UMass breakfast highlights town-gown relations

By Kristin Palpini
Staff Writer

Published on September 07, 2007

The University of Massachusetts and town of Amherst will thrive if the two entities continue to invest in each other. That was the message delivered to a crowd of hundreds at the 41st annual town-gown community breakfast Aug. 30.

Sponsored by UMass and the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, the event brings together town officials, UMass personnel, politicians and community leaders at the Franklin Dining Commons for a look ahead at the coming academic year.

The UMass Marching Band adds a pep rally feel.

Mutual cooperation and appreciation was a theme this year.

With a story about A.J. Hastings Inc., a South Pleasant Street stationery and supply store, Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce President Cinda Jones gave a century-old example of the economic success that can blossom because of the UMass-town connection.

As Jones tells it, in the early 1900s, Asa Hastings was looking for a town to host a new paper goods business. He had a choice between Amherst, a "puritanical cow town" with a few hat makers, or Turners Falls, a thriving manufacturing community, double the population is has today. Hastings chose Amherst.

"Because of UMass and Amherst (College) he saw that Amherst was going to increase and become more prosperous," Jones said. "And Hastings is still open today."

<h4>Huge impact could be bigger</h4>

"UMass' impact on the local economy is huge, but it could be greater," Jones continued. "UMass is a partner in future economic development and we need to sustain that."

Associate Chancellor Esther Terry, co-chairwoman of the UMass Amherst Community Campaign, continued the theme, talking about how much Amherst, as a community, gives to the university.

"I want to say, to a community that tells us every day that we're special, thank you, and let us give something back to you," Terry said.

The program allows UMass employees to donate money to various charities, many of them local, directly from their paychecks. Last year, UMass employees gave $400,500 to charities through the program, with 62 percent to local institutions. In 10 years, UMACC has collected over $3.8 million in donations.

Relations between UMass and Amherst were bolstered by the signing last month of a new five-year pact that will address issues, including payments to the town for fire and ambulance services, agreements on schools, public utilities and cooperation in economic development.

The early morning gala featured a handful of speakers, but was missing a state-of-the-campus address by a UMass chancellor.

Former Chancellor John V. Lombardi left last Thursday for Louisiana where he will lead the Bayou State's university system. Interim Chancellor Thomas W. Cole Jr., was set to arrive in Amherst Aug. 31. A round-up of the coming academic year was left to John Dubach, chief information officer and special assistant to the chancellor, and Michael Gargano, vice chancellor for student affairs and campus life.

Dubach discussed the schedule of the ongoing $1 billion campus capital campaign. The new $118 million Central Heating Plant is set to go online in March and construction at the $93 million Integrated Science Building and the $25 million Arts Studio Building are on course, he said. A ground-breaking ceremony for a $50 million student recreation center will be held this fall.

Gargano ran down statistics about the incoming class of 4,190 freshmen. This year's class boasts an average 3.48 grade point average and most of the students rank in the 23rd percentile of their high school class, Gargano said.

"These students will achieve at UMass-Amherst and that doesn't happen just because of the university, but because of the community," Gargano said.

In closing, Gargano also pointed out to the crowd that UMass-Amherst has fallen off the Princeton Review's list of the top 20 party schools in the country. Last year UMass was ranked the 7th best place to chug beer.