Word: state
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1950-1959
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Massachusetts--UMass--had long since thrown off the the "agricultural school" odium before Mather moved into the presidency in 1954. But primarily through Mather's efforts the Amherst school is raising itself from the lower ranks of educational society into the upper reaches--despite the interference of the state legislature. The short-sighted efforts of a few senators on Beacon Hill brought about the president's resignation early last month, ignited public controversy, and demonstrated the tremendous changes in the seam-splitting state university...
...turned away when they heard the UMass emoluments; full professors started at $6,812 per year, and could earn a legal maximum of $8,684, slightly less than half the comparable salaries at Harvard. But a larger issue encompasses many of the UMass problems: How much control should the state government exert over its land-grant college? Massachusetts has gained a certain notoriety for the inordinate amount of academic control held by the state legislature. For example, the University of Massachusetts cannot keep any fees paid to it--tuition, board charges, room rents--but must turn the money over...
...achieve a higher faculty pay scale, legislative approval had to be obtained. Last spring, the university's administration doubled tuition, from $100 to $200 for state residents, to make the pay hike possible. Massachusetts actually profited by the change. Some additional $644,000 would have been obtained, and only $479,000 disbursed to the faculty. Bill 1030, the pay-raise proposal, seemed certain of passage. Governor Foster Furcolo deliberated a special message ("high quality public education is the Commonwealth's greatest natural resource"); President Mather stumped the state and appeared before the powerful Committee on Education; and students rallied...
...accused the university of attempting to establish "its own distinctive caste system that sets up discriminatory classification system identifying [teachers] separately and distinctively from everyone else." Finally the Senate Ways and Means Committee delivered the crushing blow by coupling the faculty raise with a general hike for all state employees, a bill that would eventually cost $12.3 million yearly. Thus Bill 1030 went down to defeat on August 14 before a group of economy-minded senators...
...double-cross of the first order." President Mather minced no words in expressing his opinion of members of the State Senate following the defeat of the pay increase. "After all, we cannot attract professors with fresh air and a small town atmosphere. And the idea of a 'dedicated teacher' who completely ignores his salary is a great deal of bunk," Mather cuttingly remarked. Two days later, in order to call public attention to the legislature's actions, the president resigned his post effective June 30, 1960. He showed no intention of dropping his fight, however. "During this, my final academic...