a dramatic shake-up, Governor Mitt Romney yesterday announced he would not reappoint three members of the University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees, including the board chairman who had opposed Romney's move to oust former UMass president William Bulger.
James Karam , newly elected to his third term as board chairman, also had supported a state law school against the governor's wishes.
Meanwhile, Romney installed Stephen Tocco , the chairman of the state Board of Higher Education. Tocco successfully argued against the proposal to create a UMass law school last year.
Karam said he was taken aback by the governor's decision. He said he had met with the governor three or four times during his chairmanship and received no negative feedback.
``I walked out not knowing if he agreed or disagreed," said Karam, a Fall River developer and UMass-Dartmouth graduate. ``If he was unhappy with the direction of the system, it was a surprise to me."
Jack Wilson, UMass president, applauded the appointments in a statement, but other UMass officials privately speculated that the move was in retaliation for the board's effort last year to create a law school.
UMass officials noted that of the four members eligible for reappointment, the only one to win it, Lawrence Boyle , voted against the law school proposal.
Eric Fehrnstrom , the governor's spokesman, said the law school was not a factor in the governor's decision .
``The terms of these members had expired and the governor wanted to give some new people an opportunity to serve," Fehrnstrom said.
Fehrnstrom said the governor had sought new appointees with the hope of seeing ``excellence promoted at all five campuses of the university, with a particular focus on the flagship at Amherst."
He added that the governor ``would like to see the flagship become one of the finest institutions" of learning in the country.
Tocco also is president of ML Strategies, a lobbying arm of a law firm that has performed bond-counsel work for UMass in the past.
Fehrnstrom said Tocco could hold both his lobbying job and his UMass position and not be in conflict of interest.
``It has not been an issue during his service on the Board of Higher Education, and we don't expect that it will be an issue on the UMass board," he said.
Tocco said he planned to resign from the state Board of Higher Education by Oct. 1. He said the creation of a UMass law school was not high on his to-do list .
``There was a specific proposal and I thought it was deeply flawed," he said in an interview. ``There are a lot of other priorities that need to be addressed."
Also appointed was Richard Lawton , an attorney who serves as a trustee on the board of the New England School of Law, which publicly opposed the creation of a UMass law school.
Lawton said he did not see a conflict of interest regarding the law school. He noted that the New England School of Law was one of several law schools that opposed the UMass law school. He said he was not personally involved in the opposition to a UMass law school.
The other new appointees include: Kenneth MacAfee of Needham, an oral surgeon and former professional football player; Robert Manning of Swampscott, president and chief executive officer of MFS Investment Management; Alda Rego-Weathers of Attleboro, a deputy commissioner at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; and Jennifer Braceras of Concord, an attorney and freelance writer.
The board, which oversees budgeting, new academic programs, and strategy for the five UMass campuses, comprises 19 voting members, 17 of whom are appointed by the governor. The other two board posts are held by full-time students.
The student trustees serve one-year terms; the other members serve five-year terms and are limited to 10 years' service on the board. 