Twenty-six academic programs have been put on a list threatening their suspension in the latest effort to improve USM’s efficiency and reduce its spending.
The list, released last Friday by Mark Lapping, the university provost, includes many of the sciences, as well as economics, the women’s and gender studies program, several master’s programs and a couple from the Lewiston/Auburn College.
It was released in the form of a letter and also presented to both the faculty and student senates.
Both the letter detailing the list and a “Moving Forward” newsletter issued by Interim President Joe Wood state that these programs are being evaluated – not cut – and that the possible suspensions will affect neither tenured faculty nor students already enrolled in the programs.
Programs on the list are essentially on probation – they are being cited for showing “low retention and graduation trends over time,” inadequate funding, or issues with “internal communications and civility,” among other things.
Programs are being asked to develop and present a plan to address these issues and demonstrate an ability to actually improve them.
In the letter Lapping released to the university community, he says “moving off the ‘list’ depends upon programs taking seriously these matters. If a program fails to do so, I will move it from the ‘list’ status to suspension of admissions by July 1, 2008.”
He asks each program to “generate a definitive plan for how it proposes to address these concerns no later than April 1.”
Craig Hutchinson, the vice president of student and university life, and Bob Caswell, USM’s public affairs director, attended the Student Senate meeting last Friday to answer questions and hear discussion following Interim President Joe Wood’s presentation of the list at the meeting.
Following the meeting, Hutchinson said that “the process of right-siding the budget is a long one,” and that attempts to look at program reductions will be used as “the last or one of the last resorts.” He said that he has every reason to believe that if a program presents a compelling and convincing plan, that their admissions will not be suspended.
He also noted that, even if a program does get suspended, the university is dedicated to seeing already-enrolled students through to graduation – which has been known to take ten years or more.
Caswell said that while this is a tough announcement for many to hear, “it’s not a bad thing to go through an exercise like this and take a good honest look at programs.”
Hutchinson agreed. “As an institution, this ought to happen every couple of years so we don’t have 26 on the list.” He suggests that periodic reviews of programs, not unlike the sort people often go through in their jobs, should be done regularly to make sure they meet university needs.
While the administration offers pragmatic answers, students and faculty were upset.
Senior Lauren Allen addressed the pair from her seat on the Senate. “I am mad and sad that the university I entered isn’t the same as the university I’m leaving. I do believe this is going to wipe out marketing efforts. The largest major is undeclared – where do they go? I hope people get mad and get invested in this budget issue.”
Freshman senator Jon Finison was more supportive, saying that “we don’t have the choice to keep the university as it was.”
Sophomore senator Eric Favreau was frustrated by the list, and claimed that there were other issues that he saw as more important to address, namely transportation and the doubling and tripling of positions that go along with having three separate campuses. “Why don’t we build a train between Portland and Gorham,” he said, which led to some laughter, but a serious response from Hutchinson, who said that transportation – and a train – was, in fact, something that had been looked into, although he seemed to suggest it came more from the community than the university, and the committee designated to discuss it has not ever been called to meet.
He also said that the doubling and tripling of positions across the campuses was certainly being looked at.
Following the announcement, professor Lorrayne Carroll from the “listed” women’s and gender studies program commented that while is will be difficult for faculty to find the time to put together these plans, she is confident that her program’s plan will be convincing.
She hopes that all the listed programs can “provide upper administration with compelling cases to demonstrate to the Chancellor and the Board how USM faculty and the courses we teach are not only the heart of the university but also, frankly, a major source of revenue in these bleak budgetary conditions.”
Senior senator Jenn Cote began her address to Hutchinson and Caswell in a critical manner, complaining that USM seems to be working on buildings that don’t fit the needs of the majority of its students, but then turned around and said about the list, “but having said all of that, I’m really glad that this has happened.”
Shocked at the change of tone, senators and visitors alike gave all their attention to Cote, who went on.
“Something that gets people really angry gets people really involved. I hope this leads to people getting angry about cuts in programs that people are passionate about,” she said, citing the lack of student involvement and her hope that reactions to this announcement will spurn some action.
“Like Senator Allen said,” Cote continued, “the largest major is undeclared. My first rebel reaction is to ask students to join the majors on the list.”