Protect UMass Boston's academic programs and mission

UMass Board of Trustees and UMass President Marty Meehan

UMass Boston fulfills a unique role within the UMass system. UMass Boston is the only public research university in Boston, and it supports the most diverse student population within the UMass system. In 2018, UMass Amherst acquired a satellite campus located just 11 miles from UMass Boston and is offering academic programs that mirror those available at UMass Boston. This unhealthy competition for students in the Boston area undermines UMass Boston's ability to fulfill its urban mission and is a wasteful use of UMass resources.

Sponsored by

To: UMass Board of Trustees and UMass President Marty Meehan
From: [Your Name]

The faculty, staff and students at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and the university’s supporters are demanding that the UMass Board of Trustees and UMass President Marty Meehan halt the use of UMass Amherst’s satellite campus in Newton for academic courses or programs that are already available at the university system’s current Boston campus.

When UMass Amherst acquired the former Mount Ida College property, its purpose was ostensibly to house students participating in academic internships available in the greater Boston area. But since taking over the Newton campus, UMass Amherst has launched a menu of academic programs and courses meant to attract new students — from Boston.

This undermining of UMass Boston and its ability to fulfill its urban mission must not be allowed. President Meehan and the trustees have an obligation to operate the University of Massachusetts as a truly integrated system rather than encouraging campuses to operate as separate competitive entities.

The undersigned demand that:

• The UMass trustees establish a more transparent process for approving academic programs or courses offered at the Newton campus.

• The UMass trustees operate the university as a truly coordinated system and not as a collective of individual competitive campuses.

• UMass Boston be given a greater voice in plans for the Newton campus.

• Competing programs and courses at the Newton campus be immediately halted.