News

Resurrecting a UMaine tradition

'The Prism' set to return to campus for the first time since 1997

By Meredith Holt

Posted on Feb. 03, 2003, at 12:00 a.m.

Julie Hunter

Yearbooks ranging from 1905 to 1991 can be found on the third floor of Chadbourne Hall. Plans to reestablish 'The Prism' are underway.

For the first time in nearly six years, plans are underway for a student yearbook at the University of Maine.

“The Prism” has been defunct since 1997 due to budget problems, staff shortage and lack of student interest. Despite “The Prism’s” volatile past, members of Student Government are ready to start the process of reestablishing the yearbook.

The General Student Senate passed a resolution Tuesday, Jan. 28 to create a yearbook director within Student Entertainment. The yearbook director will have the task of creating a feasibility report for presentation on May 22. The report will address issues such as funding, choosing a publisher, a timeline and creating guidelines for yearbook staff.

“Every high school has a yearbook, I don’t see why the University of Maine can’t do the same,” Student Government President Matthew C. Rodrigue said.

In the resolution, Rodrigue and Student Government Vice President Matthew O. Gagnon identified the Alumni Association, the vice president for development and Student Activities and Events as supporters of the project.

Rodrigue said he wants to start the yearbook with low costs and expand from there.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of support … people have been talking about [a yearbook] for a long time,” Rodrigue said. “We’re at the point where we’re ready.”

The most recent UMaine yearbook was published in 1997, only after a few students came forward and completed the entire project in less than three months. Only three staff members are pictured on the yearbook staff page. The 1997 yearbook cost $20 and is 100 pages long, not including the additional “World Yearbook” section.

“When we heard back in March that there was not going to be a yearbook, we felt compelled to take on the task of making something that the class of 1997 and their friends and family could look back on,” Janet Oprendek and Amanda Shannon, editors of the 1997 yearbook, wrote.

In a Feb. 1997 article of The Maine Campus, H. Maxwell Burry, then-president of the General Alumni Association and volunteer adviser of the yearbook, said “The Prism” was “defunct and out of business.”

Along with others working on the yearbook, Burry cited lack of student interest as the cause. If too few students sign up to buy the yearbook, not enough fundscan be generated.

The 1997 edition of “The Prism” had a simple navy blue and silver cover, including the UMaine seal. Examples of other covers include a simple black embossed cover (1993-1994) and a cover decorated with colorful leaves (1992-1993).

It was also a struggle for the previous year’s staff to get a yearbook published. They managed to print 1,000 copies of the 1996 yearbook, and each cost $35, according to information in the back of the yearbook.

“From budgetary problems and a small staff to a decrease in the popularity of yearbooks, we were presented with obstacles from day one,” Aaron Hunter, editor in chief of the 1996 edition, wrote in the yearbook.

“Budgetary problems” may have been an understatement. According to a 1997 article of the The Maine Campus, Dwight Rideout, senior associate dean of students, estimated a yearbook debt of $24,500.

According to the article, the yearbook owed its publishing company Herff Jones $18,000, a past publishing company, Jostens $4,000, and an individual who offered assistance $2,500. The university also wrote off $5,000 that the yearbook owed.

Mark Anderson, interim chief financial officer, said in 1997 that getting behind a little each year contributed to the debt. The yearbook committee would use funds from the following year to pay the debt off, and the cycle continued.

However, Jeff Mills, president of the Alumni Association and vice president for advancement, said in the same article the yearbook’s debt could have been caused by its 1995 editor, Brent J. Murray. Murray was convicted of stealing funds he collected for the yearbooks. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and ordered to repay the university $8,000. Mills said at the time that he believed all the embezzled funds were not repaid, but he could not say for sure.

Although the General Student Senate and the Student Alumni Association allocated funds to “The Prism” to help pay off its debt, Chris Washburn, then-vice president for financial affairs, said printing companies would not want to get involved with debt owed to other companies.

UMaine Bookstore director Bill Hockensmith suggested exploring other schools’ yearbook projects for ideas. He mentioned an interactive CD-ROM yearbook as an alternative way of preserving memories for students. CD-ROMs would be cheaper than traditional yearbooks, he said.

The Bookstore would play a minor role in the creation of a yearbook. Hockensmith said it would be involved in order-taking and distribution.

“If there’s a way for the Bookstore to assist, I’d be open-minded,” Hockensmith said.

While college life is often too intense to allow for reflection, many alumni 10 or 20 years along the road want to maintain the connection, Hockensmith said. A yearbook is one way to maintain that connection.

The Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity currently publishes a freshman “face book.” They send out a letter to incoming freshmen the summer before they arrive. The book serves as a way for freshmen to get to know their class. Dan Burgess, vice president of Pi Kappa Alpha, said he supports the idea of a UMaine yearbook.

“I know that when my parents went to UMaine they had a yearbook, and they occasionally look back to see pictures of the ‘good ol’ days,’” Burgess said. “It would be really nice 10 years from when I graduate to have something to look back on to help me remember college just like my parents did.”