Category: News

CANDIDATES ANSWERED THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IN THE ORDER THAT THEY ARE LISTED: How would you define the direction the University is moving in? What do you see as major issues for USM that you will tackle during your term? What do you see as the role of Student Senate as the University goes through transformation? Candidates are listed by alphabetically by position.

Last month, the Student Senate created a new student-government position at the University of Southern Maine: student body president. The Senate approved the new position as a trial run that will need approval by next year’s Senate. The president will change the structure of the student government and could shift relations between the student body and administration.

When the University’s storm line announced the cancellation of all classes, activities and events scheduled for Tuesday, some students rolled back into bed and some made new plans for the day. Few thought to check back with the storm line, the University’s website or local TV and radio news stations, which all said simply that classes were cancelled for the day and gave no further information.

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.

Featured Speakers

Doras Chirwa, the HIV/AIDS Coordinator for CARE Zambia, will give a guest lecture entitled “HIV and AIDS in Zambia” on Thursday, March 10, at 4:15 p.

Senate considers making all seats at-large The 33rd Student Senate will vote on Friday, March 11, if University students should be given the opportunity to change the way senators are elected. If passed, the proposal, introduced by Senate Vice-Chair Andrew Bossie, will add a referendum to the March election ballot which asks the student body if they are “in favor of abolishing Student Senate constituencies.

Feb. 13 Somebody stole a bicycle from the parking lot of Portland Hall. USM police charged Brendan Ciani, 20 of New Canaan, Conn with criminal mischief after discharging a fire extinguisher in Upton Hastings Hall. His court date is March 7. A complaint was made at 6 a.

Tuition rises every year. It’s a known fact that pressures such as inflation and rising operating costs force the University to raise tuition a little each year in order to maintain a level of quality. This year tuition increases might be steeper than in recent years due to Governor Baldacci’s spartan budget proposal for the next two years.

After extensive discussion, the Student Senate voted in favor to fund $3,807 of the $13,507 needed in the budget of the second annual Thinking Matters Research & Creativity Symposium.

The original proposal, submitted February 8, requested $2,320, and was increased by the Symposium to $2,407.

On Feb. 25, USM police charged 51-year-old Raymond Ledoux of Westbrook with four counts of theft and one count of providing false identification after Ledoux entered the men’s locker room in the Ice Arena and stole jewelry and several wallets.

According to Vinnie Degifico, Manager of the Ice Arena, a score keeper, Tim O’Carroll, saw Ledoux retrieve an empty trash bag from a trash can and throw it over his shoulder before entering the locker room, so as to look like an employee of the Arena.

Diane Russell, media studies major and a staff writer for The Free Press, recently started an internship at Portland Magazine and interviewed Hollywood star Alan Alda.

Q: I understand you’re doing an internship with Portland Magazine. Tell me about your debut article.

For some people the thought of living and working with their significant other is almost too much to bear, but for others it is a natural and desirable progression in their relationship. Dudley Greeley and Nancy Artz, and Doug Cook and Elisa Boxer, are two couples who presently, or have in the past worked together.

When a hacker broke into the computer system that manages accounts and purchases for USM’s Portland bookstore last semester, computing technologies staff figured it was a random act and they were right.

According to Stephen Houser, director of database applications, the individual, or group, broke into the system and then posted an email onto a bulletin board owned by the perpetrator(s), which talked about the hacking.

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.

Featured Speakers

Admiral Gregory Johnson, US Navy, a native of Westmanland, Maine, will give an evening presentation, “21st Century Security Challenges,” on Thursday, March 3 at the Maine Historical Society, 489 Congress St.

33rd Student Senate fills five more chairs

New senators appointed two months before elections

Two months before elections, the 33rd Student Senate appointed five new senators on Friday, February 11, filling two commuter and three residential seats, all of whom currently plan on running for a seat next semester.

Feb. 3 A laptop computer and other items were stolen from the 15 Chamberlain Ave. Feb. 4 A vehicle parked near Dickey-Wood Hall was written on with a black marker. Feb. 5 A female returning from a party at Sigma Nu called police after she took a puff of what she thought was a cigarette and someone told her the cigarette contained “marijuana and cocaine.

In the next few weeks, USM will be giving students, faculty and staff free copies of Norton antivirus for PC and Mac computers, free of charge. No increase in student fees or tuition is expected because of this offer.

Computer viruses are much more likely to spread when many computers are linked together, as they are at USM.

Dean Emeritus Edward Godfrey, or “Ed” as he preferred to be called, passed away on Wednesday, January 12, after battling various ailments for the previous four months. He was 91.

Godfrey came to Southern Maine as the founding dean of the re-established law school.

In a world where relationships are traded in at regular intervals for newer, happier, sexier versions of themselves, it seems as though enduring love is difficult to find. According to Florence Dubay, a 32-year high school teacher, it is especially true of students going off to college.

The 33rd Student Senate will halve the powers of the Student Senate chair over the next few weeks with the creation of a new student leadership position on campus: Student body president. Last Friday, the Senate voted in favor of the proposal, with one senator abstaining.

The USM Chamber Singers received $3,900 to help pay for their European tour in the summer of 2005. The amount requested will cover approximately 11 percent of the airfare for the 39 students going on the trip.

Before the Senate assembled, Senate Chair Ezekiel Kimball, Parliamentarian Adam Mirmelli and Senator Mike Barton met with USMCS President Elisa Haveles to discuss whether or not the request would come into conflict with a proposal passed last semester, which prevents the Student Senate from using the Student Activity Fee to “support the activities of an academic class or University administrative functions.

HIV: It’s everywhere. As young people bombarded by every kind of media, we’re aware of the risks and we know we should get tested. But do we? With so many ways to get tested there’s really no excuse why we shouldn’t. Heck, you can order an HIV test online for 30 bucks that you don’t even have to send out to a lab.

The University of Southern Maine has installed 11 surveillance cameras on the Portland campus, with talks of more to come. A $36,000 Homeland Security grant funded the new equipment. A couple thousand dollars went to a computer system to monitor the cameras, $1,500-$2,000 was spent to improve USM Police dispatch equipment and the remainder was spent on CCTV (Closed Circuit Television).

Jan. 25

Graffiti was found in the elevator of Dickey-Wood Hall.

USM police arrested Brian Kelly, 20, of Upton-Hastings Hall on a district court warrant for failure to appear in court. Kelly was transported to Cumberland County Jail.

A Resident Assistant reported that unknown persons took contents from an unlocked vending machine.

Two senators resign The second and third Senate meeting of the new semester both saw the resignation of a senior Student Senator. First Senator Amanda Smith resigned and then Senator Jeremy Collette. Ezekiel Kimball, Student Senate chair, remains the only senator from last year’s executive board.