Maine State Governor John Baldacci recently ordered the formation of a task force whose purpose is to create a plan for higher education in the Augusta area. The 10-seat committee was filled only last Friday. In the run-up to Baldacci’s appointments, many worried the task force was already drifting in the same direction that made the Strategic Plan unpopular-by not including all of the major groups involved. In this case, it’s students.
“Without student representation you’re going to fall into the same mistake the original Strategic Plan fell into,” said Andrew Bossie, Chair of the USM Student Senate. Since the goal of the task force is to find a solution to the UMA merger with USM, Bossie said it is important to “get a consensus that includes all parties.”
The Unified USM Student Government Steering Committee (SGSC) sent a letter to Governor Baldacci, requesting that students be represented on the task force. The letter asked for two seats on the committee, with the same rights and responsibilities as the other members. Prior to the SGSC letter being drafted, the Governor’s office announced that adding a student representative was under consideration.
“I think now this is set in motion. We’ll get a seat,” said Bossie. He said the SGSC is more concerned with getting a seat on the task force then on advocating for a particular resolution at the moment. According to Bossie, the SGSC “has not taken a stance specifically to get representation.”
When questioned about why students were overlooked initially, Bossie said, “I don’t see a lot of student voice or activism happening, it’s not in their faces as much.”
Richard Pattenaude, president of USM, said via email, “I think the student voice is an important voice in these affairs. If there is not a student on the group, then it will be very important to ensure that there is a strong student input.” Pattenaude said he was unsure of the composition of the task force and its objectives.
According to a press release on the Maine state website, the task force will have five representatives from the University of Maine System, including: two Board of Trustees Members, a designee from the Chancellor, the President of USM, and the interim president from UMA. In addition, there will be a member of the Augusta City Council, a member of the Augusta business community, the president of Kennebec Valley Community College, the commissioner of education, and a faculty member from UMA on the task force.
John Diamond, the University of Maine System’s executive director of external affairs, said that the Chancellor has chosen Chief Financial Officer of the University of Maine System, Joanne Yestramski, as his appointee. Diamond also said the BOT chair has yet to choose the two members to be on the task force. “As far as I know, they haven’t formally assembled the committee yet,” said Diamond.
According to Diamond, after Baldacci announced the task force, state senator Elizabeth Mitchell requested to have a bill she had proposed killed. The bill would have required the BOT to get Legislature approval before enacting major changes to the Maine system. Diamond said she chose to have the bill killed because the Governor’s task force addressed the concerns that had prompted her to propose it.
According to the Maine State website, the task force will submit its final recommendation by December 1, 2005.