Archive for April, 2009
This past fall semester at the University of Maine, I had the privilege of not only taking photos for the women’s volleyball team but also covering the team for The Maine Campus. As you have probably heard by now, the team was cut from UMaine athletics. They and the men’s soccer team were both cut as a result of budget shortfalls in hopes of reducing the fiscal budget by $8.
Last Wednesday, University of Maine Athletic Director Blake James made a decision he hoped he could avoid.
With the announcement that the men’s soccer and women’s volleyball programs had been suspended, UMaine joined a growing list of institutions declaring cuts due to the recession.
The Obama Administration’s recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes revisions to the financial aid options available to American students of higher education, and University of Maine community members are greeting the new plan with enthusiasm.
The Issue: The system office budget is ripe with potential for cost trimming.
What We Think: The system needs to take a hard look at its own expenditures before it starts tinkering with UMaine.
To open the final edition of the Tea-Totaler, I’d like to quote a comment left on my column on The Maine Campus Web site by loyal reader “Bored Stiff”:
“This column is crap. Who really cares? I think it is just space for someone to ramble about self-important nonsense.
The recession has finally hit baseball. Collectively, the Major League Baseball clubs lowered salaries by a total of $47 million this year, or about 1.7 percent. Poor things. The 30 major league ball clubs pay a collective $2.65 billion in payroll, which represents more than 20 percent of Maine’s yearly budget.
The financial crisis is moving beyond banks, large corporations and retirement plans.
Students at the University of Maine are starting to feel the recession. Due to increased tuition and diminishing financial aid, dropping out has become an appealing alternative for some.
As I meandered around campus on Easter, I noticed an inexplicable phenomenon: There’s beer in my eggs!
Few people have more grace than ballet dancers, who move in unexpected ways and yet make it look it easy. The 13-member dance troupe American Ballet Theater II is no exception. Last Friday, they wowed a small crowd at the Collins Center for the Arts. Among their varied dances were a piece from “Swan Lake,” an intriguing “Don Quixote” piece with elaborate costumes and a modern piece set to music by Beethoven.
The snow has melted, the sun is shining, and 5K season has arrived. For the last couple of weeks flyers have been tacked on bulletin boards, the Announcements folder on FirstClass has been spammed and University of Maine students have been out and about, armed with iPods, water bottles and some serious motivation.
