According to the analysis of audited financial records conducted by accountant Howard Bunsis, both the system and USM have positive revenue streams, healthy cash reserves and low levels of debt.

The system office has said that cuts from the state legislature have forced them to reduce funding to its seven campuses. But according to the report, over the past five years the system office has amassed large reserves, known as unrestricted net assets, and in 2009 — the year that USM withstood $2.7 million in cuts from the system — its net assets grew by $11 million.

The analysis, paid for by the USM’s student senate with $1,000 of student activity fees, confirms the findings of another recent report conducted by New Jersey accountant Leroy Dubeck that was commissioned by AFUM, the system-wide faculty union.

The findings clash with statements from university officials, who have maintained both institutions require restructuring and cuts in order to maintain operations. “Any suggestion that the University of Maine System is broke or out of money is preposterous,” Bunsis wrote in his report.

The student senate commissioned the analysis by Bunsis to verify the findings of the Dubeck report. Both audits say the system is in good financial shape and can use their substantial reserves to offset cuts from the legislature.

The report also finds that in the past five years, USM’s total revenues exceeded total expenses every year except for 2006. USM had surpluses of $4 million in 2007 and 2008, and $14 million in 2009.

“I was really surprised to see that there was a discrepancy; that the audit suggested we don’t have a deficit,” said Maggie Guzman, USM’s student body president. “That doesn’t make sense to me. All of these things are being cut, we’re making all of these consolidations, and then there is documentation that no cuts are necessary.”

University officials say the budgetary process isn’t that simple.

While it appears USM has profits, Dick Campbell, USM’s chief financial officer, said these are tied up in other funds besides the E and G account — the main fund academic departments draw from. He did say it would be possible to move money around to avoid cuts to departments.

“Some of this seems to talk about the extent to which we have the ability to redirect some of these assets and I think that’s a subject for some conversation,” he said.

Campbell said the data and analysis in Bunsis’ report is accurate, but disagreed with the way Bunsis delivered it.

“He’s using some powerful words. I’m not going to debate some of the points and statements he’s making,” said Campbell. “I don’t find that helpful to having a reasonable discussion about what our financial situation is.”

According to its public financial statements, the system has $84 million in its reserve fund, more than double the $40.5 million it had in 2001. But Rebecca Wyke, vice chancellor of finance for the system, said that while it bettered its financial condition year after year, the reserve fund — or unrestricted net assets — is partially spoken for by each of the campuses, and some of it is set aside to back up federal grants.

“While we could draw down our reserves, I guess, to do whatever it is they would like us to do, what do we do next year?” Wyke said.

“I think that people need to have a longer view than just the immediate year in front of them,” Wyke said. “To question how is it that we would sustain that over time. Either we need to increase our resources or we need to reduce our expenditures and the reality is we really need to do both.”

“In January, our retiree health costs are going up almost $6 million beyond what we had budgeted. So instead of asking the campuses to contribute to it, that reserve will go down in order to cover that cost,” Wyke said. “A lot of the reserves reside at UMaine but almost all of it is committed to building projects.”

But according to Bunsis, unrestricted net assets, by definition, are not set aside for any one purpose.

“The accounting rules are clear: Once something is designated by the external auditors as an unrestricted net asset, that means that the governing body has the flexibility to use those net assets as they see fit,” Bunsis said in a phone interview Wednesday evening. “Claiming that those net assets have been earmarked for this or that is really a claim without any meaning.”

“From a budgetary perspective, we can’t just draw down our reserves until they’re gone and then deal with it,” said Wyke. “That would not be prudent. We have some responsibility here to make sure that a very large state-wide operation continues to operate day-to-day and that does require that we have some contingency.”

Members of the executive board of the USM’s student senate said the audit casts doubt on the integrity of USM and system administrators. Senate chair Molly Dolby said senators wanted their own analysis, after details of the Dubeck report appeared in The Free Press, USM’s student newspaper. AFUM has not released the document publicly.

“I have faith in Selma [Botman]. She’s the head of the school; I respect her,” Dolby said of the USM president. “I’m just kind of looking for answers. Are the reports based on fallacies? Are they missing a key piece? Are they looking at too small of a picture? Those are the kinds of answers I want to hear from them. I invite them to explain that [the audits are] wrong and to give a clear explanation as to how and why.”

Botman was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m not jumping to any conclusions of any misuses of money or anything like that, but I would like to know where the money went,” said Guzman.

