If you’re studying business, you probably won’t see yourself as just a university graduate – you’ll be a proud graduate of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. The same is true of you aspiring newspaper hacks – you’ll be proud graduates of the Philip Merrill College of Journalism. And if you’re studying government and politics, or geography, or hearing and speech sciences, well, at least you can still identify as a Terp.

The College of Behavioral and Social Sciences is underfunded and riddled with shortcomings. The college has an alarmingly poor student-faculty ratio, the university’s lowest credit hour-to-state funding ratio and some of the university’s largest classes. The problems are starting to drive students toward a common cause – BSOS students are walking out of their classes today in protest. But as Dean Ed Montgomery leaves the college, his replacement should take this opportunity to build a BSOS identity around its academic mission, not just its adversities.

A strong communal identity benefits students most directly – it would foster a cohesive group of academic peers, a better understanding of where the disciplines sit and a clearer sense of academic mission. But a strong college identity also benefits the university. Administrators are increasingly chasing alumni donations, and more than ever the burden for fundraising is falling directly on individual colleges. You’re not likely to donate to a college that you never felt a part of.

It’s not that Montgomery was bad at his job, but a change of leadership is the ideal opportunity to reexamine the college’s priorities. And if you don’t believe that a talented dean can transform a college’s potential, you just don’t know your university history. In 1981, the journalism school had its accreditation suspended. Then, former-dean Reese Cleghorn stepped from news reporting into academia, leading the school to national prominence. Many credit former dean Howard Frank with winning similar successes for the business school.

Although the stories of successful deans might serve as an inspiration for ambition, their approaches to building community won’t serve BSOS very well. Cleghorn cut down the size of the journalism school to focus on quality. The business school is well-known for playing the same game – talk to any student applying to enter business programs, and just wait to hear the grumbles about business school advisors who refuse to talk to non-majors. But raising the walls around BSOS would simply close off too many opportunities to too many students – every single student should have the chance to take a government or psychology course if they’re interested.

Dan Mote first addressed the campus Aug. 30, 1998. It was 90-degrees and sunny, but before he took the podium, he pulled a new University of Maryland sweatshirt over his shirt and tie. Mote had been appointed president two months earlier, but it was at that moment that he became a Terp. Maybe when the new dean arrives on campus, he can throw on a BSOS T-shirt.