“Budget challenges are, regrettably, part of the DNA of public education,” said President Selma Botman, a day after touring USM with grim news about the school’s finances.
In recent emails and speeches, Botman has stressed the difficulty of cutting anything from USM’s already cash-strapped operating budget. The timing of the states’ curtailment of $2.7 million couldn’t have been worse, with much of the years’ budget already allocated or even spent.
As a result, next semesters’ supply of books, equipment, and professors will be hardest hit.
24-hours after her address to the Portland campus, we sat down with President Botman – and, according to protocol, public affairs director Robert Caswell – to get a better sense of how she came to make such big decisions, how USM will begin feeling them, and her pending return to the classroom.
Free Press: Last year, just the review of some programs provoked strong reactions from department heads. What’s the response been like in the past few days?
Selma Botman: I can’t tell you how gratified…I have a slew of emails – honest to god, this is the truth – people writing, saying ‘what can I do to help, I’ll teach a course’…then offering what they hope would be constructive ideas about savings. And, you know, we’re going to take all these ideas into consideration as we look at 2009 and also, beyond that, in the 2010 budget.
FP: When the Governor announced that there would such a massive curtailment, who did you meet with to figure out where to start cutting?
SB: We met with members of the senior staff, vice presidents, and directors, then members of the senior staff talked down to others. So I didn’t necessarily meet with all these people. Of course I met with the senior staff, and others were empowered to reach out and make explanations and seek some advice.
In fact I’m going to be talking to a group of faculty this afternoon. It’s a faculty meeting, not a bargaining or negotiating, just a way to talk to our colleagues about the challenges that face us.
FP: A major part of your speech yesterday was that the school was trying to address its “reliance” on part-time faculty. So there will be fewer next semester?
SB: Yes, in the spring.
FP: Have the decisions been made as to who’s not returning?
SB: No – we’re working with the deans, who will be working with their department chairs and faculty to request volunteers from the faculty to teach an additional course. Tenured faculty, so we’ll also be protecting junior faculty members – that may not be the politically correct term today, that’s what they used to call us – but they’re un-tenured faculty who are already working their way through the tenure system. We’re trying to protect them, so that they have time to do their scholarship and teach you.
FP: You will be able to protect those people at least for the spring semester?
SB: Oh, yeah. Because faculty systems are very sensitive to their colleagues.
FP: But in January, we’ll be seeing a lot fewer of these professors who teach one or two classes a week.
SB: The important thing is you’ll be seeing more full-time faculty in the classroom, which is a good thing. Because the faculty is our most important resource – so you’ll be seeing more faculty in the classroom.
FP: Since the hiring freeze, we’ve heard concern that the school may be holding on to some older professors, maybe a few that are nearing the end of their careers, at the expense of new blood. With all of these layoffs coming, is the University taking any steps to address this? Retirement incentives?
SB: Retirement incentives are connected to the University of Maine system, so that discussion is now at the system level. Whether there will be a retirement incentive, we don’t have any closure on that at this time.
Robert Caswell: Those kinds of negotiations are always discussed statewide.
FP: What will we probably see from the loss of $300,000 out of “technology and other equipment”?
SB: We might not be able to refresh the computers as rapidly as we had hoped, that kind of thing.
You know, I’m sure you know none of these decisions are taken lightly, and all of us do so with a very heavy heart. But we are required to fulfill a mandate, and we are working really judiciously to try to get there.
FP: Who did you meet with to discuss that decision?
SB: [Chief information officer] Bill Wells, and [Chief financial officer] Dick Campbell.
Remember what we’re being asked to do – to find available dollars in spring 2009. There aren’t many buckets that are available to us. In higher education, you front load much of the budget – much is spent before the end of the fall semester. That’s why this is so challenging.
RC: Less of an impact on the student computer labs. More of an impact on replacement of other equipment, that sort of thing.
SB: Bill Wells’ principle is very akin to mine, which is ‘protect the student.’ And we can get back to you about student hours rather than give you just a slice of information that’s not full.
FP: And the library is losing $300,000.
SB: Yes, in book acquisitions, $300,000 – it’s excruciation. You know, somebody who goes to college for such a long time – I never left, obviously – but when you’re a scholar, there’s personal joy that comes from roaming the stacks of a library and finding unexpected books on the shelves. And to cut the library budget is not something any academic or any university president wants to be in a position to do.
In the old days, you went through the card catalogs and you found whole areas that had relevent materials. So even if you didn’t know what you were looking for, you’d just go to the stacks. I was like a kid in a candy store. So that [budget cut] was a hard one.
FP: So the library won’t be purchasing any new books this year?
SB: What we preserved was the online journals. So there’s no cuts to the serials.
FP: Will all of this change the focus or the timeline of the strategic planning process you initiated in July?
SB: No…the strategic planning process is, in my view, ever more necessary in order to do what we said right from the start we wanted to do – identify the things we should be doing as a community, and those things we can no longer do. And now, more than ever, with our budget challenges, the recommendations that come from strategic planning will be important to our future planning.
FP: So there are things we won’t be doing in the forseeable future?
SB: All the four groups have met once or twice now. I don’t attend the meetings and I haven’t been part of any of these discussions. But from all accounts, the discussions have really been rich and useful.
FP: With all the talk about honing in on the school’s focus, do you see a major restructuring of the University as a part of the final plan?
SB: I would be surprised if they came forward with major restructuring. I would be surprised, maybe they will, but I find that hard to believe that major restructuring will be advanced. But I’m not part of these discussions.
We’re hoping we’ll have a draft strategic plan in January, and it will be finalized by the middle of the spring semester.
FP: What effect do you expect yesterday’s announcement to have on your ability to attract new students to USM?
SB: Yes, we’re about to send a letter to you, and other current students, as well as perspective students, in which we will pledge not to harm the academic, educational experience – or the co-ciricular experience.
RC: Selma has also made a commitment to meet with Maine students. Most importantly, be able to talk face to face with students at High Schools across Maine.
FP: And you’ve said you’ll be teaching in the spring. Do you know what?
SB: I will! I do…I know what I want to teach, I presume the history department will say yes – Modern History of Egypt, 1789 to the present, beginning with Napoleon’s invasion.
RC: She’s very good at it.
FP: Is that rare, for a president to be active in teaching?
RC: I think so, but I know that [former president Pattenaude] tried to teach an intro to American government course most semesters.
SB: I love teaching, I love the classroom, and I love teaching about the middle east. I’m hoping, I haven’t proposed this yet, but I’d like to have a seminar at the presidents house. It would be nice when the students are in the dorms and it will be easier for them to get there.
FP: Are there any previous situations, that you’ve observed or worked on, that you’re using as a model for how to handle this crisis?
SB: This is the third public university system I’ve worked in – UMass and City University of New York are the other two. And budget challenges are regrettably part of the DNA of public education. In the last two systems I worked in, I was the chief academic officer, and you will see a thread through all of my work and that is ‘how do we ensure student success?’
I want you to graduate! I want you to have the kind of intellectual academic experience that you need, and that will prepare you for a lifetime of satisfaction and enjoyment.