Wyke said the system is more concerned with future budgets than past results. Last January, it identified a $42.8 million structural budget deficit over the next three years across the university system. The deficit is based on anticipated cuts by the state legislature and the recent trend of flat or declining enrollment.

The board of trustees set in motion a plan Nov. 16 to deal with the deficit by freezing faculty wages, increasing online classes and creating three year degrees.

Bunsis said the system is good shape, and those concerned should remember how things turned out the last few years.

“Budgets are just plans, and administrators always say, ‘Oh my god, look at how bad the future is going to be.’ But they’re just plans. All that matters is the actual results that are audited by an external auditor,” Bunsis said.

Bunsis’ report is a preliminary look at university finances. He plans to perform additional analysis of cash flows, liquidity and debt levels and a formal ratio analysis used by Moody’s in municipal finance. He said he expects further investigation will corroborate his initial findings.

This article was originally published in The Free Press, the student newspaper at the University of Southern Maine. Reproduced with permission.

The trustees revised the report in response to feedback from public comment sessions that took place on each system campus, according to Pattenaude.

Changes in the new version of the plan included an initial reduction in the strategic investment fund — a pool of money proposed to be set aside for the system to strategically invest in certain areas — from $5.4 million to $1 million for the following fiscal year, a three-year baccalaureate option, increased enrollment in online programs as well as further cost reduction strategies for the system office.

“Every dollar we save … allows us to maintain our work. It allows us to maintain the viability of our campuses to the best of our abilities,” Pattenaude said.

Board chairperson Joe Wishcamper spoke from his Freeport home, due to surgery.

“The next phase is implementation,” Wishcamper said via teleconference, citing the decline of state appropriations and Maine’s shifting demographics as factors contributing to the unsustainable financial future of the system.

“Crisis creates a window of opportunity,” Wishcamper said.

One fast-track measure touted by Pattenaude is the three-year baccalaureate degree option. Providing affordability, efficiency and an increased turnover into the workforce, the three-year option would draw on resources like online courses, summer sessions and the use of other system institutions in order to expedite degree completion. In addition to these measures, Pattenaude expressed the need for technology upgrades and the sharing of faculty members between institutions.

“We need to increase our emphasis on growth and revenue,” Pattenaude said. “We all feel a great sense of urgency. We must move carefully so our margin of error is small.”

Decreases in the disbursement to the strategic investment fund from the original $5.4 million to two disbursements of $1 million this fiscal year and $1.7 million the next reflect current financial conditions. The remaining funding will be phased in during a three-year period.

Speaking Monday afternoon by phone, UMaine President Robert Kennedy said he was pleased with the changes in the report, specifically with the strategic investment fund.

“I was very worried about it, and am still a little bit worried,” Kennedy said.

Pattenaude presented increased online enrollment as an additional fast-track measure. He said online enrollment offers a “democratic approach to higher education,” and that technological capabilities have not been maximized.

Pattenaude highlighted the importance of distance learning and the need for an inter-institutional online portal that would connect the various components of academic, employee and administrative needs of students, faculty and personnel — from parking permits to being able to access a list of students in a class. An interactive electronic portal would unite the features of MaineStreet, FirstClass, WebCT and Blackboard software systems. The portal would cost $20 per students per semester.

“[The portal] plugs into existing data … and brings it to a single accessible screen,” said Pattenaude of his hopes for technological integration on a systemic scale.

“The opportunity to interact electronically expands by using modern technology,” he said. “The institution has to adopt these tools.”

Trustee Charles O’Leary of Orono challenged the reliance on technological interactions when faced with traditional learning environments. He stressed the cultural significance of the University of Maine in towns across the state.

“Traditions are important,” O’Leary said. “In places like Fort Kent and Machias, the university is the only ball game in town.”

Pattenaude explained that, at times, public policy outweighs tradition.

In addition to previous cuts already made and those proposed, the system office has cut over $1 million in their operations and is currently seeking to further reduce costs through an office system study.

The report’s projected milestones will be to focus on campus-level refined missions, with contribution from campus leadership and community. The adopted missions will be implemented in June 2010.

Trustee Victoria Murphy questioned the proposed time frame of the report.

“I just wondered why the time frame is so far out there,” she said in reference of June 11, 2010, the five-year strategic plan’s implementation target date.

