According to a university press release, data linked to approximately 4,585 students, four to five percent of UMaine students over that time period, was exposed.

Dean of Students Robert Dana said at a Tuesday news conference there was “no indication” that data was viewed or downloaded from the servers, but officials are preparing for a worst-case scenario.

“This is an insidious affront to the rightful privacy expectations of our students,” Dana said. “The criminals who make it their business to exploit our society’s need and ability to store information are beneath contempt. Because of this, we are engaging all possible resources to find the source of these attacks.”

Dana said colleges and universities are “prime targets” for hackers because of large bandwidth and high-speed connections.

Robotic computers, he said, make “literally thousands of attempts per day” on UMaine’s vast computer network, but safeguards, such as firewalls and alert systems, usually hold.

“It’s the Wild West out there and every day a new approach is invented to help control the frontier,” Dana said.

He said the first breach happened as early as March 4. Once the hacker gained access to the second computer, a second server, which carries the active version of the center’s 2002-2010 database, was compromised.

The police investigation started June 16, according to news release, after Counseling Center staff reported trouble accessing files. The UMaine police are working with the U.S. Attorney’s office and computer crimes experts from the U.S. Secret Service.

“In any case like this, identity theft must be a top concern and consequently we are taking strong measures to assist those whose information may have been exposed and to prevent further security intrusions,” Dana said.

The university is now working on a customized letter to each person in the database. The letter will detail how to access services from Debix, a credit-monitoring company hired by the university, according to the press release.

For at least the next year, the company will look for signs of identity theft in each affected person’s credit. They will provide immediate alerts if suspicious activity is detected and offer insurance against identity theft.

The company’s services will be provided by the university at no cost to affected individuals. Dana said the cost to UMaine would be in the “multi-thousands of dollars.”

Det. Sgt. William Flagg from the UMaine police, who is conducting the investigation along with Internet crime expert Officer Bill Mitchell, said the potentially anonymous nature of these crimes makes finding a specific suspect very difficult.

“This is not an investigation that is going to be measured in days or weeks. It will be measured in months,” Flagg said.

In the press release, the university said any student, current or former, who visited the Counseling Center since Aug. 8, 2002 should assume they are affected. Information on the breach and how to receive services is available at http://umaine.edu/informationcenter/.

Chu accepted the invitation from Republican Sen. Susan Collins, of Maine, who accompanied him on the visit. Gov. John Baldacci and U.S. Reps. Mike Michaud, D-2nd District, and Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, were also present.

AEWC Director Habib Dagher displayed different technologies being developed to help harness offshore wind energy and introduced Chu and the delegation to representatives from companies and other partners in the DeepCwind Consortium, a partnership that is working on a prototype for an offshore wind turbine near Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine. Dagher also showed the laboratory’s bridge in a backpack technology — composite arches that can be carried in a backpack, inflated on-site, shaped, and filled with concrete to create the foundation of a bridge.

Collins said UMaine’s wind power work she sees as “potentially transforming Maine’s economy.” She said 15,000 new jobs could be created with development of the offshore technology.

A July 2008 report from the Department of Energy set a goal goal of harnessing 20 percent of the nation’s power from wind by the year 2030. Offshore wind is expected to account for 16 percent of that goal.

In October 2009, the Department of Energy, a member of the consortium, gave AEWC an $8 million dollar grant for research and development of the turbines.

“It’s truly impressive,” Chu said after the tour. “It’s part of the leadership Maine has shown in going towards a new economy.”

Chu called the Gulf of Mexico oil spill “just another reminder” that the United States must wean itself from dependency of oil, but said the federal government has been working since before the spill to look for new energy sources. But, he stressed, the changes cannot occur overnight.

“It will take many decades to make these changes,” Chu said.

AEWC projects that by 2018, fossil fuel costs could reach $8 a gallon, making the cost of energy 40 percent of the average Maine household income. 80 percent of Maine homes use heating oil, making it the most oil-dependent state in the nation.

Baldacci cited the June 8 passing of Question 2 on Maine’s referendum ballot as a sign Mainers are firmly behind the facility’s development of alternative energy. Part of the $26.5 million bond issue voted for by 61 percent of voters went toward the facility’s employment of 300 construction workers and the future creation 100 full-time jobs – all working on offshore wind energy.

“If we’re going to get off dependency of foreign oil, I think the University of Maine has that technology,” Michaud said.

Question 1, the people’s veto of the Maine Legislature’s law, passed resoundingly, carrying over 61 percent of the electorate, with 79 percent of precincts reporting.

The law proposed a reduction in Maine’s income tax involving a move from a graduated system based on income to a 6.5 percent flat rate for all citizens. To make up for lost revenue, Maine’s 5 percent sales tax would have been expanded to over 100 new items — mostly in the services industry.

Question 2, the first of four bond issues on the ballot, was passed with 59 percent of the vote. It is worth $26.5 million — part of which will allow the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures and Composites Center to employ 300 construction workers and create 100 full-time jobs in the realm of offshore wind power. $15.5 million of the bond will go toward energy improvements at Maine university and community college campuses.

