University out of touch - Times Record

At University of Maine, Farmington, a budget cut of $1.65 million meant that several professors and faculty members were let go. At University of Maine at Augusta, $2.7 million was cut from the budget, which will eventually cost jobs. At Orono, almost $10 million will be slashed, seven non-faculty staff members will lose their jobs, and open positions will go unfilled. At the University of Southern Maine, whole majors and programs were slashed, along with more than 40 faculty and staff positions. Some of those cuts were later rescinded under enormous student pressure. The University of Maine is not an Ivy League school; students who attend the university struggle to pay the tuition, student fees, and room and board fees, which are fairly steep. But as UMaine students struggle, and faculty jobs are slashed, the University system elected to pay an administrator an additional $40K — an amount that would cover a student’s costs for nearly two years at Orono, or a faculty or staff position for a whole year. This is a symptom of a public university system badly out of touch with the people it is supposed to be serving. http://www.timesrecord.com/news/2014-04-18/Editorial/University_out_of_touch.html