Pattenaude responded that the interim period “engages campus level processes” and will force each campus to focus on itself before participating in the overall plan.

Board members voted unanimously to approve the plan after two hours of deliberation and the presentation of changes made due to public feedback.

“We need to be able to show that we are alive and competitive,” said Trustee Marjorie Medd of the system’s future.

William P. Davis contributed to this report.

Loredo, who headed UVote, multicultural services, judicial affairs and GLBT Services, among other programs, joined the UMaine community as associate dean in June 1999. He previously served as director of multicultural services at the University of Houston-Clear Lake. His responsibilities will be absorbed by Dana and Senior Associate Dean of Students Kenda Scheele.

The decision to cut the position was made by Dana, in consultation with several other people who Dana declined to identify.

“We’ve cut 25 percent of the budget in the last four-plus years, and I had cut 12 positions leading up to this,” Dana said Friday afternoon. Most of the positions that have been cut so far were characterized by Dana as “front-line” positions, but Dana said he had cut those positions as much as he could afford.

“To provide excellent service to students, I cannot cut on the front lines,” Dana said. Previous cuts have affected campus recreation, campus activities and administrative support, but Dana said the cuts have not dramatically impacted students.

“Student Affairs personnel are willing to do what needs to be done to help people,” Dana said.

Dana told Loredo of the decision on Tuesday.

Loredo would like to stay in the academic arena, but was unable to comment on whether he would be able to stay at UMaine due to contractual limitations.

“My passion has always been working with students,” Loredo said.

Scheele called the cut “a horrible thing,” but said budget cuts dictated the action.

“At the end of the day, we have to make the money work,” Scheele said.

Zachary Knox, president of Wilde Stein, UMaine’s GLBT alliance, said Loredo would be “sincerely missed.” Knox said Loredo was the community’s “source of influence and support” in the administration.

Scheele said Student Affairs has suffered other personnel cuts in recent years, including losing an administrative assistant last year. The elimination of an associate dean position is the biggest cut of a single job UMaine has seen since the recession began.

Dana said the university compensates for position cuts by allocating additional jobs to other people. He said when he first joined the university, there was a vice president for student affairs, a dean of students and three associate deans. With the elimination of Loredo’s job, just Dana, as vice president and dean, and Scheele, as associate dean, remain.

“We haven’t been unfairly treated; we’ve been proportionally treated,” Dana said. He expects $200,000 of Student Affairs’ $2.9 million budget to be cut next year.

Public Safety will come under the purview of Student Affairs, effective Jan. 1. The department was previously under the direction of Vice President for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron, according to Dana.

Loredo’s salary and benefits totaled just under $101,000 last year, according to MaineOpenGov.org.

Nobody thinks the system’s current structure is optimal or sustainable. The board’s chair, Joe Wishcamper, said the system’s current structure could result in budget gaps of more than $40 million per year. Nevertheless, the chancellor and the board are sadly misinformed when it comes to the best way to structure the system.

If the system’s budget is any indication, administrative salaries are by far the biggest problem facing the system. As reported last year, the system spends more than half its budget on salaries.

Obviously the system office’s primary goal is to administrate, not teach, but it seems like administration could be streamlined across the board. To his credit, Pattenaude said increased use of MaineStreet will lead to the streamlining of administrative positions, but we doubt he’s talking about the drastic cuts necessary to fix our budget shortfall without negatively impacting the product the system offers — our education.

The system should focus its efforts on funding faculty and endowing scholarships, which will, in the long run, build the school’s reputation and desirability and enhance what should be any state school’s mission of providing the best education possible. Instead, the system seems inclined to limit expenditures on faculty and cut low-enrollment courses, moves that will drive away both faculty and students. The restructuring process should refocus the system’s mission on — and it’s unfortunate we even have to say this — making education as affordable as possible. Instead, it seems as if the system is suggesting an increased — not decreased — administrative presence.

The most disappointing aspect of the process has been the response from the board of trustees. There has been little or no resistance from board members to the proposed changes — a shocking lack of due diligence.

In prepared remarks, Pattenaude said the plan is “bold in that it both reduces costs significantly through careful use of technology, strategic cost reductions and the many talents of our people, and simultaneously invests resources in key priorities facing the state of Maine.”

The report presents an action plan for the short-term — 2010 or sooner — and long-term — 2011 or later — future of the system.

