The visit was announced March 25 by Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree.

University of Maine sophomore and Maine College Democrats President Benjamin Goodman said he and several other students would attend the event, and was looking forward to hearing Obama speak about the health care bill.

The Portland stop, as with most presidential events, is expected to draw some protesters. UMaine College Republicans President Ben Kelleher said he would rally outside the Expo during Obama’s remarks, joined by students from Bates and Colby colleges, as well as the University of Maine at Farmington and the University of Southern Maine.

“We want to get out there and rally for constitutionalism and a return to constitutional conservatism,” Kelleher said. He said he wanted to focus on “getting back to operating the way government should.”

“The [health care] bill doesn’t actually operate within the confines of the Constitution,” Kelleher said.

Hundreds waited for hours in the rain Wednesday to get tickets, the Portland Press Herald reported. The first person in line arrived at 12:45 a.m. and waited close to 11 hours until doors opened.

The Maine Campus will live blog Obama’s visit this afternoon at mainecampus.com. The president is set to speak at 3:35 p.m. Be sure to check the site for stories and photos.

Nyquist, a sophomore from Malmo, Sweden, led the nation in scoring with 61 points in 39 games. He was the nation’s leader in points and assists. The draft choice of the Detroit Red Wings led the Black Bears to a spot in the Hockey East Championship Game after they were picked to finish eighth in preseason polls. Nyquist was the only unanimous selection for Hockey East’s First Team and was the runner-up for Hockey East Player of the Year.

The other two finalists for the award are Hockey East Player of the Year Bobby Butler, a senior forward for the University of New Hampshire, and Blake Geoffrion, a senior defenseman for the University of Wisconsin.

The winner of the 30th annual Hobey Baker will be announced on Friday, April 9 at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

Kalie Hess, a second-year romance languages student, organized the protest. On Sunday, she and other students made signs with slogans like “chop from the top” and “If you’re going to run my education like a business, I’m taking mine elsewhere.” Some protesters had helped make signs the night before; others showed up and picked up a sign. At least two protesters showed up with their own signs.

The picketers encouraged students to sign a petition noting discontent with the Academic Program Prioritization Working Group report’s suggestions, which they used to force General Student Senate to consider a resolution, gathering 311 signatures. Senate rules allow a petition with 250 student signatures to force a vote on a resolution. GSS unanimously approved “An Act to Express Student Displeasure with Recent Academic Program Cuts Recommended by the Academic Program Prioritization Working Group” at its meeting Tuesday night.

Hess said the protesters were told to remove the sticks from their signs before entering the building, and were told they couldn’t enter the conference rooms with their signs, but said the administration and security didn’t interfere with the protest. The picketers stood in a lobby area on the second floor of Wells Commons, as it was raining heavily outside.

UMaine Public Safety Police Chief Noel March said it was standard policy to make sure nothing that could be used as weapons — such as the sticks of picket signs — is allowed in such events, and said that the number of public safety personnel — four when the event started, which was reduced to three — was standard as well. March said policy was to have at least one public safety officer per 250 people, and estimated the crowd at 300 people.

The suggested cuts were “obviously a very emotion-filled topic,” said Dean of Students Robert Dana, but added: “Civility and respect are the order of the day.”

The deans of UMaine’s five colleges were all present to answer questions about the proposals, issued by the Academic Program Prioritization Working Group, as were President Robert Kennedy and Provost Susan Hunter. The proposals are part of a university-wide effort to tackle a projected budget shortfall of $25.2 million, and would save the university more than $12 million between 2011 and 2014, according to a statement issued by the university.

The recommendations would eliminate other majors as well, and combine some departments to form broader programs. Ultimately, the changes would result in 16 fewer undergraduate majors, six fewer master’s degree programs, 80 fewer full-time faculty and the complete dismantlement of the Department of Public Administration. All changes would be in place by fiscal year 2014.

The recommendations were the response by the deans to an assignment from the provost to draft a plan for a 20 percent cut in funding to their college.

Dana Humphrey, dean of the school’s engineering college, said he hoped a 20 percent cut would not be the final outcome of the prioritization and restructuring process in his college.

“I hope we will not see equal cuts everywhere,” Humphrey told students. “I had hoped engineering would see less cuts than the other colleges.”

