Category: News

FOR 35 STUDENTS ON THE GORHAMCAMPUS, LABOR DAY LIVED UP TO ITSNAME. – From USM, 35 students worked all day on Labor Day doing five community service projects in Gorham. Overseen by Kate Rotroff of the Gorham Center for Volunteers and Community Education, the students painted the Gorham town gazebo, the “snack shack” at the little league baseball field, the deck at the Gorham Recreation Department and ten soccer goals at the Little Falls Recreation area.

ANNE HOBBY STAFF WRITER Who said you need to go to Florida to swim with the dolphins? The water in Maine might be too cold for the tourists but not for the indigenous white-sided dolphin. They are one of hundreds of marine species the Gulf of Maine Area Program, a field project of the International Census of Marine Life, is studying.

Those close to her had just begun to dare to hope that Lavinia Gelineau was pulling her life back together. A year after her husband, Christopher Gelineau, died in Iraq, Lavinia was planning a return to college to become a French teacher. She had spent a long year in mourning, at an intensity that never seemed to diminish, and protesting the Iraq war.

The Student Senate, mirroring one of the major national political debates, held student elections this year online, with mixed results. The Student Senate paid $250 for the online survey service, provided by Survey Monkey.

Student Senator Joshua Chaisson won the election for Student Body President with 42 percent of the vote.

USM has a variety of illustrious speakers coming here every week. Here is a sample of some of them. This list is not all-inclusive and the number of listings is contingent on space. If you, your student group, club, etcetera would like to place a listing send an e-mail to joseph.

Mar. 6

A student saw a vehicle strike her own at Anderson Woodward Hall.

Mar. 7

Someone reported a person attempting to break into cars in the Woodbury Campus Center Parking lot.

A bottle was thrown out of a window in Upton-Hastings Hall and landed 10 feet from a police officer.

The Internal Revenue Service website is a labyrinth of odd letter and number combinations, polysyllabic words, cross-referencing and jargon. Given the complexity of tax law and the documents that supposedly explain it, it is no surprise the majority of Americans pay to have their taxes filed.

Student Leaders for February and March announced

Victor Wyatt and Sonia Acevedo received Student Leader of the Month award for March and February, respectively.

Wyatt, nominated by Senator Keith Foster, received the award for reviving Words & Images. “He took a leadership position of something that had zero members and constructed an entire staff.

A bomb threat was reported in room 105 of the Science Building on the Portland Campus on Wednesday, March 23. The threat came by way of a note left under the door of the room.

“The note said something to the effect of ‘This is a bomb threat and you need to leave now.

Portland hosted a heroes parade for local military, police and fire fighters last Friday. the parade kicked off at 3:30pm down Congress street. Thousands gathered along the parade route. The event took place in the best weather the area has seen this year; it was sunny and warm.

Senator Caroline Young will return for the 34th Student Senate following a failed bid for USM Student Body President. Young ran for president and senator-in the at-large constituency. In the University’s first election for Student Body President, Caroline was the third candidate to toss her hat into the ring.

This year’s 34th Student Government Elections, held March 21 to the 24, were the first elections for the position of Student Body President. Joshua Force, a junior majoring in political science, was one of the three candidates running for the position. Force came in third, losing to Joshua Chaisson.

The numbers are in, sort of, and the Student Senate budget for the 2005/2006 fiscal year is out, having received approval from both the 33rd Student Senate, and the newly seated 34th Student Senate. The projected $350,000 that make up the budget come from the Student Activity Fee, of which 70 percent is allotted to student groups by the Student Senate.

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.

Student groups add one to their number

The 34th Student Senate voted to recognize a new student group: the USM Mathematical Society.

“It’s pretty self-explanatory,” said Deborah Penham when asked to explain the purpose of the organization. “It’s a math club.

April 25

A vehicle belonging to a resident of Portland Hall was burglarized.

Food coolers in Bailey Hall were broken into and some beverages stolen.

Obscene graffitti was found in the elevator of Upton-Hastings Hall. The perpetrator, a resident of the hall, confessed to police who are still investigating the case to determine the student’s punishment.

On the train from Paris to London, a student fainted. His best friend found him in the bathroom, curled around the toilet, looking as though he had decided to take a bit of a snooze right there on the floor. We woke him, poked him, assessed his damage and then promptly alerted a train conductor.

Aaron Keller, a chemistry undergrad, will give this May’s student commencement address. Keller will graduate this December, and is working toward his goal as a high school science teacher. Chemistry will be his second degree. He obtained a B.A. in both philosophy and German from the University of Connecticut in 2000.

With so many English majors at USM, there should be a better way to describe the new Joel and Linda Abromson Community Education Center, but there’s not. In four and a half words: It’s just really cool. That seemed to be the consensus of the hundred or so people milling about the building, munching on popcorn during the grand opening celebrations on Tuesday, April 26, while nostalgic renditions of “Take me out to the ball game,” and the national anthem played in the background.

Staff writer Kirah Brouillette continues her series about bringing three dozen Waterville High school juniors and seniors on a tour through Europe with her mother, boyfriend, and a professional tour guide from Explorica. She discovers Paris has both a dark and light side.

USM has a variety of illustrious speakers coming here every week. Here is a sample of some of them. This list is not all-inclusive and the number of listings is contingent on space. If you, your student group, club, or etcetera would like to place a listing send an e-mail to joseph.

Killdeer and Hawks

Perhaps the most under-celebrated sign of spring on the Gormah campus returned this week could be seen foraging for food and nest building material on the Paula D. Hodgdon Field. The unnamed killdeers nest in the rocky debris South East of the field.

Apr. 18

A white male, wearing a Celtic shirt, knocked on the door to the Admissions House and asked for a ride to Westbrook. The person was gone when USM police arrived.

Somebody reported the odor of marijuana in Upton-Hastings Hall. USM police were unable to locate the source.

In an effort to create an opening for the appointment of Ezra Poore on the 34th Student Senate, Brian Decampos motioned for his constituency to be changed from resident to commuter. The motion failed. Poore was one of the three resident candidates not elected to the Student Senate in the March elections.