Short-term goals include “Contain the cost of compensation and benefits at current levels for FY10 & FY11,” which is expected to save $13.8 million in fiscal year 2013, and “Create strategic investment fund,” which is expected to require a $5.6 million investment for an undecided return.

Long-term goals include “Develop a front end portal and virtual self service center for MaineStreet,” which is expected to cost $3 to $4 million for undefined returns, “Review and eliminate courses with enrollment of 12 or fewer,” which is expected to save $2 million in fiscal year 2013, and “Implement seamless student transfer of credit hours within UMS.”

The plan suggests the system contain employee compensation and generate a public agenda to more effectively lobby for funds.

Before the trustees approve the plan, there will be public meetings on each of the seven system campuses and at the system office in Bangor. The board will use input gathered at these meetings when making its decision on whether or not to adopt Pattenaude’s plan. Pattenaude said he hopes the board will approve the plan by November.

“[The plan] is very critical, first of all, because in these economic times, we have to be financially very, very careful, and we have to balance our budgets,” Pattenaude told reporters after addressing the board. “But also, the future of Maine depends upon an educated work force, so we need to continue to contribute and evolve so we do that. So it’s about the strength of the system, but it’s also about the strength of the state.”

Joe Wishcamper, the chair of the Board of Trustees, said the current structure is not sustainable. “We’re a state which is not growing in population,” Wishcamper said after the meeting. “We’re really in a position where our costs are continuing to escalate, and our enrollments are not growing to keep pace with the escalation of costs. So it’s crucial we address the fact that our trend lines are not going in the right direction, and that has to do not only with the financial stability of our system, but it really has to do with the viability of our higher education enterprise in the state of Maine.”

According to Wishcamper, if the system were to continue business as usual, “within four years, we’d have a structural gap somewhere in excess of $40 million annually.” The system’s annual budget is about $600 million.

“We’re taking this occasion where we really need to address our financial issues to address how to get better as a system,” Wishcamper said. “The economics of our system are essentially providing not only the opportunity but the necessity for us to analyze and address all our ways of operating.”

University of Maine President Robert Kennedy said he is pleased with the process thus far and is looking forward to the conclusion of the restructuring process.

“I think all of us are pleased to be at this stage in the process,” Kennedy said. “[After the] public comment period, it means this process will be done, and I’m looking forward to the outcome.”

“The concerns that we had … revolved mostly around the funding for the university and the centralization of services,” Kennedy said. “We’ve been quite proactive in … stating our concerns.”

“One of the things I’ve been pleased with is that the chancellor and the board of trustees and his staff have heard us,” he said.

Pattenaude said the decision of which classes to eliminate won’t be made just by the number of enrollees. “Each class we look at, [we ask] ‘Is it needed?’ ‘Is it part of a curriculum?’ ‘Do students need it for graduation?’ ‘Are there alternatives available?’ This is not a hard and fast rule; it’s a review process to make sure we are not unnecessarily running small classes,” Pattenaude said.

Kennedy said it is hard to make across-the-board decisions about class size. “It really varies from subject area to subject area,” Kennedy said in a phone interview. “It’s hard to make blanket decisions.” Kennedy went on to say, “On average, the University of Maine is at or above the level recommended in the document for our peer institutions.” He did not state what that level was.

Pattenaude said the restructuring will make transfers between system universities easier, and more classes will be offered online. Increased use of MaineStreet will lead to streamlining administrative staff. While the University of Maine System “will always keep the capacity for face to face,” Pattenaude said he likes the ideal of a student who never has to go to an administrative building because he or she can do everything online.

Pattenaude stated the restructuring of the system was started in April 2009 in response to the growing financial problems of the system’s campuses. Pattenaude formed three groups to look at three arenas of university operations: academics, finances and the system structure. The first two groups were composed of chief academic and financial officers from the campuses and the system office. The third was an independent task force of representatives taken from every university in the system.

The task force’s report suggests reducing tuition for first-year and second-year students at all system campuses in order to attract and retain more students. Similarly, the report suggests pricing the universities at “appropriate rates that reflect the different student clientele they serve.”

“I think essentially what the task force is saying is take a look at reducing the price of the first two years with the understanding — the expectation — that it could bring in more students,” said Janet Waldron, UMaine’s vice president for administration and finance. “I think what’s not being addressed here is, what about the next two years?”

In terms of pricing the universities at “appropriate rates,” Waldron said the recommendation means looking at pricing policies in broader terms.