Dean Jeffrey Hecker of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, said he hoped the impressive showing at his discussion — easily the most well-attended at the forum with more than 100 people present at any time in the three-hour session — would result in a final recommendation of smaller cuts to his college as well. He said that more than 50 percent of the university’s credit hours are taken through the college, and that every student at UMaine takes courses in liberal arts and sciences. For these reasons, Hecker said an across-the-board 20 percent cut would disproportionately affect his college.

Discussion sometimes became heated. In the conference room where Hecker discussed the cuts with students and faculty, the comments were mostly born of frustration and anger.

“Cutting the music department from seven majors to one is like having an ice cream store with only one flavor,” said one student. “Who the hell wants to go to that store?” Other students decried the proposed cut of the modern languages and classics department as a slight to culture and a poor move on the part of the university

Hecker said the decision to cut majors was the result of assessing whether a department could offer a major if faculty who retired were not replaced – the primary means by which the proposal saves the university money. The answer for the departments that might hit the cutting block, Hecker said, was “no.”

“[The university] has had to make decisions that no one wants to make,” Hecker said. He said faculty salary takes up 95 percent of the college’s budget, making it the only place cuts can be made.

Kennedy told students that while the budget crisis the university has been handed is severe, “I promise you we will do the best we can.”

Around 3 p.m., Professor Beth Wiemann, chairwoman of the music department, led a more than 80 music performance and education students and faculty into the center to speak with Kennedy and Hunter.

Adrian St. Pierre, a sophomore working toward a double major in music education and performance, said she thought that if students remain composed and respectful, the administration will listen to their plea not to cut the performing arts.

“New information has come to light today, in this forum. We will spend the next several weeks going over it,” Kennedy told the students and faculty. “I will remember your presence here today.”

“I feel like the provost and president really do care,” said Elizabeth Graham, a sophomore music performance student. “I just hope they listen.”

But some students said they felt their concerns were falling on deaf ears. Several protested the proposed cuts with signs near the entrance to the conference center. An online petition, “Keep UMaine’s Language Majors” — sponsored by the modern languages and classics department — had amassed 638 signatures by Tuesday evening.

“It seems to me that their minds are already made up,” said Virginia Sand, a senior French and Native American studies student. “This whole process makes me so discouraged for the future.”

Keegan Burdette, a first-year modern languages student also said student’s presence was futile.

“The deans are just here to console us,” Burdette said. “They are not listening to us. They’re just trying to make it look like they’re listening.”

“We’re taking comments seriously,” said Gail Werrbach, professor in the College of Public Policy and Health and APPWG member. “I don’t have a crystal ball. In the end, it’s the president’s decision. It’s about making choices between worthwhile programs. I don’t envy the deans for having to make this kind of decision in their own colleges.”

Vice President of Student Government Nyssa Gatcombe encouraged students to attend Tuesday’s meeting of the General Student Senate to voice their thoughts and questions about the proposed cuts. Kennedy and Hunter will both attend. GSS will meet at 6 p.m. in the Bangor Room of Memorial Union. UMaine students will be allowed five minutes each to speak.

After they have finished gathering public input, the group will draft a final report with recommendations for the provost by April 8. Hunter will review the recommendations and deliver the report to Kennedy, whose approval is needed before any official changes are made. Ultimately, the approval of the University of Maine System board of trustees is required to eliminate any programs.

APPWG was created by Kennedy last year to make recommendations for realigning the academic programs at the university to “show strong support of our highest priority degree programs funded by a reduction in those ranked as our lowest priorities,” as stated in the president’s charge to the group. The group worked for seven months creating criteria to evaluate degree programs and formulating courses of action based on the information gathered by the provost and the deans.

The full report and more information about APPWG can be found at umaine.edu/achievingsustainability.

Tyler Francke contributed to this report.

In the current fiscal year — which runs July 1, 2009 to June 30, 2010 — athletics is projected to cost the university $7.3 million more than the revenue it brings in.

Athletic Director Blake James said the athletic department is subsidized by the university, but that the projected loss of $7 million sounded high. James said he thought the actual loss would be closer to $5 million.

