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MAIN
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A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
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Volume 9 No. 1 |
February 2005 |
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MAIN
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A Joint Project of the Maine
Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods |
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Volume 9 No. 1 |
February 2005 |
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In My Opinion…
UMA and USM Merger: Is it good for Maine?
by Shannon CollinsI agree with Chancellor Westphal when he says that the University of Maine System (UMS) needs to play a key role in the future of our state. However, I am concerned that his plan to merge the University of Maine Augusta (UMA) with the University of Southern Maine (USM) will not be good for all Maine people, especially non-traditional students.
This proposal ignores the cultural consequences of the campus merger. It does not address how the various facilities will be merged. The unknown financial and human costs need to be better understood. Ending two-year degree programs seriously limits academic options in this state, and may strain the community college system. Access, academic quality, and state funding might be harmed.
Centralizing the research, admissions, and governance of UMS into the Bangor office will cause big problems. It distances the academic community from the center of decision-making. It will also affect university employees, weakens local decision-making, and may cause student services to suffer.
Since its beginnings, UMA has mainly served working women, many of them parents, many with low incomes. We are a group with little lobbying power, easy to overlook. It may be easy to remove the one school in the UM system dedicated to a group with little clout and turn it into a non-autonomous branch of USM, but is it the best plan for Maine and Maine people?
This year's UMA graduating class was 82% female and had an average age of 37. Most of the students graduating from UMA stay in central Maine, work in central Maine and pay taxes in central Maine. They are well qualified and are the best example of the quality product that UMA turns out.
UMA and USM may have similar mission statements, but in my opinion that is where the similarities end. The student body is classified as non-traditional but the average age of USM's students is almost ten-years younger than that of UMA students. USM has a very different culture and priorities. These differences will have a profound impact on UMA programs.
If the merger is to work, the benefits must be clearly stated, and the plan must include the ideas of the faculty, students and administrative staffs. I encourage those working on the plan to take into serious consideration the ideas and opinions of those who will be most affected. In the end, the merger will be more acceptable and easier to carry out.
Shannon Collins is a UMA student, MAIN member, and Maine Equal Justice board member.
