Feud over black, white MBA programs rages on

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - The battle over whether duplicate MBA programs create racial segregation raged on Wednesday, with presidents from historically black Morgan and mostly white Towson clashing over a bill that would allow universities to sue to dismantle programs.

“I felt seriously ashamed that I was in a state that wanted to harbor the last vestiges of bigotry and racism,” said Sen. Joan Conway, a Baltimore Democrat pushing legislation for a third year that would let the courts decide whether duplicate programs hurt historically black colleges.

“Everybody seems to know it’s wrong but nobody wants to fix it.”

Morgan President Earl Richardson and William Kirwan, the chancellor of the University System of Maryland, squared off at a Senate hearing Wednesday on the bill, which puts Towson’s three-year-old master in business administration program in jeopardy.

By approving the Towson program, the system’s Board of Regents effectively doomed Morgan’s program because historically black schools traditionally have less funding than white schools, bill supporters argue.

“This is about the principle of whether or not students are entitled to the same resources they are entitled to elsewhere,” said Morgan’s Richardson.

In 2005, the federal Office for Civil Rights raised concerns about the impact of Towson’s MBA program on black schools.

Morgan’s number of MBA students dwindled to 22 in 2000 but has recently seen a resurgence to 120 students under a new business dean.

Towson, which runs its MBA program jointly with University of Baltimore, touted 543 students last year.

“There’s no doubt that unless Towson/UB is curbed some way, it’s going to be a major impact on this marketplace,” said Morgan business dean William Vroman, who did not attend Wednesday’s hearing.

Towson President Bob Caret said competition among programs boosts quality and that more than enough demand from students exists for all the programs to prosper.

“The only way for programs to be successful is to be competitive,” he said.

“We have to be aggressive and synergize with each other.”

Some Morgan students don’t see it that way.

“The duplication of programs disenfranchises students by taking away their academic base,” said Jasmine Hazel, president of Morgan’s Student Government Association.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com

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