“We try to generate about half of our own budget,” James said in reference to UMaine athletics. “We generate somewhere in the $5 million range from ticket sales, the athletic store and multimedia. We want to maximize revenue as much as we can.” James added that the amount the athletics department brings in depends on how teams perform in the season.

The budget for fiscal 2010 projected the athletics department would generate about $4.5 million in revenue, falling far short of its expected $12.2 million in expenditures. This discrepancy would be covered by revenue in the general university budget, the vast majority of which comes from tuition and state appropriations.

It is common for Division I athletic programs to receive university subsidies, and the amount of these subsidies has grown in recent years, according to a national analysis done by USA Today in January. If the 2010 budget provides an accurate estimate, UMaine is in the 25 percent of higher learning institutions that receives the largest percentage in university subsidies.

The university’s priciest athletic program is the football team, which cost almost $1.2 million this year, according to the report for fiscal 2010. The men’s ice hockey team was budgeted about $900,000, while the women’s and men’s basketball teams are both projected to cost the university more than $500,000.

“We’re evaluating our situation,” James said. Last year, the athletic department was forced to suspend the university’s volleyball and men’s soccer programs, and this year another $300,000 must be trimmed off next year’s budget by May, James said.

“We’re not considering cutting any other sports,” James said. “Never say never, but I don’t see us cutting more teams.”

UMaine currently has 17 Division I sports teams and must retain at least 14 to stay in Division I athletics.

Beyond the numbers, James said the value of UMaine athletics is immeasurable.

“There are so many values,” James said. Athletics “brings the campus community together, unifies students and alumni, and it raises awareness of our campus nationwide.” James also said graduated student-athletes are generous financial supporters, such as former basketball player Richard Collins who, with his wife, donated $5 million to the renovation of the Collins Center for the Arts.

The bulk of sports teams’ operating costs comes from coaches’ salaries and benefits. James said budgeting for coaches’ salaries is troublesome because the athletic department must set the amount before it knows how much revenue the teams will bring in. James does not think UMaine coaches are overpaid.

“I think our coaches do a great job working within their means and giving athletes a first-class experience,” James said. “I’m satisfied with the budget we have, given the financial challenges our state is going through. We get great support from the university and alumni.”

In the wake of the Academic Programs Prioritization Work Group’s report released last week, which recommends drastic academic changes, some critics on The Maine Campus Web site have suggested athletics, not academics, should take the brunt of any cuts.

There appears to be a historical trend in the financial documents from decennial accreditation reports indicating student education has been slipping on the university’s priority list. These reports made by UMaine, which were prepared for the New England Association of Schools and Colleges, show the university has steadily decreased its allocations for academic instruction from its peak of 28.3 percent of its budget in fiscal 1987 to only 22.7 percent last year. Instead, the university has spent more on research, which rose about 5 percent in the same time period, as well as institutional support (2 percent) and student services (1 percent).

Susan Hunter, vice president of academic affairs and provost, said although she had been involved in preparing the most recent accreditation report in 2009, she was not aware such a decrease had occurred.

“I would have thought we would be spending more on instruction now,” Hunter said. She said the cost of many factors that affect instruction, such as benefit rates and health insurance, have increased this decade.

Vice President for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron could not be reached for comment by press time.

The university’s Educational and General Base Budget reports from fiscal years 2006-2010 are available for student viewing at the Fogler Library Reserve Desk. The university’s accreditation reports from 1988, 1999 and 2009 can also be found at Fogler in Special Collections on the third floor.

The Academic Program Prioritization Working Group’s interim report suggests eliminating 16 majors — though not necessarily eliminating the classes associated with them — and 80 faculty to save more than $12 million between 2011 and 2014.

The End of Academic Apathy Protest, as the event is called, was started on Facebook by second-year romance languages student Kalie Hess to encourage students to attend the forum.

“Initially, I wanted people to show up,” Hess said. Then, the Facebook event swelled to more than 400 confirmed attendees in just three days.

Sunday, Hess and others made roughly a dozen signs. Hess said she plans to have picketers outside the Wells Conference Center, where the forum will be held, for the entire length of the forum.

She wouldn’t typify the response by students, saying: “It’s affecting a lot of people in different ways, so they’re responding in a lot of different ways.” But, she added, “People are generally very surprised by the cuts the university is trying to make.”

