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Laslo Boyd: Can we carry lessons from ’13 into ’14?
Is there any reasonable expectation that 2014 will be a better year than 2013? George Santayana’s line that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it is the first response that comes to mind.
Letter from the mayor: Laslo, here’s your yardstick
The column “Why strong mayors are important” by Laslo Boyd (Nov. 12) missed an opportunity to highlight how Baltimore is setting standards other big cities are looking to emulate. Baltimore has won national acclaim under my administration as it relates to blight elimination, budget reform and educational investments, to name a few.
Laslo Boyd: Why strong mayors are important
Big city mayors have been much in the news this year. The end of Michael Bloomberg’s 12 years as mayor of New York City has drawn stories describing the many changes that he brought to that city, from major development projects to bike sharing to policing tactics to the recovery from 9/11.
Laslo Boyd: Biggest glitches not with Obamacare
Last week was a big one for the law sometimes referred to as the Affordable Care Act. On Oct. 1, citizens began signing up for health care coverage under the new law. Despite some glitches on the websites that were supposed to make the process an easy one, initial indications showed a lot of demand for the program.
Laslo Boyd: Higher education’s broken financial model
President Obama caused quite a stir in higher education circles recently when he announced that he wants to create a system for rating colleges on which ones provide consumers with the best value. The underlying motivation for his suggestion is a serious one that should provoke more than the reflex responses that you so often hear when anyone raises questions about the cost of college attendance.
Laslo Boyd: So you think being a university president is easy?
It’s true that many of them are quite well-paid. And the job often comes with some nice perks, including a house and a car. Many university presidents are important and influential members of their communities. And whether the sports teams are any good or not, they are guaranteed really good seats, often in a presidential box.
Laslo Boyd: Mayor at a crossroads on violent crime
A recent surge in violence in Baltimore led to an outbreak of press conferences expressing frustration, promising to do better, and urging a longer-term view of what one newspaper account called a “tidal wave of violence.”
Laslo Boyd: What’s next for Coppin State?
Last month, a special review committee appointed by the University System of Maryland and chaired by UMBC president Freeman A. Hrabowski III issued a report that offered a frank and highly disturbing assessment of Coppin State University. The committee, which included four members of the state legislature, two USM regents and six representatives from the Coppin community, did something incredibly [...]
Laslo Boyd: Waivering on hospital costs
There’s a debate raging right now about the rates that hospitals in Maryland can charge. That debate is a short-term version of a much larger and more complicated process that will impact the entire health care system in the state and that may have national implications as well.
Letters to the Editor – 4/23/13
More surreal than the three ironies cited by Laslo Boyd in his April 14 column regarding Towson Athletics [“Three shades of irony – the politics of Towson athletics”] is his curious failure to disclose his role as chief of staff to Interim President Marcia Welsh, which occurred at the onset of Mike Waddell's tenure as athletic director.
Laslo Boyd: Three shades of irony – the politics of Towson athletics
For the past few weeks, there have been numerous articles in the press about President Maravene Loeschke’s decision to eliminate two men’s sports at Towson University and about the involvement of two of the state’s top elected officials in the debate about the decision.
Laslo Boyd: Revolution in higher education at hand
If you have been reading the flurry of recent articles about online education, you have undoubtedly concluded that the “next big thing” is MOOCs. However, if even the acronym mystifies you, let me help. A MOOC is a massive open online course, and they seem to be springing up everywhere, including at some of the nation’s most prestigious universities.
