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Members of the University of Maine System board of trustees and Chancellor Richard Pattenaude visited the University of Maine on Wednesday to hear the community’s concerns regarding the system restructuring process. The discussion ran over by more than half an hour, and the board was confronted with a number of concerns ranging from faculty and course termination to enrichment of UMaine’s research.
It’s encouraging the board is so willing to hear the concerns of its constituency. The Chancellor’s Task Force visited more than once in the spring, which was fruitful. The discussion was attended by about 300 people and watched by thousands more online — a heartening sign that the community is well aware of its role in shaping the system’s future.
However, it seems as if the board is less concerned with finding areas where it can improve than it is with convincing people the path it has chosen is the right one.
Little, if any, dissent can be detected within the ranks of the system’s upper administration, including the board of trustees. That is worrisome: Deep and rational introspection should be encouraged. When the board spends its time defending itself, it is almost certainly not getting the message.
We know it’s hard to take criticism. Most of us, if presented with the attitudes of this university’s community members, would react in much the same way. Sometimes, however, it’s better to sit back and shut up. The time will come for explanation, but that time for the board is not now. We hope the board takes the community’s comments as what they were, not what they may have seemed to be: constructive criticism, not fear of change.
