Area Colleges Meet In Anti-CLT Group

President Derek C. Bok and other top university executives are meeting with Boston-area business leaders to discuss strategies for defeating the November ballot initiative sponsored by the Citizens for Limited Taxation (CLT), officials of participating universities said yesterday.

Concerned that future state budget cuts might place Massachusetts' entire educational system at risk, the group has met several times during the past month to outline the possible impact of the anti-tax referendum, according to Vice President for Government and Community Affairs John Shattuck.

The CLT petition would roll all state taxes and fees back to their 1988 levels, forcing state officials to cut more than $1 billion from this year's budget. Shattuck said that public and private universities alike would feel these cuts through a loss of state scholarship funds and a reduction of basic municipal services.

Shattuck said that Bok, who has argued that higher education in the U.S. is in a state of crisis, is deeply concerned about the impact of such cuts in Massachusetts.

"CLT would have an impact that would be devastating to education at all levels," said Barbara Rubel, director of community relations at Tufts University, which has participated in the discussions.

In addition to Bok, members of the group--known as the Business Coalition for Responsible Change--include Jean Mayer president of Tufts University; the Rev. J. Donald Monan, president of Boston College; and Joseph Duffey, Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, according to James W. Segel '67, the group's executive director.

Prominent business organizations represented in the group include Baybanks, the Bank of New England, New England Electric and Stride Rite, Shattuck said.

State education experts said yesterday that the greatest danger posed by the CLT petition is the potential loss of state scholarship funds.

Even in the best-case scenario, students would receive only 40 percent of the state financial aid now available if CLT passes, said Clare M. Cotton, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts. Cotton said that the cuts could be so severe that the state would have to eliminate all scholarship funds.

"Students, institutions, or both together will have to come up with more money," Cotton said.

Although private universities like Harvard would not feel the CLT petition's bite quite as overwhelmingly as state-funded institutions would, they would be hurt nonetheless, according to Shattuck and officials from other schools.

"We have been told that if CLT passes, the likelihood will be that there would be no more state scholarship programs. That would affect quite a few Tufts students," said Rubel.

Segal noted that the CLT petition would likely result in further cuts in stateaid to cities and towns, funds which are now usedto pay for basic services like police and fireprotection.

"Less monies would be going to cities andtowns, and most of the services that Harvardstudents take advantage of at some time or anotherwould be affected," he said.

Julian E. Barnes contributed to thereporting of this story.