Regardless of recent budget cuts, the University is continuing to take steps towards expanding the campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston-Auburn. President Pattenaude has met with a number of groups including the Professional, Faculty and Student Senates to discuss USM’s Action Plan for 2004 – 2007. At a recent senate meeting, Pattenaude discussed his plans for increasing revenue and for expanding the campus.
The plan, titled Transforming USM, is a draft outline that includes goals for the USM community to reach in the next three years and the means for achieving them. Some of the goals are as follows: raising the retention rate for freshman to sophomore year from the current rate of 67 to 75 percent, increasing the percentage of full time students from 53 to 60 percent, and increasing the percentage of out-of-state students from 8 to 10 percent.
Pattenaude also discussed the possibility of instating a “differential tuition,” in which some classes cost more to take than others. If these steps are met, Pattenaude says the University can generate more money through tuition at the same time that funding from the state will not increase.
Vice President of Student Life Craig Hutchinson said, “We need to invest to ensure the quality of the institution so we can retain the students who come here longer.”
In conjunction with plans for bringing in more tuition money, the administration plans building infrastructure on all three campuses. Pattenaude and others in the administration refer to this as an investment in the university.
Several expansion projects are included in the draft outline. According to Dana Gray, manager of Engineer and Architectural Services for Facilities Management, the timeline for when these projects are started and completed depends a lot on how much money can be raised and where it comes from.
New construction in the plan includes a building for the Muskie School, a new campus center in Portland with three floors of housing and appropriate parking, and a new building to house the School of Business and the School of Law. Eventually, the University would like to expand the Portland Campus to cover the entire area between I – 295 and Brighton and Forest Avenues. In Gorham, students will one day see the construction of a new Performing Arts Center and a new Student Dining Center. Lewiston-Auburn is slated to receive more classroom and office space in the same time frame. USM is also trying to buy the two businesses on Bedford Street located between the Glickman Library and the Steego building and use the real estate for USM space. Ultimately, the plan calls for all the buildings on that side of the street from the library to the parking garage to be connected by covered walkways.
Pattenaude defended the development of ambitious expansion plans in a time when money is tight.
“I can’t in good conscience look five years into the future and see only cutting budgets,” Pattenaude said. “If that were the case, I would resign right now.”
President Pattenaude discussed the action plan with the Student Senate at last week’s meeting and heard comments from senators. There was some concern about the disruption of everyday life on campus while all these renovations are going on, but most senators agreed that they are necessary.
“I think it’s going to be disruptive,” said Sarah Hines, Student Senate secretary, “but on the other hand we’ve got to plan for the future.”
Hines pointed out that the administration takes steps to silence some of the disruption during times of renovations, and said the new parking garage was a good example. A lot of work was done off-campus to minimize on-campus construction. The project started in the summer and went through the winter in order to be ready for this spring semester.
Student Senate Treasurer, John Marshall, agreed with Hines.
“I think it’s a great move,” he said. “He’s (President Pattenaude) got a great planning process.”
Tyler Stanley can be contacted at [email protected]