Gov. Romney Open To Dorms

Governor Mitt Romney would be “responsive” to housing if it was part of a strategic plan for the university, Chancellor Jo Ann Gora said at a recent Faculty Council meeting.

Romney had cancelled a bond sale, worth $371 million, $218 million of which was meant to go to dorms, in early May. His Administration and Finance Secretary Eric Kriss had called it “fiscally unsound.” In response, then-UMass President William Bulger withdrew the controversial project, panned by some in the community and legislature, citing an old promise the university made to not build dorms on the Dorchester peninsula.

The Board of Trustees continues to show support, said Gora, as does the Secretary of Housing.

Professor Beard Appointed McCormack Grad School Interim Dean

Dr. Edmund Beard has been appointed interim dean to the recently approved John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies.

“Dr. Beard brings with him experience, scholarship, and academic credentials that will serve the Graduate School well,” Provost Paul Fonteyn said of the former Political Science Department chair. Beard has also served as director of the McCormack Institute since 1999, having served previously from 1983 to 1991. “Under his direction, the Institute developed the Master of Science in Public Affairs Graduate Program, established the New England Journal of Public Policy, published several hundred books, papers, and reports, and received over $6 million in federal endowment funds,” said Fonteyn in a memo sent to the university community.

A national search for a permanent dean will get underway shortly.

SNL Star Comes to UMass Amherst

UMass Amherst students got to see Sean Connery, Regis Philbin, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush all under one roof, and all from one man – Saturday Night Live comedian Darrell Hammond.

“I know I’d go down in history for something,” The Daily Collegian, UMass Amherst’s student newspaper quoted him as saying. “But I never thought it was going to be for saying, [in Connery’s voice] ‘Famous titties for 500.’ We figured it wouldn’t work so we loaded the skits up with the dirtiest stuff we could get away with. The censors went out of their minds. I would say things like, ‘I could have been your father, Trebek, but the dog beat me over the fence.’ And I make a living out of this.”

PeopleSoft Fends Off Takeover Bids, Integrates New Company

PeopleSoft, application software which UMass Boston had been using before, fended off a hostile takeover from rival Oracle recently, by integrating recently acquired company JD Edwards, and strengthening an alliance with Sierra Atlantic, according to business press reports.

PeopleSoft and UMass Boston joined up in 2001, to replace outdated administrative systems for human resources. The project, which has spawned numerous complaints of inadequacy, and its implementation has been delayed to save costs.