USM faculty, students say layoffs will gut programs - Seth Koenig, BDN

University of Southern Maine students and faculty said layoffs at the school will hollow out popular departments and all but close down pathways to graduation for many students. “This university is just a pathetic shadow of what a university should be,” said Susan Feiner, professor of economics and women and gender studies at USM. “This school doesn’t have any idea how students in some of these majors are going to graduate. They don’t have the faculty to teach some of the core classes, and they don’t have the faculty because they were fired.” Paul Christiansen, a tenured associate professor of musicology at the school, told reporters during a Wednesday news conference in Portland that he was informed via voice mail that he would be laid off. “I was the only music historian, not only at USM, but in the whole university system,” said Christiansen, who said he didn’t know how the School of Music could continue without his classes or work hours. “This is a colossally bad idea to turn this university into ‘USM online.’” https://bangordailynews.com/2014/10/29/news/portland/a-pathetic-shadow-of-what-a-university-should-be-usm-faculty-students-say-layoffs-will-gut-programs/?ref=topStories4