The University of Massachusetts Amherst will receive $600 to $800 million in state funding through the Build Resilient Infrastructure to Generate Higher-Ed Transformation (BRIGHT) Act.
The 3.28 billion dollar BRIGHT Act, passed by the Massachusetts Senate in February 2026, aims in public higher education campuses and boost students’ learning experience. The UMass system is set to receive $1.25 billion in funding for campus projects, which will be dispersed over 10 years.
Tilman Wolf, deputy chancellor for operational and organizational strategies, discussed the university’s plans for the funds in the Student Government Association’s (SGA) weekly meeting on Wednesday, April 15.
“This is particularly exciting to us here at UMass Amherst,” Wolf said. “We’ll use [capital money] to build buildings, to [make] major renovations and improvements to our campus infrastructure.”
Wolf estimated that the $600 million could fund ten small renovation projects, like classroom upgrades or two to three big renovation or demolition projects on campus.
“We have to be really selective about where we want to put [the fund],” Wolf said.
Wolf also discussed possible planning criteria to be considered when allocating the funding, including reducing carbon footprints and improving classrooms and class labs to a common standard.
Students can complete a survey to offer suggestions on capital projects to improve the campus.
The SGA also discussed a motion to change the SGA bylaws that impact the Residential Student Organization (RSO) application process.
According to William Hood, chair of the Undergraduate Registry Oversight Committee (UROC), the main problem with the current bylaws is maintaining enough funds for the growing number of RSOs. There are currently 350 RSOs, and 50 of them were newly accepted this semester.
“If we keep letting in that many RSOs the way things are now, everything is just going to go to c**p pretty quickly,” Hood said.
To fix the issue, Hood suggested five major changes to the bylaws. The SGA will establish new guidelines for RSOs, introduce Residential Student Groups (RSG), establish an RSG application process, change the RSO application process and reorganize the 40-page bylaws.
RSG’s would be designed for new groups that would hold fewer big events and require less funding and advising from the SGA.
All new RSO applicants will start as RSGs and will only be eligible for RSO status once the RSG has been active for four academic semesters.
“An RSG is like a trial run to becoming an RSO,” Hood said.
Hood said that the RSG application process will be easier than RSO’s, as they will have shorter trainings and longer re-registration periods for missed deadlines.
The new motion also urges for the Constitutional Auditing Process (CAP) to be eliminated. This change will reduce the time SGA and RSOs spend sending the constitution back and forth for revisions.
Senator Charles Walker-Hoover voiced his concern about some of the changes, specifically the challenges the new guidelines will pose for RSOs with a national office and an on-campus source advisor.
Walker-Hoover is also the president for the UMass chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). He mentioned how the RSO’s election guidelines conflict with the NAACP’s national office.
“It’s not just NAACP that does this, [but also organizations like] Sunrise [and] UMass Dems,” Walker-Hoover said. “[We answer] to two different people and it can sometimes be a headache.”
Changes and amendments to the motion are being made. The motion will go up for voting in next week’s SGA meeting on April 22.
Chantelle Nguyen can be reached at [email protected].
