Maryland's MBA Melee

A decision by the Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC) to allow the University of Baltimore (UB) to offer a joint MBA program with Towson University is bringing objections from Morgan State University, a historically black college also in Baltimore. Morgan State President Earl S. Richardson says the creation of the joint program between the two public schools will divert state resources from Morgan State's MBA program, which is struggling with just 28 students. Richardson adds that the joint program undermines federal protections offered to historically black colleges and universities.

Towson President Robert L. Caret first approached Richardson to interest him in offering a joint MBA degree, but the presidents couldn't agree on certain points, and the program never took shape, the schools say. Towson, which has more than 2,600 undergraduate business students, then struck a deal with UB, an upper-division school, which already had a nearly 200-student MBA program.