In a APPWG conference folder on the FirstClass e-mail system, community members wrote about their experiences in departments with proposed cuts. Some were faculty who questioned the rationale for cutting majors, such as Tina Passman, an associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Classics, who wrote: “What is the economic value of a language? What is the economic value of a culture? What is the economic value of ‘feeling at home’ in the place you inhabit? Perhaps it is much the same as the economic value of clean air and water, of security within your neighborhood, of knowing you are valued for who you are.”

Others were alumni, sharing why their degree was important to them. Ted Nokes, an alumnus of UMaine and director of bands for MSAD 46 — which includes Dexter — wrote that his son was currently an undergraduate student majoring in music performance.

“I know he will be allowed to finish under the time line for implementation, but the problem reaches into the future. As a band director, I would never recommend to any student that they attend a school for their music education degree if that school did not also offer the opportunity of performance degree,” Nokes wrote.

After the report was released, Beth Wiemann, chair of the music department, sent an e-mail to music students asking them to attend the forum or write to administrators.

“These are still only suggested cuts. But, we do need to argue our case to keep the programs, and make the case compelling,” Wiemann wrote in her e-mail.

The Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act “eliminated the middlemen of student lending,” said Mark Brewer, professor of political science at the University of Maine. “Virtually all federally guaranteed student loans would be provided directly by the federal government.”

The system of student loans that has been in place for years has had the federal government guarantee against default of student loans issued by third-party banks.

Under the system passed last week, the Department of Education’s Federal Direct Loan program will originate all new student loans starting next year. Third-party banks will still be retained by the government to service the loans. The bill also allocates $2.55 billion in federal funding to historically black and minority-serving colleges, as well as $2 billion to community colleges for job training.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated this shift will save roughly $61 billion during the next 10 years, $40 billion of which will be redirected to increasing federal Pell Grants for low-income students. By the 2019-2020 academic year, Pell Grants will have risen from $5,550 — the current Pell Grant cap — to $5,900, and will be issued to more students.

Dean of Students Robert Dana said shifting student loans to the public sector will probably decrease interest rates.

“Any time you can reduce the middleman, it’s all for the better because rates will be lower,” Dana said. “We’ve got to have lower student loan rates. The burden is preposterously high right now.”

Dana said the new system would make applying for and receiving loans easier. He simply said: “Less hassle, less bureaucracy, less interest equates to better.”

Brewer is taking more of a wait-and-see approach.

“I think it’s too early to say how this will affect students,” Brewer said. “Proponents have been saying all along that it will benefit students by making it less onerous to apply for and get loans by eliminating service agencies like Sallie Mae or Nelnet. That will depend on how the program is implemented. I’ve heard some people argue that it will result in lower interest rates, but there’s no guarantee that will happen.

“The one thing you can say for sure is that the servicing costs of these third-party institutions is probably going to disappear,” Brewer said.

“We’re a state of 1.3 million people. We have 14 separate campuses — seven community college campuses and seven university campuses,” said Cutler, a Cape Elizabeth attorney, in a February telephone interview. “The [University of Maine] system and the community college system don’t communicate with each other.”

Cutler said the system is undermining itself because many community college credits are non-transferable within the University of Maine System. He said functions and programs in the two systems are being duplicated — a serious problem for a fiscally challenged state.

“We need to merge the systems. They ought to be under the same governing board; they should be under the same executive. They should be much more closely coordinated with [the] K-12 education system in Maine,” Cutler said.

An increase in economic activity is the only way to keep college graduates in Maine, according to Cutler. He said Maine is “the oldest state in the nation and getting older,” and expressed worry for the economic future in Maine if the trend continues.

“You increase the level of economic activity by tearing down the barriers that are keeping it out, and in Maine, right now, we have a cost of living and doing business in this state that is keeping out investment and that has to change,” Cutler said.

Cutler said Maine’s Legislature has been building a wall of costs for decades. He blamed Democrats and Republicans in Augusta for being unable to reverse course.

“When someone looks at Maine as a place to start a business or invest in a business, he or she looks at Maine and sees high cost of electricity, high cost of health insurance [and] high cost of delivering public services. And by the time you add up all of those costs, you end up with a cost structure that makes it very discouraging,” Cutler said. “I want to lower the price of living and doing business in Maine.”