“What I’ve understood the task force report to say is look at the pricing structure across all of the institutions,” Waldron said.

The task force’s report, released during the summer, recommends four suggestions to the Chancellor: Create a public agenda that would transform the UMS’s economic impact on Maine; make system campuses act together as a union, instead of a confederation and pursue less redundant services and programs; restructure system-wide services to be more accountable; and “use financial policy to realize system goals.”

“When the [Faculty] Senate responded to the task force, we made our position clear that the big issue on the restructuring was the centralization of services,” said Judy Kuhns-Hastings, president of UMaine’s Faculty Senate. “That’s a very expensive thing to do, and that the centralization of services needs to be reduced and that work needs to go to the campuses that can do it; which is probably UM and USM. … Centralization of services costs a lot of money.”

The task force report does not share the belief that individual campuses are better suited for providing certain services. It states: “We believe, again, Maine is too small to fragment services where natural economies of scale exist, and further, that many of our problems have come about as a result of various campuses refusing to adopt common procedures.”

Kuhns-Hastings said she did not feel better about how the task force addressed centralized services after she read its report.

“I don’t think that the centralization of services has been well thought out at a central level, and I think it’s continuing to cost a lot of money,” she said. “It seems to me that when you have campuses that already have expertise and already are pretty well set — this campus does a very nice job on distance education — to pull that away to a centralized model is not necessarily money-saving.”

The task force recommended saving money through information technology, in addition to other areas of system services and operations. John Gregory, IT director at UMaine, said the report’s proposed model for IT services, called the “hybrid IT model,” is largely what he and his counterparts already do.

“It talks about trying to save money by increasing the number of virtual servers we have,” said Gregory. He added, “we’ve got a committee made up of some members of the IT directors who are working at ways that we can standardize the desktop and laptop computers that we use in administrative offices.”

Gregory said UMaine will likely migrate away from the WebCT program and switch to Project NG, a hybrid of Blackboard and WebCT, because the next version of WebCT has tools for such a migration and will soon be phased out.

“They’ll be the same product at that point,” Gregory said.

Gregory said the plan calls for replacing Microsoft Office at UMaine and its sister campuses with less expensive software such as OpenOffice. UMaine spends about $70,000 per year on licensing fees for Microsoft Office.

The report calls for switching to the hybrid IT reporting system between chief information officers, such as Gregory and the IT director at the system office. The task force report says this new model will likely save $700,000 during the course of the next four years. But another, called the “enterprise” model, which would require Gregory and other IT directors at system campuses to report directly to the system office, would have likely saved $950,000 during the same period, according to the report. Gregory said the enterprise model was rejected because it called for too much centralization and placed too heavy an emphasis on the system office, unlike the hybrid model, which only requires increased communication.

Pattenaude’s final plan, titled “Adding Value Through Educational Opportunity and Economic Development,” will be unveiled during the Sept. 14 meeting of the system BOT.

A financial presentation in March anticipated UMaine would need approximately $8.8 million in budget cuts to balance its budget. In June, additional state curtailments of funds and a reduction in expected credit hours raised that number to $11 million.

“After we did that public presentation in March, enrollment was still down for this coming fall, and we readjusted our budget down due to the expectation that we would have a smaller incoming class,” said Vice President for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron.

What is generally referred to as the university’s budget is actually its educational and general fund budget — made of funds that support academic programs and department costs. Revenue from tuition, fees, sales and services and state appropriations make up this budget. Waldron attributes the budget gap to a combination of falling enrollment, less state funding and the economy.

“Sales and service revenues have definitely been depressed by economic activity,” Waldron said.

The University of Maine is not the only state school facing a budget crisis. Each of the campuses in the University of Maine System has its share of state appropriations, and all of them have seen reductions. UMaine may be in a better position than other universities.

“Some universities have been able to build up some funds to fall back on, and the University of Maine is one of them,” said Rebecca Wyke, vice chancellor for finance and administration and treasurer for the system.

The University of Maine community will continue to see budget reductions and restructuring of colleges in coming years.

“The economic outlook for the state and nation is not good,” Wyke said. “We shouldn’t be expecting our two main sources of revenue — appropriations and tuition — to grow.”

UMaine is taking steps to ensure the success of the university, according to Waldron.

“An academic priority planning committee has been established to look at long-term answers,” Waldron said. This committee includes representatives from each college and members of the Faculty Senate.

