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Changes in leadership and a new dedication to community involvement may be enough to keep the University of Maine’s Student Men’s Association in good standing with Student Government.
Over the course of the year, and especially during the current semester, SMA — UMaine’s newest community association — hasn’t been active on campus or shown much growth in membership. There has not been an SMA representative at senate, as is required for community associations, since the first meeting of the semester.
Student Government granted final recognition to SMA in April 2009. It was formed to promote the interests of men on campus, provide education about issues affecting men and be a resource at UMaine. The association is centered on men’s issues but is open to all members of the campus community.
Fourth-year political science student and Vice President for Student Affairs Samantha Shulman spoke to the former president of SMA early in the semester about how to get the organization back on its feet.
“They have been having trouble remaining active, keeping membership up, finding meeting times — just the normal problems that clubs have,” she said.
Shulman gave SMA until the end of February to either show improvement or have its recognition revoked by Student Government.
Community associations — which include SMA, Student Women’s Association, Wilde Stein Alliance for Sexual Diversity and the Student Heritage Alliance Council — have more responsibilities and benefits than regular student clubs, Shulman said. They are given a larger office budget and office space but must send representatives to senate meetings every Tuesday and attend meetings of the Student Government president’s cabinet.
Fourth-year history and philosophy student Tim Smith was elected as the new president of SMA on Thursday night. Smith says the change in leadership was not the result of any conflict, either internal or with Student Government.
“There is no schism, there is no internal issue. We still have our members and it’s not a major conflict among us. It’s just something that has changed,” he said.
Former president Nicholas Dehaas was unavailable for comment.
Smith describes SMA as being in a reformative stage and says other officer positions are not all filled at this time. He hopes a change in leadership will bring more energy to the association.
“The big conflict with the student organizations office was that we need to be providing a more tangible service in the community,” he said.
Smith hopes to achieve that goal by increasing membership and planning new events for the campus community. He said he is working on several ideas, although none of his plans are yet complete.
“I think that our purpose is to educate people about male-related issues and not just be a place to hang out. It’s good that we have that element and everyone is welcome, but that alone does not constitute an organization,” Smith said.
Smith is interested in planning charity events or possibly organizing a lecture series to address issues that affect men. He said his plans are not concrete, but he is working on several ideas.
“The charities I’m interested in are raising funds for testicular cancer and raising awareness about fatherhood,” Smith said.
SMA’s faculty advisor George Criner wants to see the group refocus on its original objectives.
“I think their stated guidelines are good ones, they want to advance men in society but also they want to improve campus community and make it a more harmonious community. That’s what I would like them to do, work on those things,” he said.
Shulman said that where SMA is a community association, she would like to see it have a greater presence and permanence on campus.
“Other community associations have regular events that they put on every year. Hopefully SMA will find an event that will provide for men on campus,” she said.
Shulman says SMA has potential as a group but needs more organization. She hopes Smith will be able to get the group back on track.
“I think he’s going to be doing a lot of work and planning over spring break, so we’ll see how the month of March goes,” she said.
Smith said that in order to achieve his goals, he will need to increase participation in SMA.
“We are looking to get many more people involved with outreach and benefit events that we plan to put on,” Smith said. “We want and need more members.”
SMA currently meets Thursdays at 9 p.m. in the Beta Theta Pi house, but Smith said the organization is currently looking at options to have the meeting earlier in the Memorial Union.
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