Cutler does not want to close university campuses — an option he considers as a last resort because of community impact in smaller university communities statewide. He does, however, want to rethink the usage of community college and university campuses.

“There’s a lot we can do with the resources we have that make a lot more sense than what we’re doing,” Cutler said.

Cutler proposed the idea of magnet high schools throughout Maine, such as an agricultural sciences school in potato-rich Aroostook County, a foreign language school in the largely francophone Fort Kent, an economics school in densely populated southern Maine and a marine sciences school in coastal Machias. All magnet schools, the candidate said, could be housed along with university campuses in those areas.

“You [would] begin to open up greater, broader possibilities that make more economic sense and make more educational sense,” Cutler said.

Cutler said his plan for education reform — which also includes free preschool, a transition to merit pay increases for teachers, longer K-12 school days and an integrated “K- through lifetime system” — is his first priority and a proposal he says one would never see from the Democratic Party. Cutler said the leadership of the party is bound to the Maine Education Association and teachers unions.

“They can’t free themselves from what the union wants. Now, you can’t reform public education in the state of Maine unless you free yourself from the obligations to the teachers’ unions,” Cutler said.

Cutler has a long résumé in federal government, though he has never before run for elected office. He started his career as a legislative assistant for former U.S. Sen. Edmund Muskie, D-Maine, who also served as Maine’s governor and U.S. Secretary of State.

He served under former Democratic president Jimmy Carter as associate director for natural resources, energy and science in the White House Office of Management and Budget from 1977 to 1980.

“I was the one who basically redirected the investment program in the energy department into alternative energy technologies — solar, wind and so forth. In 1980 and the early ’80s, a higher percentage of total electricity in the United States was being generated from alternative technologies than it is today,” Cutler said.

A longtime Democrat, Cutler registered as a Republican briefly in 2006 in opposition to Gov. John Baldacci’s performance. He said Baldacci’s approach to state budget issues doesn’t make sense.

“You can’t [balance a budget] by giving, which is what this governor proposed to do in his supplemental budget. The only way you can do it is by a bottom-up evaluation of every program in the state and figuring out what works and what doesn’t work and throwing out what doesn’t work,” Cutler said. “It’s tough work and you piss off a lot of people, but if you’re not willing to break eggs you shouldn’t be governor.”

Cutler switched back to the Democratic Party for a short time in 2008 to vote for Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries. Cutler contributed $4,500 in separate donations to the Obama campaign, according to OpenSecrets.org, a Web site that monitors monetary donations made to politicians.

Cutler said Democrats and Republicans “are starved for new ideas,” leading to increased reliance on special interest groups. Cutler feels confident in his chances, joking that Nov. 2, the day of the election, will be “Independent’s Day” in Maine.

“I don’t come into this with the obligations and wrapped up in the dogma of the two parties. And I think the two parties have demonstratively failed,” Cutler said. “Look, I have more experience than anybody in this race. In politics, in government, in business. It’s not as though I’m a neophyte.”

The group had nearly 50 members at its peak in February 2004, according to documents provided to The Maine Campus by Vice President of Student Organizations Samantha Shulman. The group’s last annual update, required by Student Government for recognition, was filed on Oct. 27, 2008. The update indicated the group then had 10 members — the minimum number for official recognition.

The group was founded in 2004 by UMaine students Sarah Bigney and Tracy Allen on the principles of encouraging accountable government, young adult participation and political awareness, and progressive ideals, according to a 2004 update.

“PSA could do anything,” said alumnus Jeffrey Hake, former staff writer for The Maine Campus, president of PSA from 2006 to 2007 and a member from 2005 to 2008. “I remember being amazed by the passion about the issues. You could feel it when you walked into the room.”

The group took up a number of causes on campus during its time as an organization, including the push for the 2008 switch by Dining Services to eating utensils and takeout containers made from biodegradable plastics. The group engineered a 2006 campaign to include more Fair Trade coffee — a method of purchasing coffee through which farmers receive more money — on campus.

PSA also organized a month-long boycott in 2005 of the Taco Bell formerly housed in the Memorial Union Marketplace, protesting the food chain parent company’s policies toward the workers’ pay.