While the faculty and administration plan for the university’s future, students in different colleges can expect to see budget reductions. Third-year mass communication student Shaina Dennis learned this firsthand when the mass communication and journalism department cut the advertising sequence from the journalism major.

“I found out two days before classes started that the advertising concentration was being phased out,” Dennis said.

She had to choose another major because she had recently switched into advertising and did not have enough credits in the program to graduate with her journalism degree.

“I feel like if you’re coming into the school and are interested in advertising outside of journalism, you won’t have those opportunities anymore,” Dennis said.

Dennis had bought all her books for her classes when she was informed of the change.

“I think they could have handled the situation a lot better,” she said.

Some factors that affect whether a class or concentration will be phased out are class size and the number of graduates it is producing.

“Reductions haven’t been arbitrary; they have been as thoughtful as possible, given the circumstances,” Waldron said.

According to Wyke, it is difficult to predict how the economy will continue to affect UMaine and the classes it is able to offer, but the long-term solution will be a compromise between academic quality and fiscal responsibility.

“We are in the business of helping people attain a higher education, not making it more difficult,” Wyke said.

In addition, 77 vacant positions were eliminated, for a total of 140 positions affected. The salary and benefits savings associated with eliminating or reducing these positions totals $5.8 million.

UMaine reduced its operating costs further by reducing travel, supplies, maintenance, equipment and related expenses by $1.7 million, according to the release. An additional $1.3 million will be eliminated through conservation at the administrative level.

All totaled, UMaine reduced its expenditures for the next fiscal year by $8.8 million.

In an interview, UMaine President Robert Kennedy said “hundreds of people were involved in making the decisions”. According to Kennedy, every department and program head was involved in the process. “Those decisions were made in the colleges and in the other service units,” said Kennedy. “The units tried to do it strategically to make as little impact, as negative impact on our programs as possible.

According to Kennedy, 43 faculty positions will be left open to accommodate the cut. In order to cover the gap in the number of faculty some colleges will hire adjunct professors to teach, whereas full-time faculty get money for research, class sizes may increase and in some cases classes may be scheduled less often.

In addition, the university has been able to use private money to hire for positions previously funded by public funds, according to Kennedy.

Fifteen of the layoffs come from UMaine’s salaried staff, including 10 positions at the Cutler Health Center. Four coaches were eliminated with UMaine’s volleyball and men’s soccer programs, and one faculty member who primarily worked with Cooperative Extension. The remaining 12 layoffs were hourly workers, including eight at Cutler Health Center. The Cutler Health Center layoffs came during the transition from a university-operated center to a center owned and operated by Eastern Maine Medical Center. Vice President for Administration and Finance Janet Waldron estimates six employees were hired back by EMMC after the transition.

Most of the reduced hours resulted in converting positions from 12-month positions to 10-month positions.

Faculty Senate members became frustrated with a proposed incomplete-grade form during the meeting, having already dealt with it for months. The form is designed to facilitate the process of documenting incomplete grades. Senators raised concerns the form would put students’ grades on the shoulders of deans more than on the faculty and departments they work with.

Faculty Senate also heard from UMaine President Robert Kennedy.

“Instead of making horizontal cuts … we really need to concentrate on identifying all of the colleges in our centers that are centers of excellence and really be vertical [in our planning],” Kennedy said, relaying comments from an April 22 New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC) meeting.

Kennedy, having returned from the 8:30 a.m. NEASC meeting, said college accreditors and administrators recommended comparing UMaine to peer institutions around the country instead of universities and colleges within Maine.

Faculty Senate President Dianne Hoff, who also attended the morning meeting, agreed with the recommendations Kennedy relayed to the senate.

Kennedy said he heard Chancellor Richard Pattenaude’s task force may not make its June deadline, when it is required to deliver its final report to Pattenaude. Kennedy said he received this information publicly from the task force chairman, David Flanagan.

“It may take on a life of its own beyond June,” Kennedy said.

Hoff said Wednesday’s NEASC meeting was poorly communicated to the campus community and few people showed up for it.

“We did seem to have trouble communicating with the broader community about what was going on with the NEASC committee,” Hoff said. “The students didn’t seem to know about the sessions.”

Hoff suggested the Faculty Senate work with the provost or president’s office to ensure they advertise future meetings better.