Question 3, financially the largest bond issue, was passed with 58 percent of the vote. It is the largest bond — worth over $48 million, and will mostly go toward state highway and rail improvements.

Question 4, a $23.75 million bond issue having much to do with improvements at the Brunswick Naval Air Station, was narrowly passed, carrying just 51 percent of the vote.

Question 5, which is hoped to leverage federal funds for improved quality of drinking water in rural Maine communities, passed with 55 percent of the vote.

With 79 percent of precincts reporting at approximately 1:20 a.m., Mitchell, of Vassalboro, won 35 percent of the vote, with challengers Steve Rowe, Rosa Scarcelli and Patrick McGowan finishing with 23, 21 and 20 percent, respectively.

Mitchell has served in state government since 1974 in both the Maine Senate and House of Representatives. She is the only woman in American history to serve as speaker of a state house of representatives and president of a state senate. If elected this November, she would be Maine’s first female governor.

Representatives from other Democratic campaigns stressed the fact that their candidates would stand behind Mitchell in the general election.

McGowan spokesman Dan Cashman said Mitchell would have the candidate’s “full support” in the election.

“She has served Maine very honorably for over three decades. People appreciate that. People appreciate that record of service,” Cashman said.

Rowe’s campaign manager, Toby McGrath, said Mitchell is “a great Democrat” who will be supported by Rowe.

Scarcelli campaign consultant Dennis Bailey said Mitchell’s name recognition, not her message, was what won her the primary election.

“She is very well-established. She has years of contacts and a large base,” Bailey said.

Bailey said Scarcelli’s finish ahead of McGowan was “astounding,” since she has no electoral history. McGowan has served in state and federal government as Maine’s commissioner of conservation and chair of the New England Small Business Administration.

“Obviously, this shows a lot of Democrats were looking for something different,” Bailey said. “I’ve worked on a lot of campaigns. I’ve never seen someone rise so far so fast.”

He said that Mitchell’s election, coupled with Waterville Mayor Paul LePage’s victory in the Republican primary, could bode well for Independent Eliot Cutler, a former Carter administration energy official and attorney.

“You have a Democratic candidate who is identified as pretty far to the left and a Republican who is identified as extremely far to the right,” Bailey said. “I think that it’s a dream ticket [for Cutler], no question about it.”

LePage, as of 12:50 a.m. Wednesday, was leading 74 percent of precincts with a 37 percent share of the vote in the seven-way GOP primary election. The lead executive of Maine’s Marden’s Surplus and Salvage Stores was reported to be ahead of challengers Les Otten, Peter Mills, Steve Abbott, Bill Beardsley, Bruce Poliquin and Matt Jacobson, respectively.

Otten finished a distant second with 17 percent of the vote after a campaign in which he spent well over $2 million of his own money.

LePage started off the race strong, winning six of the first nine Republican votes in tiny Bancroft, a town in Aroostook County that was the first to report. He didn’t look back, winning the historic Democratic stronghold of Portland by more than 300 votes over Abbott.

“When we saw the Portland numbers, we knew the jig was up,” said Marc Pittman, Mills’ campaign manager.

“It’s Paul’s message. I think that people in Maine are ready for a fiscal and social conservative. I think the people of Maine are tired and fed up with the debt that the state is in, the way that the state is heading, the over-taxation, the burden of regulation, and simply ready for a change,” John Morris, LePage’s campaign manager, said by telephone late Tuesday.

Poliquin, in a telephone interview, called LePage “a good man” who deserves the support of all Republican candidates.

“Good for him. He deserves it,” Poliquin said. “We need someone who is fiscally conservative and he certainly is.”

Felicia Knight, Abbott’s campaign manager, said LePage is a “compelling” candidate who has “successfully tapped into” the national Tea Party movement. LePage appeared at several Tea Party events over the course of the campaign.

Pittman said the election’s result was “historic” and Mills knew early that the election was LePage’s. At approximately 11 p.m., Morris said Mills called to concede. Pittman, though, expressed concern about the tea party’s potential involvement with the Maine Republican Party, saying he more respected “moderate dialogue” and “working across the aisle.”

“I don’t think the Maine GOP understands how many Republicans were alienated by this,” Pittman said. “I’m just puzzled.”

Eleanor “Ellie” Baker, a member of the University of Maine System board of trustees and graduate of UMaine with a law degree from the University of Maine School of Law, will head the committee composed of faculty, staff, students and alumni.  It is expected the committee will make recommendations to University of Maine System Chancellor Richard Pattenaude by the end of the summer.

“I’m delighted that trustee Baker has agreed to chair the search, as an alumna and participant on advisory boards, she has an excellent sense of the university,” Pattenaude said in a statement.

Current UMaine President Robert Kennedy announced in March of this year his intention to step down from the position in June 2011.  He will remain at the university to oversee several projects dealing with statewide economic development and educational opportunity.

