Former student: “Your administration has gravely injured the CVPA program and has demonstrated itself to be nothing but a bad-faith actor when it comes to fulfilling all that was promised to its students.”
Public universities can no longer afford to think about public impact more than their own bottom line, one expert says. This could spell trouble for UMass Dartmouth.
Owning the Star Store would’ve cost UMass Dartmouth $7 million in upgrades over 10 years, reports obtained by The Light show — far less than the $75 million the chancellor has said.
“When the Senate unexpectedly blocked the appropriation in the budget this summer, we were out of options. We could not pay the full cost of the lease, had no insurance, and were at risk of being locked out of the building at any moment.”
“Without the necessary state appropriation, the university estimated it would need to impose an additional 4.5% increase in tuition on all 4,500 undergraduate students just to keep 150 students in the Star Store, something the chancellor was simply unwilling to do.” — UMass president and board chair
The public universities of Massachusetts are designed to serve the state, to educate the general population of the regions, and yes, to promote economic development for the state and country.
“I have never observed such an obnoxious example of the exploitation of public resources during my time as a legislator. Over twenty years of taxpayer investments into this facility must not be squandered.” — State Sen. Mark Montigny
The Chat tackles the Star Store issue. Former Mayor Lang: “These are world renowned artists and we have shut the door on them by allowing an unstable university system with intransigent leaders coming into our area and telling us what’s good for us. I am tired of people treating us like a colony.”
“UMass must provide student-artists with tuition reimbursement for their ill-advised and rushed exit from Star Store.” — Statement from state Sen. Mark Montigny
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