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Besides receiving good reviews from the state legislature, the General Student Senate also garnered praise from University of Maine President Robert Kennedy.
The university leader addressed the group for more than an hour during its seventh meeting of the semester on Tuesday in the Multi-Purpose Room of Memorial Union.
“I think that one of the major roles of Student Government is to provide a conduit or access for the students to the administration,” said Student Government President Brigham McNaughton.
“We are excited to hear about the great things in store for our university. I feel it will boost morale about the University of Maine.”
Kennedy, who spoke on multiple issues, stated that different lawmakers and other individuals across the state were impressed with the GSS and the students who attend the university.
Not only was Kennedy in attendance, but the GSS was also greeted by Dean Robert Dana, Interim Provost Dr. John Mahon and Board of Visitors member Matthew Rodrigue.
Throughout the evening, Kennedy often referred to one of these three whenever questions focusing on specific issues were brought up.
It was the first time he spoke to the GSS since becoming president. However, he spoke to the group when he was the provost in 2003.
“I enjoyed my experience here tremendously,” Kennedy said of the meeting.
“It shows that we have a number of involved students that really care about what is going on.”
Once Kennedy concluded his introduction, the first item he spoke to the GSS about was the university’s strategic plan, which is designed to increase the opportunities for UMaine students.
Besides creating opportunities, other portions of the plan center on funding, quality of instruction and research.
According to Kennedy, who wrote the plan before coming to UMaine, the basis of the plan as a whole was to create an institution of the highest academic excellence.
An example that he used was the Honors College. In 2002, the college was referred to as the Honors Program. Kennedy stated that since its name change, the Honors College has gone from 235 students to more than 700.
Along with the improvements made to the Honors College, Kennedy also pointed out how the plan has garnered recognition for the university.
“A lot of what I am doing as president is talking about the school,” Kennedy said. “Public perception of the school has been the highest it’s been in about 20 years.”
Another example he used was the interdisciplinary programs, which allow students within the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences to design their own major with the help of faculty members from different departments.
The last issue he discussed before answering questions from the GSS and others in attendance was the attempt of getting private funding for the university.
Kennedy said the goal was to raise around $150 million. During the speech, Kennedy indicated that parts of the money would go to fund certain programs.
“The overall goal is to give $60 million for endowed chairs, $40 million is for academic scholarships, $40 million is for facilities and then there is $10 million for academic excellence,” Kennedy said.
From there, he went on to answer questions ranging from subjects such as the interdisciplinary studies program to the recent issue of replacing the trees on the mall.
One student submitted a question to Sen. William Pomerleau, who asked Kennedy if the strategic plan will include the closing of smaller schools and whether or not it will save money.
“That is a largely controversial issue,” Kennedy said. “There was a meeting that was held on that subject 10 days ago and a final plan will be made in May.
“No plans have been made to merge a campus such as the University of Maine-Augusta, but there is discussion about the University College of Bangor.”
After answering a few more questions, Kennedy closed his speech by stating that the GSS has an “important, serious role, but they should never underestimate the impact they have.”
Once Kennedy’s speech concluded, the GSS went on to discuss resolutions, one of which was an act to gain senate approval on a communications fee increase. The resolution passed by a gavel vote, which is when the chair of the meeting declares that enough hands are raised to indicate a majority.
The GSS also defeated its first resolution of the year.
The act would have allocate funds to VICE magazine, which is a 16-page newspaper magazine.
The group accomplished a lot during what was its longest meeting of the semester at over four hours.
“We started the meeting with 26 senators, and we finished with 24. I was pretty proud of the senate,” Sterling said.
“We have some new senators, and I was pleased that very few people left. Everyone else stuck through it and we still were able to get business done, including one debate that stretched quite a while.”
