I write this as one of my last official acts as Student Government Association President, to shed light on a telling question raised by the Chancellor’s Proposed Action Plan to Improve Diversity released on March 12, 2005. Why is it that Chancellor John Lombardi’s proposed plan supports 100 percent of the recommendations regarding Academic Affairs, and zero percent of the recommendations regarding Student Affairs?

Specifically, Lombardi’s plan accepts all 12 of the academic affairs recommendations, and none of the 11 student affairs recommendations.

For thorough background and details of the Chancellor’s plan and the issues that surround it, see “Open Letter to Chancellor Lombardi and the Campus Community,” at www.takebackumass.com, along with a detailed summary of the complete 27 recommendations presented by the Commission on Campus Diversity and the chancellor’s responses.

I sincerely wish that I was wrong about this, but this reveals a longstanding plan by a high-ranking UMass official to usurp the autonomy of the SGA and silence the voice of dissenting students. This plan has been in the works since long before the Commission on Campus Diversity was formed. If allowed to proceed, it will take control of the following SGA functions: the school newspaper, television station, radio station, legal services office, commuter services center, and office of minority advocacy and education.

The recent ban on indoor campus demonstrations was in direct response to a protest against actions related to this plan, and was the direct action of the force at work here to marginalize student government. In fact, closer inspection of the content and writing style of Chancellor Lombardi’s response to the Commission Report suggests that the document was actually drafted by this same official.

If this plan is implemented, it will form an umbrella with one purpose: to ensure that the University speaks with one voice. It will finalize many years of planning to control any voices that may possibly dissent from the campus’ message.

The Commission on Campus Diversity Findings

The main question that the Commission on Campus Diversity raised was: How will you recruit and retain minority students? On this issue the Commission adopted a strong position when it stated: “It is critical to the UMass Amherst mission that Commonwealth students who achieve against the odds are given the opportunity to attend the flagship campus.”

Perhaps, the most the most telling event in the Diversity Commission experience was the testimony of Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Michael Gargano. Uri Strauss, Graduate Student Senate President asked, “V.C. Gargano, we have heard for quite some time about a reorganization of 41 agencies in Student Affairs that is coming down regardless of what the Diversity Commission recommends. Can you, here and now, publicly deny this rumor?”

Gargano responded, “I have tried to move this campus forward but have met tremendous resistance, and the resistance is ‘orchestrated by some shall we say, ‘Directors’ … I am going to reorganize Student Affairs because I need total cooperation to move the campus forward.”

He said total cooperation, we heard total control.

The Student’s Response: Take Back UMass

It so happens that the tremendous “resistance” that the Vice Chancellor sees as an impediment to the university moving forward resides within the organization that currently houses much student activism, the SGA. It appears that the Vice Chancellor has come to three conclusions: 1) that the resistance he faces is wrong; 2) that it resides in a capricious and misguided few; and 3) that it is best solved with the removal some “so called Directors.”

Gargano’s mention of resistance in his testimony is reminiscent of a physician who thinks he is operating on insignificant surface tissue, but is actually tampering with a vital organ. He attributes the resistance to a select group of individuals (the surface tissue) that he seeks to over power, but fails to realize that these individuals in fact represent the spirit of the founding mission of UMass (the vital organ).

The Vice Chancellor faces tremendous resistance because he overlooks the founding mission of the organization that he serves: to provide high quality education for the average citizen of the Commonwealth. He and Chancellor Lombardi seem to forget this in their zeal to solve the University’s financial woes with the single minded pursuit of elite rankings and affluent students.

We have witnessed a growing rhetoric from the administration over the past year that we perceive as insensitive to the struggle for equality of the disadvantaged. I am referring here to statements made by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs, such as: “If you are poor go to Community College,” “At UMass, we need more Abercrombie and Fitch and less GAP,” “The state has decided that higher education is a privilege and not a right,” and, “It is discriminatory to offer separate services based on skin color.”

Preserve a Noble Tradition

UMass shines in our eyes because of its longstanding tradition of providing quality education for families with limited resources and special needs. No other place that we know of maintains this tradition as a core value. There is no place else for these families to turn to. Community Colleges are a wonderful resource. However, we all know that that you cannot compare the quality of education they offer to the State’s flagship school.

We realize the importance of improving the ranking of UMass Amherst and attracting quality affluent students. The problem we have is with the single minded pursuit of status at the direct expense of the disadvantaged. When we object, the response is to strip us (SGA) of our resources and autonomy.

Do the missions to attain high academic standards and offer affordable world class education to the average citizen have to conflict? Do we have to exclude the bright, motivated minds that come from disadvantaged families to attract the affluent, successful student? Would that not transform us into one more of the many private elite colleges that abound in the Commonwealth?

The administration would be well served to realize that there is wisdom in the collective voice of Take Back UMass. It can feel proud to serve a university that is blessed with a noble tradition and gives its students a strong voice. It can honor that voice by recognizing the Alternative Proposal submitted on March 22, 2005 on www.takebackumass.com. Then it will find that strong cooperation to move this campus forward is within its grasp.

Get Involved

Chancellor Lombardi has scheduled a period to receive feedback on his proposal. The SGA urges you to make your voice heard by e-mail, at [email protected]. The SGA and its allies have submitted an alternative proposal from the one prepared by the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs. I ask that you let Chancellor Lombardi know your values. You want to preserve UMass’ 30-year tradition of student advocacy. You want a student newspaper run by students, and a student government that allocates its own budget. Most of all, you want a campus that preserves its founding mission.

Eduardo Bustamante is a UMass student and SGA President.