Funds for U-Md. Golf Course Questioned

At a charity golf outing last summer, the University of Maryland's campus pro was paired with two avid golfers: Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R) and first lady Kendel S. Ehrlich. Their encounter at basketball coach Gary Williams's event would lead to a $1.5 million project tucked into the budget for the university.

Nonetheless, Ehrlich delayed spending for a year on one of the campus's top priorities: replacing a pair of leaky, 50-year-old science buildings where laboratories lack reliable power and temperature control for research.

Campus boosters -- already concerned that the governor's budget shortchanged College Park by giving more to other state universities -- questioned the decision to pay for a golf course repair that university officials hadn't thought to ask for.

"The golf course is a wonderful place, but the priority ought to go to what's important to the economic development of the state," said James C. Rosapepe, a member of the Board of Regents appointed by Ehrlich's Democratic predecessor. "Our recommendation was science, and the decision was made to go with golf."

To the Ehrlich administration, the question is not golf vs. science. Projects were delayed throughout the university system to free up cash for hefty investments in K-12 school construction in the $1.4 billion capital spending plan presented last week. Plus, the governor said, he is trying to play catch-up at the state's historically black colleges, such as Coppin State University, and expand others designated for enrollment growth, such as Towson University.

"For years and years and years, we've heard from Coppin and Towson that they got short shrift. That's the truth," Ehrlich said in an interview. "Some campuses benefit more depending on the year. You can't get lost in all that."

As for repairs to the golf course, the governor said, the small-ticket items in the budget give him some flexibility to consider personal interests and relationships.

The $1.5 million spent over two years would fix the golf course's drainage problem, while the $10 million that university officials requested for a two-year period would just start the planning to renovate College Park's chemistry building and build a new physical sciences complex.

"On the big projects, you weigh them, you try to get them done," the governor said. "With the minors, you get into personal requests, things that interest you, of course."

The smaller projects in Ehrlich's capital budget include $750,000 for a Langley Park community center that offers gang prevention and anti-drug programs and $440,000 to restore the state's oldest synagogue, part of the Jewish Museum of Maryland in Baltimore.

A review of the list also confirms the former college football player's strong interest in sports: There is $3 million earmarked for a minor league baseball stadium in Southern Maryland, $1 million for the YMCA in Towson and $1 million to complete a youth-sized replica of Camden Yards in Harford County for a youth baseball academy.

The Harford project is backed by Orioles' great Cal Ripkin, who has visited legislative leaders to secure their support.