“The Alerts and Announcements folder [on FirstClass] just isn’t really adequate,” Hoff said.

Undergraduate student representative Nate Wildes said Student Government was unaware of the NEASC meeting.

Gail Garthwait, assistant professor of technology, said Ralph Caruso, the chief information officer of the University of Maine System office’s Information Technology department, has offered to meet with faculty members April 28 to discuss concerns they may have with the PeopleSoft program. She invited faculty members to e-mail her on FirstClass if they wish to attend the meeting.

Faculty Senate’s members felt the proposed grading form on the agenda controlled professors too much.

“Seems like more growth of bureaucracy,” said professor James McClymer.

Professor William Halteman asked why the signature of the professor’s college dean was required on the form and why he or she needed copies of the form. Professor Dan Belknap said associate deans like to have something in front of themselves when answering questions about grades from the dean of the student’s college and that requiring the signature ensured they got a copy of the form.

“If they want to talk about students, they need to talk to the faculty member,” McClymer said. He felt students’ teachers should be the one to inform deans of grades, not associate deans.

The senate motioned to remove the requirement of the signature of the faculty member’s college dean, which passed with none against and one abstention.

Hoff said the form’s requirement of a signature from a faculty member’s chairperson was problematic because some colleges don’t have chairpeople.

McClymer said it was worthwhile to approve the form, and that if a problem comes up in the future the senate can discuss it.

After a few extra minutes of debate, Faculty Senate voted to move the form back to committee for revision.

A proposal from the Academic Affairs Committee to modify the student athletic “priority registration policy” to change athlete’s registration status to equal junior standing instead of senior and to cover the entire academic year was voted on during the meeting. It passed with none against and one abstention.

“Keep in mind that this suits the timing, not the location,” Wildes said, reminding senators that this policy gave athletes academic priority, not housing priority.

Belknap said senate needs to reauthorize Maine Day for another four years. He said it should have been done last fall, but was postponed because of other agenda items. The senate will vote to reauthorize it in May. Belknap said UMaine has not cancelled Maine Day this year and that professors should hold classes only if they meet two or fewer times during the week.

An amended version of the Faculty Senate bylaws passed unanimously during the meeting. Faculty senators also approved a shared governance document and three Faculty Senate officer candidates.

Professor James Warhola proposed remanding the issue of extending Kennedy’s presidential term by one or two years to a committee. Hoff said his proposal will be sent to several committees.

“I’m an old union girl. All these euphemism words that come from downsized, laid off, those take the person out of it. I got fired has a different connotation,” Wescott said.

Wescott’s dance troupe – the UMF Dancers, which she founded 29 years ago – has been cut from the University of Maine at Farmington. Wescott is the first tenured professor to be laid off – or fired, as she prefers – since the university cut the home economics program in the 1980s, she says.

Other programs cut from UMF include ski industries, women’s studies, piano and Russian. In addition, archeology is no longer funded through the university.

The closure of UMF dance “devastated” the dance community, according to Ann Ross, a dance instructor at UMaine.

“Margaret has been a mover and shaker for dance in Maine for years, so it is difficult to have a friend and colleague lose a job,” Ross said in an e-mail.

Wescott, a Maine native, built the post modern dance program after returning from school in North Carolina. Since the program’s inception, it has traveled all over Maine and New England to perform for dance festivals and schools.

Most recently, the troupe performed at the French Immersion School in Freeport, which was founded by one of Wescott’s former students.

The program had only 10 to 15 dancers not because of lack of interest or talent but because the vans can only take 15 people and the program couldn’t afford to take two vans.

“I’m very practical, and I grew up in poverty, so I’ve been running this program on a little over $1,000 a year,” Wescott said. “I laugh with my students that I’m a glorified PTA president. You know, we do car washes and bake sales to earn money to go places.”

Wescott went to University of North Carolina and studied at Duke University in the summer before coming back to Maine to help develop a dance curriculum for the state.

She and other dance teachers from Maine universities and colleges helped write the first edition of the Maine K-12 dance cirriculum.

Wescott, now 64 years old, thought she would teach until she was 70. A self-described “overachiever,” she played three sports in college, first attending Plymouth State University for her undergraduate degree and then UNC for her graduate degree.

She has no plans, as of yet, for what she will do when her contract ends on May 31.

She will probably move. From where she lives she can walk to the university. She can see the campus from her dining room window, a reminder of her old job that may prove too harsh.