Other search committee members are University of Maine System trustees Charles O’ Leary of Orono and Michelle Hood of Bar Harbor, UMaine professor of spatial information science and engineering Harlan Onsrud, professor of wood science Robert Rice, associate professor of management Stephanie Welcomer, Department of Facilities Management budget analyst Joseph Szelesta, Department of Athletics administrative assistant Ranee Dow and Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Jeffrey Hecker.

UMaine graduate student James Beaupre, Class of 2012 president and student Sen. Nathaniel Wildes, along with James Goff of the UMaine board of visitors and alumnus John Rohman, a Bangor engineer, were also named to the committee. Second-year business student Katie Foster, also the nonvoting student representative to the University of Maine System board of trustees was named to the committee as an alternate.

“Our search committee represents a broad cross-section of the UMaine community which is key to helping us make the best possible recommendations,” Baker said in a statement.

Do you want to reject the new law that lowers Maine’s income tax and replaces that revenue by making changes to the sales tax?

A yes vote would veto L.D. 1495, a tax reform law passed by the Maine Legislature in June 2009. The law, which is on the books but suspended pending the outcome of the vote, will go into effect if enough no votes are amassed. It will reduce Maine’s income tax from a graduated system based on income to a 6.5 percent flat rate for all citizens. The 5 percent sales tax will be expanded to cover 100 new items — mostly services, such as car washing, car repair and laundry. Movie, concert and theater tickets, along with admission to amusement parks, will also be taxed. The meals and lodging tax will be raised from 6 percent to 7.5 percent.

Question 2:

Do you favor a $26,500,000 bond issue that will create jobs through investment in an off-shore wind energy demonstration site and related manufacturing to advance Maine’s energy independence from imported foreign oil, that will leverage $24,500,000 in federal and other funds and for energy improvements at campuses of the University of Maine System, Maine Community College System and Maine Maritime Academy in order to make facilities more efficient and less costly to operate?

According to the Portland Press Herald, a yes vote would allow the AEWC Advanced Structures and Composites Center, the University of Maine facility working with multiple federal grants on offshore wind technology, to employ 300 construction workers and create another 100 full-time jobs. $15.5 million of the bond money will be used to make the University of Maine campus, among all other state-run campuses, more energy efficient. A no vote will reject the bond issue in full. The lifetime cost of this bond is estimated to be $33,058,750 by the Maine Office of the Treasurer.

Question 3:

Do you favor a $47,800,000 bond issue to create jobs in Maine through improvements to highways, railroads and marine facilities, including port and harbor structures, and specifying the allocation of $4,000,000 of the transportation bond approved by voters in November 2009 to be used for capital rail purposes?

A yes vote on this bond will allocate $24.8 million for reconstruction and paving of state highways, $16 million for the improvement of state rails and the purchase of the former Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway in Aroostook and Penobscot counties, $6.5 million for the Ocean Gateway Deep Water Pier in Portland, $500,000 for small harbor improvements, $5 million for wind power and $5 million for improved dental health – including potential funding for a College of Dental Medicine at the University of New England, which has campuses in Biddeford and Portland. A no vote will reject the bond issue in full. The Office of the Treasurer estimated the lifetime cost of the bond at $59,630,500.

Question 4:

Do you favor a $23,750,000 bond issue to provide capital investment to stimulate economic development and job creation by making investments under the Communities for Maine’s Future Program and in historic properties; providing funding for research and development investments awarded through a competitive process; providing funds for disbursements to qualifying small businesses; and providing grants for food processing for fishing, agricultural, dairy and lumbering businesses within the State and redevelopment projects at the Brunswick Naval Air Station that will make the State eligible for over $39,000,000 in federal and other matching funds?

If voted yes, the largest piece of this bond issue will go toward redevelopment of buildings at the Brunswick Naval Air Station. $8 million will be used to rehabilitate buildings in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and fire codes and to build a higher education center. As the question says, these improvements will make the station eligible for $39,000,000 in federal funding. The Office of the Treasurer estimates a lifetime cost of $29,628,125.

Question 5:

Do you favor a $10,250,000 bond issue to improve water quality, support drinking water programs and the construction of wastewater treatment facilities and to assist farmers in the development of environmentally sound water sources that will leverage $33,250,000 in federal and other funds?

A large piece of this bond issue, $3.4 million, will be put toward a revolving loan fund to design or improve water supply mechanisms in municipalities. Eligible water districts will be able to apply for these loans. The yes side hopes to leverage $17 million in federal funds. The Office of the Treasurer estimates a lifetime cost of $12,786,875.

Lifetime Costs Explained

State bond issues borrow revenue from property taxes and sales taxes. Bonds worth the amount on the ballot are sold to private investors, who pay for the issues up front. The state typically pays back the money at a 4.5 percent yearly interest rate over 10 years, after which the bond stops running.  The state estimates lifetime costs at that rate.