"U-Md. College Park Seeks $70 Million...," the Washington Post, February 13, 1998 <p>The Washington Post, February 13, 1998 <p>Copyright 1998 The Washington Post <p>February 13, 1998, Friday, Final Edition <p>SECTION: METRO; Pg. B04 HEADLINE: U-Md. College Park Seeks $70 Million; Regents Say Additional Funds Would Help School Become Flagship BYLINE: Eugene L. Meyer, Washington Post Staff Writer <p>The University of Maryland's Board of Visitors, fearful that the College Park campus could get shortchanged under a statewide funding system for higher education, has asked the governor for an extra $ 70 million over the next four years specifically for the school. <p>The request, privately submitted to Gov. Parris N. Glendening (D) last week, comes as legislative leaders have proposed a special task force to review the 13-campus University of Maryland System, which, some critics contend, has kept College Park from achieving its intended status as the state's "flagship" institution. <p>To rectify that shortcoming, the 32-member Board of Visitors, which comprises corporate executives and leading citizens, asked Glendening to include in his supplemental budget request this spring an initial $ 7 million increase for College Park, and then increase the figure by $ 7 million in each of the succeeding three years, adding up to $ 70 million. Board members also met with leaders of the General Assembly to garner support. <p>Joseph Tydings, a former U.S. senator from Maryland and a member of the Board of Visitors, said that Glendening, who taught at College Park for 27 years, seemed amenable to helping secure the funds. "But he said everybody else [also] wants the money," Tydings said, adding that legislative leaders had signaled their support. <p>Glendening "understands there are immense needs, and he will work with the legislature to meet those needs," said Judi Scioli, the governor's spokeswoman. <p>The additional funds, according to the board's confidential proposal, would help to bring College Park in line with its "aspirational peers," including the University of California at Berkeley, University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Michigan, the University of Minnesota and the University of North Carolina. Those schools spend an annual average of $ 2,278 more per student than does Maryland. <p>Maryland's 1988 higher education act designated College Park as the flagship of the system, but the extra funding promised to make it so evaporated during the early 1990s recession. Last year, Maryland's spending on higher education as a percentage of its total appropriation was the lowest among 15 southern and border states. <p>Glendening has proposed spending $ 640 million over the next four years on the state's university system, but College Park is one of 13 campuses contending for funds. The board's request is for additional money specifically earmarked for College Park. <p>The proposal also comes at a time when the university's longtime president, William E. Kirwan, is leaving July 1 to assume the presidency of the Ohio State University. Kirwan has said insufficient statewide funding has hampered College Park's ability to compete for staff and students with top-ranked public universities elsewhere. <p>Under Kirwan's leadership, the board's proposal said, College Park "is within striking distance of becoming a world-class research university. Historically low levels of state support, however, threaten the University's progress." The so-called Flagship Initiative was developed in consultation with Kirwan and with his support, Tydings said. <p>Tydings said support for College Park has languished over the years because the state's leaders have traditionally attended private institutions. Support has risen recently, he said, as business leaders, in Baltimore particularly, have come to recognize the high-tech job-generating potential of a top-ranking public university. <p>The board recommended that the additional funds, if approved, be spent in the areas of information technology and life sciences and to enhance the university's library, classrooms and labs and its extension services across the state.