“I would suggest they were the most active organization [on campus],” said former UMaine Associate Dean of Students Angel Loredo, who advised the group from 2005 to 2009.

When Hake took over as president in 2006, the group had 13 members, down from 29 the previous year. He said that was because of a lack of leadership, the fact that isn’t as progressive as some might think and bureaucracy on the part of university administration.

“It was just a matter of there being too many people in administration. I’m not trying to blame administration for the downfall of PSA, but that was part of it,” Hake said. “There were some lows with leadership, including myself.”

Loredo said Hake was a good leader, but PSA was rendered unnecessary by competing groups with specialty issues.

“I think that as the bigger issues developed, they got involved in other things,” Loredo said.

Marcienne Scofield, a fourth-year ecology and environmental sciences student and treasurer of the unrecognized organization in fall 2009, agreed. She cited the Student Women’s Association and the Green Team as examples of groups that drew members away from PSA.

“I don’t think there was ever a problem with leadership,” Scofield wrote in an e-mail. “It seems like some people that were interested in PSA managed to find another more niche group tailored to their interests.”

At the beginning of 2008, Scofield wrote, there were only four members who regularly came to meetings. In 2009, there were two — Scofield and Tyler Keniston, who briefly served as president of the unrecognized organization.

“I think the problem began two years ago when a significant number of the members graduated and there were very few undergraduate students left to continue the group,” wrote Scofield.

If PSA can ever obtain enough interest to secure compliance with student government regulations, they will be starting with $955.12 of leftover grant money from 2006. Justin Labonte, UMaine vice president for financial affairs said the original grant was worth $1,701.29 and was spent to its current balance between 2006 and 2007. Labonte said Student Government must hold the money for PSA as long as it is inactive.

The grant was secured by former PSA treasurer Gabrielle Berube, Labonte said. The origin of the grant is unknown and Berube, former copy editor and writer for The Maine Campus, could not be reached by press time.

The group came together in 2003, Bigney said, as UMaine Students for Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont and a Democratic presidential candidate in the 2004 primaries.

When Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts beat Dean in the primary, the group decided they wanted to stay together to work on nonpartisan issues, according to co-founder Bigney, a 2007 graduate of UMaine.

Bigney said UMaine may be too politically apathetic to support such an organization, but is not alone nationwide.

“It’s a problem lots of colleges are having — lack of skill [with organization], lack of knowledge, apathy,” Bigney said.

The office holds a fair every semester to “make students aware of the opportunities there are to study abroad,” said graduate intern Andrea West. “It’s also an opportunity for students to get linked to resources.”

The study abroad fair will be held Wednesday, March 31, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Bangor Room of Memorial Union. The Honors College Study Away Symposium will run concurrently across the hall in the FFA Room, and starts at 12:15 p.m. The symposium will feature eight Honors College student speakers presenting their experiences abroad.

“They’ll talk about their personal experiences — whether it be academic, cultural, dealing with language — their experiences living in a community that’s foreign to them,” West said of the peer-oriented presentations.

West and OIP peer advisor Allison Rusk explained how students tend to have misconceptions about studying abroad.

The fair “is an opportunity to dispel some of these myths. The idea is that it is possible to study abroad,” West said. Students tend to have concerns about cost, language proficiency and graduating on time.

Rusk, who studied in England at the University of Reading in 2008, stressed the importance of studying abroad as a form of professional development. She said the workplace is increasingly global in scope and that many employers want workers with foreign language skills and international cultural awareness.

“I definitely recommend going, just because I think there are study abroad options for everyone,” Rusk said. Students who attend the fair “can see it’s possible if you just find out what programs work for you.”

The fair will include representatives from direct exchange programs — where students pay normal tuition and fees to UMaine while paying room and board to the host institution — and other study abroad organizations approved by UMaine.

UMaine senior Clare Jaquith will speak about her year of study in Austria at the symposium.

“Participating in the Salzburg [Austria] Program was great because they are a very established program that cares so much about the students and their welfare,” Jaquith wrote in an e-mail. “My German ability improved tenfold after spending a year immersed in the language.”

West encouraged all students with an interest in studying abroad to attend the fair.

“It will be like ‘information central;’ any questions you have will be answered,” West said.