Readers Speak: Best of Web

Posted on April 12, 2010, at 12:59 a.m.

RE: Academic cuts could cost millions in gifts

The criteria the committee used guided the cuts? Let’s be honest. The committee didn’t decide anything. Instead of one group looking at the whole university, they just published what the deans submitted as the cuts they would make if forced to take reductions of 20 percent.

The whole thing is a joke. The University of Southern Maine cut $1.4 million from reorganizing and saved majors that way. The University of Maine hasn’t tried to do anything like that.

— Faculty

RE: Cure to UMaine’s budget woes is raising tuition, not cutting sports

I wish you were joking about suggesting raising in-state tuition and cutting faculty research, but unfortunately, you appear to be serious.

The University of Maine System received a failing grade for affordability from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. A tuition hike — higher than the one we’re already slated to pay for next year — is what we don’t need.

If the author has a problem with how much his family pays for out-of-state tuition in Maine, he should have gone to school somewhere else. The primary purpose of a public university is to provide education to state residents; that’s why it receives state tax dollars. The cost of tuition at UMaine is already ludicrously high for in-state students when you consider how low Maine’s median income is compared with other states in New England.

A substantial and increasing proportion of Maine residents are struggling to survive financially. Is the author seriously suggesting we make it even more difficult to afford an education? Please.

His idea to cut faculty research shows profound ignorance, but given the quality of his previous articles, it’s hardly surprising. I’m sure the Psychology Department is proud to have such an intellectual scion in its undergraduate ranks. He needs to do a little research of his own and learn about the purpose of a university and the definition of higher education. Here’s a start: umaine.edu/about/umaine-mission/

First line: “The University of Maine is the principal research and graduate institution of the state of Maine.” Notice that athletics are mentioned once in the last sentence on the webpage.

— Rachel R

RE: Former UM president dies at 79

Fred Hutchinson was a friend to the staff at the University of Maine, too. He authorized and funded the start-up of the Classified Employees Advisory Council. He funded the first Classified Employee Development Days. He held the first — and last — open forums for staff, where he sat with us and listened to our issues and responded to them.

He met with day staff and also went to facilities in his blue jeans to meet with custodial and facilities staff in the evening. As a result of these forums, parking lots that had formerly been reserved for faculty only were opened up to staff, as well. Thank Fred for the “blue lots” that allow staff to park on campus instead of down by the river only.

It was also Fred who responded to our complaint that there were no classified staff reps on any of the 25 presidential committees. He immediately added classified seats to every committee. He fully funded CPR training for us during the first development day.

When Fred advertised an “open door policy,” he meant it. Several times I sat with him, alone or with other staff, to bring forward questions, suggestions, or complaints. Fred exemplified the office of president of UMaine.

It would be in the best interest of the university to usher out Robert Kennedy and his kind with a smile, and bring in someone who is not another slick from away, but another Fred Hutchinson whose heart belongs to UMaine. Gone but never forgotten, Fred.

— Suzanne Moulton

RE: Technology: How much is too much?

Three cheers for Kegan Zema. I hope people will stop texting, turn off their iPod or iPad and log off from their video game long enough to think about what he is saying. We have no choice but to navigate in a mass mediated world, but we risk losing touch with the world and each other if we allow technology to isolate us from real life.

Check your e-mail, and then go outside and give somebody a hug. We are human, not android, aren’t we?

— Faculty

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