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Morgan State leaders urge committee to restore MHEC review after undergraduate-program approvals were narrowed
Summary
Sen. Cory McCray proposed a one-year fix and study in an amended Senate Bill 983 aimed at restoring oversight of undergraduate program approvals; Morgan State President Wilson and Associate VP Phyllis Keys testified the change allows duplicative undergraduate proposals and could harm HBCUs unless MHEC's review is reinstated.
Sen. Cory McCray told the Appropriations Committee that the amendment to Senate Bill 983 "puts it in a posture where it makes a one-year fix and then it goes about studying" the Maryland Higher Education Commission's (MHEC) academic program approval process. He said the amendment is intended to be a temporary correction and to restore review policies while the state studies longer-term reforms.
Dr. Wilson, identified in the hearing as President Wilson of Morgan State University, testified that MHEC "no longer reviews academic degree programs at the undergraduate level" and that the commission's current interpretation means undergraduate program proposals that would duplicate existing programs elsewhere in the state can proceed without the prior oversight. He warned that allowing duplicative undergraduate proposals to be installed without review has already led to multiple proposals that could harm Morgan and other HBCUs.
Phyllis Keys, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs at Morgan State University, said Morgan has 62 undergraduate programs and that "more than 10% of our programs have had new programs that have been put in by other institutions within the state of Maryland to basically duplicate programs that we already have in place." She and Dr. Wilson asked the committee to restore MHEC review of both undergraduate and graduate programs to prevent misuse of state resources and avoid unnecessary duplication.
Committee members asked for clarification about whether non-HBCU institutions could establish duplicative programs and how MHEC currently judges proposals that rely on "existing resources in place" to avoid oversight. Witnesses said the phrase is not applied with a clear, rigorous standard and expressed concern that wealthier institutions with private funding could use resources to avoid review, putting less-resourced HBCUs at a disadvantage.
The sponsor framed the amendment as a stopgap measure that would allow the state to fix the oversight gap for one year while conducting a fuller study. The committee closed testimony and planned to take the bill up at the scheduled vote time.
The hearing record shows HBCU leaders urging that the word "graduate" be removed from the problematic statutory wording so that MHEC again reviews both undergraduate and graduate program proposals.
