[View the story "Maine students and faculty protest layoffs and budget 'fiasco'" on Storify ]Maine students and faculty protest layoffs and budget 'fiasco' Ongoing demonstrations highlight frustration over University of Southern Maine's fiscal policy. Storified by AJAMStream · Thu, Mar 27 2014 17:28:24
In her announcement to the school's Faculty Senate, she called the changes long overdue:
Today, we are faced with declining demographic trends, a lagging economy, and reduced state funding which pose challenges to our mission and our ability to remain solvent. It’s time for us to work together to design a series of changes that lead USM into a future that provides a more fulfilling experience for students, and better serves our communities and the state.usm.maine.edu
In response, students and faculty at USM have been holding daily protests online and on campus. Using the hashtag
, community members shared photos from protests and expressed their disapproval with the university's decisions.
The occupations has begun #usmfuture #mepolitics http://t.co/lz8FGwmLWkAsher Platts
Banner says: no faculty = no students = no university #usmfuture http://t.co/UDdTBWZ2whJennifer Long
Econ. prof Feiner on the floor of the hallway today in protest. 60+ protesting as faculty are laid off. #USMfuture http://t.co/XttwHEe4N3USM Free Press
Students also tweeted their support for professors who found themselves jobless after the university's actions.
Found out that one of the teachers that got layed off is my favorite teacher I've ever had at USM. She was the best. #usmfutureKristin Jerome
"@USMFreePress: Students link arms to escort Professor Annie Finch in to her meeting #USMfuture #usmprotest" Another amazing woman #joblessSarah T. Moon
Some staff have even volunteered to go into earlier retirement to protect the jobs of their younger colleagues:
"We're playing in the Hunger Games here" - Lasala on senior faculty retiring to save junior faculty #usmfuture SHUSM Free Press
Rachel Bouvier, an associate professor of economics, was one of the original staff members facing a layoff. Her job was saved "not because of any change of heart on the administration's side," she told The Stream in an email, but because two of her senior colleagues chose to leave the university.
"This was one of the most heart-wrenching parts of this fiasco - the crisis pitted junior faculty against more senior faculty in many cases, with pressure (implicit if not explicit) on faculty close to retirement age to 'go quietly' in order to 'save' a junior colleague's position," Bouvier said.
A recent
study by the Delta Cost Project points to the growth in administrative positions when considering increasing university costs. According to the study, the average number of faculty and staff per administrator declined by about 40 percent from 1990 to 2012.
Bouvier suggested that this national shift in higher education goes well beyond USM. "These layoffs are part of a larger trend across the country to undermine liberal arts education and to further impose a business model on what, by definition, is a public institution."
Some members of the community are not sold by the university's assertions of a fiscal crisis. Many have
pointed to mismanagement and poor distribution of funds, accusing the university system of inflating administrative costs at the expense of students and faculty.
"Neither the administration nor the UMaine system have acted with integrity – manufacturing a financial crisis when the system had a surplus of $17 million dollars," said Marpheen Chann-Berry, vice president of USM's student government, in an email to The Stream.
Chann-Berry, along with state Rep. Ben Chipman and other students,
proposed the Maine Legislature establish an independent study to ensure that the distribution of funding under the University of Maine system was consistent with the state's public policy
goals . But the bill did not make it past the legislative council.
For public schools like USM, the Delta Cost Project also points to declines in state subsidies. The amount appropriated to the University of Maine system has
declined as a percentage of the state budget for the past twenty years. The amount appropriated for the 2103 fiscal year was $6.2 million below the 2008 levels.
A USM alumnus shared his concern for the decline in state funds:
If we care about #usmfuture and / or the future of public higher education in Maine, we need to stop flat funding our public universities.Dave Kerschner
The school system also anticipates seeing enrollment drops as Maine's demographics change. The number of 15- to 24-year-olds is projected to decline by 20 percent between 2010 and 2020.
Regardless of the numbers, Maine residents are still concerned about the effects the current cuts will have on the university system down the line.
Portland school board member Pious Ali noted the impact the budget cuts would have on students at local Portland high schools.
Ali says there are high school students in his district who are interested in every program USM is gutting. To him, the effect on those students who cannot afford to go to school outside the state will be severe. His message to the university system was clear: "You are depriving that young person of an education."
What do you think about the University of Southern Maine's layoffs and budget cuts? Leave a comment below.
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