On an evening before the spring vacation, students and faculty filled the seventh floor of the Glickman Library to hear the first annual Student Government Association’s “State of the University Address.”
Student Body President AJ Chalifour spoke about the university in both a critical and approving manner as he outlined the faults and triumphs of the cash-strapped school.
Areas of discussion included USM’s total tuition cost, student events, budget concerns, and lack of student involvement.
He noted that, in comparison with Colby and Bowdoin Colleges, USM students end up with much more debt after graduation. His remedy for this trouble was to reach out to non-residents by offering them more scholarships based on GPA and SAT scores.
Chalifour explained his plan’s benefits.
“This could serve to raise our revenue by increasing enrollment, while not requiring scholarship dollars to offset tuition rates.”
For students with outrageous loans after graduation, Chalifour added his support for Opportunity Maine, a recently implemented program in which students can get tax credits to pay off their student loans.
On the subject of the University of Maine System, Chalifour had some less applauding words.
Aimed at the allocation of funds amongst the Maine universities – from which USM has gotten 24 percent of the allotment since 1970, despite nearly doubling in size – Chalifour said “it’s unfair, it’s illogical, and it’s about time something is done about it. We cannot continue to run such a large university with such an essential mission in this state, while remaining so dependent on student tuition and fees.”
Chalifour said that the current system needs to be challenged.
“Southern Maine legislators need to take ownership of USM and its importance to their own constituents as well as the state. They need to advocate for USM, and the University of Maine System in Augusta.”
He further explained that state legislators in Augusta need to realize that one of USM’s primary advantages is its location. Graduating students will have more professional opportunities in southern Maine then in areas around other universities in the Maine system.
“Students would appreciate seeing improvements in three main areas: the right hardware, logical and useable instructional technology, and space that is conducive to learning and teaching,” said Chalifour.
As an example, he cited a dying-seagull-sounding heating unit in Luther Bonney and the ever-changing climate of Bailey Hall, which, as he points out, may actually “serve as an advantage for our earth science majors: it’s hard for other students when they have to predict how freezing cold or unbearably hot their classroom will be on any given day.”