The University of Massachusetts Faculty Senate met yesterday afternoon and introduced the school's interim president, Jack Wilson, who is replacing former President William Bulger after his recent resignation.
Bulger left the University after pressure to resign from Governor Mitt Romney and other lawmakers, due to his relationship with his brother James 'Whitey' Bulger, a ringleader of a South Boston organized crime ring. Wilson was serving as vice president for Academic Affairs when he was appointed.
The interim president touched upon several issues, including receiving financial support from the state government, attempting to fix a tarnished post-riot image of UMass, as well as the updated admissions policy regarding race.
Wilson regarded the current attitude of lawmakers towards the importance of funding the University as good.
"One of the things I was struck by was the level of support we're getting," Wilson said. "[When] I spoke to senate president Travelinni, I was starting to tell the story of why the University was important and he started telling it for me."
He also said that even in the face of the state's $1.9 billion deficit, that the University contracts must be funded.
"The contracts are out there, deserve to be funded, and need to be funded," he said.
When asked by a Senate member how the University can reverse the bad image it has received from the press in recent months, and especially this past week, Wilson said receiving more funding is a solution. He explained that if the University receives more funding, either publicly or privately, it sends a message to people outside the school that the institution is worthy of the money and is therefore still reputable.
Wilson mentioned that UMass Amherst has already teamed up with Baystate Medical Center, resulting in a public-private partnership. Baystate provided funding for full and part-time faculty members to the School of Nursing, while School of Nursing provided Baystate's Staff Development Department by offering classes that prepare nurses in their role of mentoring new nurses, as a part of the partnership.
"We need to show this to the public," he said.
When asked by the new president of the graduate student body, Jose Perez, whether he believed that racism still exists on campus and how he was dealing with the minority position on campus, he began his answer by saying that he believes racism does still exist.
"I believe there's still racism," he said, "and we need to have programs to deal with that."
He then talked about the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in the case versus the University of Michigan, which ruled that the University could not award points to applicants based on race or have racial quotas. He said UMass would obey the court order, but that race would still be used in admissions as part of a "holistic approach."
At the end of Wilson's question and answer session, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, Michael Gargano, said that Family Day, Oct. 4 was an enormous success due to a record attendance. He announced there would be two additional Family Days held this semester, the next day being October 25.
Wilson has worked in higher education for 34 years. His curriculum vitae includes jobs held at the University of Maryland and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Some of his positions included professor of physics, engineering science, information technology and management and Dean of Undergraduate Education and Professional and Continuing Education at RPI. He was a professor of physics at the University of Maryland for eight years.
