To the Editor,
I am appreciative of Erik Eisele’s article on flu vaccine shortage from November 8, 2004. I am writing to clarify a statement he made about vaccination of our UHS health care providers. Although in past years health care providers have been in the recommended group to receive vaccine, we have followed Maine Public Health Department’s guidelines of October 14 to withhold vaccine from this group unless they have personal risk factors. UHS will do its best to keep the USM community informed about updates on vaccination guidelines and influenza trends as they arise.
Thank you,
Larisa Semenuk,
Clinical Manager, UHS
To the Editor:
I’ve been a regular reader of The Free Press since I started my grad degree here at USM in September of last year. Sadly, the quality of The Free Press has markedly declined. This year the paper has devolved into a rag devoted to promoting the interests of a small group of friends. To read The Free Press one might not even be aware that there is a campus in Gorham. Though some may wish this to be so, it remains that the publication has become a highly public journal for an exclusive society.
The exclusivity might be excused were it not for the sloppy writing and editing. Cover page articles about the quality of the meal hall food and yogurt with gelatine is fodder for high school newspapers with nothing better to occupy its pages. At a university as large as USM that space would be better used with in-depth articles about student parking, tuition hikes and other pressing issues of which students really should be aware. Instead the articles are one-sided, sloppy, poorly-edited and in extremely poor taste. In an early issue this year Tim Hoffman, Arts & Entertainment editor of dubious merit, talked about how he scored some cocaine at Bull Feeney’s.
This is entirely inappropriate for publication ANYWHERE and certainly not in a college paper. What is more appalling is that your Editor in Chief did not block that from publication.
The article in this week’s [15 November] issue about Bill Street, or rather the article that wasn’t, was beyond disgusting. Professor Street is a well-admired and nationally respected musician (of great merit, I might add) and the manner in which Jen Blood so flagrantly praised her ignorance is beyond comprehension. The article was an 800-word slap in the face at Prof. Street’s long career.
With much revulsion,
Anthony Cushing
USM School of Music
Graduate Student
To the Editor:
Students are talking a lot lately about the University’s growing inclination to assess tuition through the so-called “Course Fee.” I advise all students to look up the administration’s definition for course fee and analyze how this definition fits with how our money is actually being spent. In many cases course fees, which can be as much as $360, do nothing to directly supplement course content.
I am paying such a fee, $55, for a required course in my major. I asked my department chair about the fee. The Chair was not well informed since in this case the department sees $0 of the fee money and instead all the money is managed directly by the Office of the Dean of the School of Applied Science, Engineering and Technology (ASET). According to the Dean, my money is being used to build a new computer lab in the new ASET building we’ve heard so much about lately.
I don’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade, but I think that the administration should set a good example by demonstrating more transparent accounting practices. Instead of misnaming it a “Course Fee” I think USM should call it the “Arbitrary Fee to Raise Money in a Jiff” or even the more euphemistic “Supplemental Tuition Fee.” ASET students are not the only ones paying these fees. I have raised my concerns with the Dean and the Provost and I recommend others do the same if they are as miffed as I am.
I for one don’t mind contributing to the improvements USM is trying so hard to make, especially in the face of such economic adversity affecting public education. I do however deeply resent being used as a means to an end rather than an end in itself. All I’m asking is that they give credit where credit is due!
Thank you.
Sarah Ferriter
Environmental Science
Senior
To the Editor:
It was my distinct pleasure to receive a letter from the National Wildlife Federation recently informing me that The Free Press and USM are recipients of the NWF’s Campus Ecology Recognition.
This recognition was granted to “exemplary colleges and universities with measurable positive achievements and commitment to sustainability” during the 2003-2004 year. One of USM’s goals was to develop and implement a weekly, student-written column on sustainability issues, “USM FootPrint,” which continues to run this academic year in The Free Press.
I’d like to take the time to thank Dudley Greely, Facility Management’s environmental and economic sustainability coordinator, whose efforts helped make the column a reality. I’d also like to thank the students who wrote columns; Christine McKinnon, the ’03-’04 Free Press executive editor; and John Bronson, the ’04-’05 executive editor, for supporting USM’s efforts in environmental sustainability by continuing to publish “USM FootPrint” in The Free Press.
Sincerely,
Richard L. Pattenaude
President