President Perman's commitment to shared governance at UMB is paramount to its success as a university. Our faculty, staff and student senates are extremely active in evaluating the effectiveness of the university and formulating strategic plans to better our campus community. Additionally, we prioritize the needs of our neighbors in West Baltimore and facilitate productive communal relationships, such as the UniverCity Partnership, that can only persist under local leadership. It's true that SB1052 offers some benefits to UMB including a new Center for Economic and Entrepreneurship Development, a Center for Maryland Advanced Ventures and an improved transportation system between the universities, but it's worth noting that these enhancements could easily be implemented without merging the two schools. In fact, the foundation for these partnerships is already in place under the MPowering the State program, and there are many existing precedents for the proposed resource sharing. If this bill passes, UMB will see the mere growth of pre-existing perks for the price of ownership by UMD. That is a price many of us at UMB refuse to pay.