Many of the stories reported by THE FREE PRESS are critical of the University administration, its decisions and policies. Not to say they shouldn’t be, for being critical is a core value of professional journalism. As a reporter for the paper, I’ve talked to a lot of students and come away with one underlying impression: many students don’t think University officials are looking out for them or have their best interests in mind.
As students watch reductions in class offerings, tuition and student fee increases and class size increases, they see little reason to praise the decision-makers at USM. But what many of them don’t see is the intense efforts to improve the quality of education they receive and the opportunities given them.
Due to increasing costs and decreasing budgets, universities nationwide are being forced to make drastic cuts. USM is no different, and we’ve seen our budget slashed by millions this year alone. The administration has little choice but to cut services and staff short term, to cover shortfalls in state and federal funding. These impacts are hard-hitting and highly visible. But what often falls just out of view are the ways, despite these hardships, the University is trying to make life better for its students, staff and faculty.
As an intern in the USM Office of Public Affairs, I get to see what’s going on at the administrative level. For example, I was recently able to attend a breakfast USM held at the statehouse in Augusta. The sole purpose of the event was to advocate on behalf of USM and lobby lawmakers to support the cause for higher education improvements. It was attended by a dozen or so legislators and members of USM’s Board of Visitors.
The Board of Visitors is a group of business, legal and education professionals who volunteer their time to support and plan for the future of USM. This board meets monthly to discuss the ways in which USM can garner more financial support, add new programs and services, keep higher education affordable and accessible to all people, and become one of the country’s premier public universities.
We also have a very active alumni association here at USM. The USM Alumni Association Board also advocates on the behalf of the university, and again is solely volunteers. Many of the members of this association give back to the University through monetary, volunteer and support means. The alumni advocates work much in the same way the Board of Visitors members do, by speaking to legislators, businesses and community members on the benefits of supporting an institution such as USM.
The USM Corporate Partners are another group that helps improve the University. It is made up of about 350 business people, representing more than 150 companies, who help to build partnerships between the business sector and USM. They also work as supporters of university growth and improvement.
President Pattenaude and his staff work very hard to keep good relationships with these groups and gain as much outside advice and support as possible. Although I agree some decisions the USM administration has made don’t make sense to me as a student, I think we need to realize there is a large amount of support out there for USM, and that includes its students.
Amy Bickford can be contacted at [email protected]