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The board of trustees unanimously approved a strategic plan for the University of Maine System after more than a year of hearings and revisions.
The plan was devised in hopes of reorganizing the system in order to improve academic quality, streamline administrative structure and address a projected $102 million five-year budget shortfall.
“[The plan] recognizes that change is necessary and that maintaining the status quo is not the answer,” said Charles L. Johnson III, chair of the board of trustees. “Change must come. [The vote] on the plan will re-engineer our university system to ensure its value and vitality for the years ahead.”
The plan, introduced in March and heavily revised earlier this month, was still the topic of intense criticism on Monday.
Even after what Johnson called an “open and inclusive process” of revision, the plan has still drawn fire from faculty, students and stake holders who say their voices were not heard during the planning process.
Donald Anspach, professor of sociology at the University of Southern Maine, criticized the board of trustees for approving the finalized version of the plan, released only 10 days before the vote.
Anspach said the damage the administration has done to relationships among central administration, various faculties and the board of trustees because of the exclusion of faculty from the planning and revision process it will take years to undo.
“Administration sugarcoated faculty complaints that were aired at the faculty summit in July and presented those complaints to the board and the media as approvals,” Anspach said.
Anspach went on to call the board of trustees part of the “human relations disaster.”
But Johnson said the trustees and chancellor did include the faculty in the planning and revision process. He cited more than 120 hours of meetings and public forums, hundreds of pages of feedback and other correspondences they received or sent out as proof of inclusion.
“Those who have read the revised plan know that we incorporated many of those recommendations,” Johnson said. “The strategic plan is better because of it.”
Still, Anspach believes that USM will suffer a bigger blow than most campuses in the system when it is merged with the University of Maine at Augusta.
“[USM] is a clear loser in this proposal … Orono is to be revitalized and enhanced and USM focused and contained,” Anspach said.
USM will now become a “comprehensive, multicampus, urban university” including the UMA campus, according to the proposal.
Anspach fears the system will not provide the millions of dollars necessary for the merger to be successful.
But James Mullen, chair of the board’s strategic planning steering committee, said the merger is necessary in order to shift UMA away from a community college environment.
UMA currently awards mostly associate degrees by far. Associate and nondegree programs will now be handled under the state’s community college system.
“For us to focus on bachelor’s and graduate degree programs in the central Maine area, we need to leverage the financial and academic resources of the University of Southern Maine,” Mullen said.
Winthrop town counselor Bill McDonald said eliminating UMA in the proposed way would not only be a disservice to central Maine but to the entire state.
“We need UMA to anchor economic development in central Maine,” McDonald said. “Please don’t take it away from us,” he said at the meeting.
Other groups brought their concerns to light on a more local level.
Students from the University College in Bangor gathered more than an hour before the vote took place, hoping someone would hear their pleas.
They carried signs that read “Westphal is our downfall” and “Nontraditional is a tradition at UCB” to express their discontent with the projected plan and its implications on their school.
“We’re here to send a message that the student body I represent is not for this plan,” said Casey Harris, president of student government at UCB.
Harris and the other members of the student body present at the vote said they fear for the fate of their beloved campus.
Nicole Brown, a sophomore at UCB, spoke through tears before the meeting, as well as during the citizen comment session before the vote.
Brown, a single mother who found herself unemployed and desperate for direction two years ago said she would not be where she is today – earning a bachelor’s degree from a university – without UCB.
“My story is not very different than the 1,100 other students I go to school with,” Brown said. “If it wasn’t for UCB and the signs I drove by every day encouraging me to enroll … I don’t know where I’d be today. It breaks my heart that it may not be there for someone else in my situation.”
Under the strategic plan, UCB will now serve as an “educational park” with its facilities available to other schools like Eastern Maine Community College.
“Right now EMCC is at its limits for handling students,” said John Diamond, spokesperson for UMS. “[EMCC] needs the space and also needs more resources.”
Harris said he is not entirely happy with the situation but isn’t shocked by the outcome because he expected it. When the plan was first proposed, Harris feared that UCB might be essentially “phased out.”
“It’s not going to be untouched, but at least we’ll still be here,” Harris said.
The entire UMS strategic plan can be obtained by visiting the Web site www.maine.edu/spp.
Also approved by the board on Monday was the biennial budget request for the 2005-07 period for the UMS.
The board will ask Gov. John Baldacci to approve a request for an additional $14.6 million in state funding.
The increase in funding is needed to fund new UMS initiatives like $5.5 million more for student financial aid, $1.4 million for teacher education and nursing programs, $5 million for research and development and $2.5 million for distance education and library services.
Proposed UMS
structure shift
Central Services
* Centralized administration, working with the board of trustees, for system-wide planning, management, coordination and oversight.
University of Maine
* Land-grant/sea-grant university, serving as Maine’s primary graduate level, research and public service outreach institution.
University of Southern Maine
* Will encompass what is now University of Maine at Augusta and serve central and southern Maine, offering undergraduate programs and a focused set of graduate, research and public outreach programs.
University of Maine at Fort Kent, Presque Isle and Machias
* Will all operate as part of a “consortium.” Each will have at least one signiature academic program and focused graduate offerings.
University of Maine at Farmington
* Will remain a single-campus unit with a strong focus on teacher education programs. Will become a public, liberal arts college.
Outreach Centers
* Distance education will be offered by 11 academic outreach centers.
Bangor Daily News