Three weeks after the Board of Public Works approved nearly $150 million in budget cuts for this year, Gov. Wes Moore (D) announced Thursday that 36 colleges and universities will provide nearly $19 million in grants for campus safety projects.
Funding is administered through the Maryland Higher Education Commission’s Campus Safety Grant program and includes campus safety assessments, implementation of enhanced safety measures and mechanisms, and emergency management planning.
The universities receiving the funds must monitor each program and submit a quarterly performance and financial report to the Commission.
“Public safety is the top priority of our administration,” said a statement from Moore, chairman of the three-member Board of Public Works. “These grants will enable our colleges to continue investing in infrastructure that will help make our campuses safer for students, faculty and staff.”
Administration officials said last month that $54 million, or more than a third, of the $150 million in budget cuts the committee ultimately approved went to higher education funding. That includes a $6 million cut in state grants to colleges and universities to improve security.
During homecoming festivities at Morgan State University last fall, five people were shot in a shooting on October 3, leading to the cancellation of the rest of the homecoming events. About five days later, two people were shot on the night of homecoming festivities at Bowie State University.
But on Thursday, Bowie State and Morgan State — along with the state’s two other historically black colleges and universities, Coppin State University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore — were among 36 colleges, universities and community colleges scheduled to share the public safety grant.
“The Maryland Higher Education Commission is a committed partner in meeting the public safety needs of Maryland’s institutions,” Sanjay Rai, secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission, said in the statement from the governor’s office. “We must continue to improve our institutions of higher education to ensure our students, faculty and staff have ideal learning and working environments.”
