'It Is Now Time for the College's Accounting of Events'

The group was facilitated by Robin Roberts of Resolve, a professional facilitation firm, and eight meetings and frequent electronic exchanges among the members led to the completion of a report containing a number of recommendations and suggestions. This report was presented to the Building and Grounds Committee of the board of trustees at a special meeting Oct. 5.

¿ While the 4-Cs committee could not reach a consensus on two overriding options -- to move or not to move the Rowing Center -- we did identify the pros and cons of each option and we did distill 14 possible move options down to two. Three members from the community spoke about the committee's process and advocated for their positions. The Buildings and Grounds Committee chairperson thanked the entire committee for its good faith effort and the hundreds of hours that went into producing the report. On Oct. 6, the Buildings and Grounds Committee reported the outcome of the 4-Cs work to the full board and indicated that it would make a progress report at the next meeting of the board of trustees on Dec. 1. The full report of the 4-Cs is posted on the college Web site, http://www.smcm.edu, under "Waterfront Improvement Project."

¿ As was discussed in the open meetings and in the 4-Cs committee, construction of the main River Center building will proceed while the college undertakes an assessment of the options in the advisory committee's report.

¿ While the college is now in the midst of a good-faith effort to resolve the issue of the Rowing Center, some have continued to press their agenda for an immediate decision to move the building. Unfortunately, the campaign to move the Rowing Center has also included implied threats of arson that the college has taken seriously, as it must to protect the well-being of its students. Security has been enhanced, and the involvement of state and local authorities has been sought. We will not take the threat of violence lightly, and we will resist threats vigorously.

¿ It has been suggested that the lack of an immediate decision to move the Rowing Center suggests an institutional arrogance. What it really suggests is an institution committed to balancing the needs of its students with the interests of its neighbors in a thoughtful and fair process, with all sides being heard. St. Mary's has had an independent board since its founding in 1840, and the hard work of senior statesmen, including J. Frank Raley and William Donald Schaefer, has kept the board independent through its evolution into a four-year college and its designation as Maryland's "public honors college" by the state legislature in 1992.

St. Mary's has been called the nation's only charter college because of its unique governance structure, which has been critical to its rise as one of America's "Top 25 Hottest Schools" (Newsweek, Aug. 27). Furthermore, almost one-half of the trustees live in Southern Maryland or maintain residences here. These individuals are connected closely to the interests of this region, whereas a remote board of regents with little or no involvement in our region would only distance the college from its community. The very suggestion runs counter to the incredible legacy and well-being of Maryland's Monument School and would be resisted vehemently by more than 11,000 alumni and the more than 1,200 who live right here in St. Mary's County.

¿ The policy on tuition has been raised as another problem. It has been mentioned in public meetings that the college has raised its tuition when other state institutions have not. What is left out of the argument is that the other institutions with a different governance and budget agreement with the state received a hefty additional appropriation equal to their proposed rise in tuition while St. Mary's did not, and thus could not offer a zero percent tuition increase, as did the other state institutions. We find it troublesome that those who are in command of such facts would choose to distort the truth.

We sincerely appreciate the many years of strong support for the college by the St. Mary's County commissioners, and we look forward to a productive future of working together for the benefit of the county's citizens.