The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and Economic Development held capital budget hearings for the University System of Maryland yesterday afternoon, but much of the university's most pressing capital needs won't even have the opportunity to receive funding after being left out of Gov. Martin O'Malley's initial budget submission in January. Higher education has garnered serious attention after Democrats were swept into congress last November, but discussion has been shallow at best and politically opportunistic at worst.
All the showboating on a potential tuition freeze has brushed over deeper issues that influence the quality of the university not just the quality of life for its students. Of particular note are the university's increasingly crumbling facilities. O'Malley's budget failed to include $3.4 million in preliminary funding for the construction of a new physics building and $28.8 million in funds for the renovation of the Tawes Fine Arts Building.
The 50-year-old Physics Building is the concrete shoes of the physics department, driving away current and prospective faculty disgusted with forlorn facilities that are barely capable of modernized research. In 2002, a university electrician even died in an explosion in the building. A later investigation found four safety violations that possibly contributed to his death.
Though not quite as dramatic, the English department is suffering from the indignities of a thousand paper cuts: It has had "temporary housing" in Susquehanna Hall for 17 years. There is a plan for the department to be eventually reunited with Tawes, it's rightful headquarters, but who knows when this can become reality.
Troubles for core academic departments in the university are troubles for us all. Though it is neither sexy nor politically advantageous for Annapolis politicians to address silly things such as "academic quality," it's simply the right thing to do. It's too late this budget cycle for these projects to be funded, but this isn't crying over spilled milk. We're trying to point out a pungent, fermented mess that has laid unattended for far too long, and it's time for someone to clean it up.
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