Students concerned with the effects of a mass restructuring of USM and the University System voiced their concerns last Thursday in a forum organized by the We Vote Coalition.
The New University: Critical Choices forum held at the Woodbury Campus Center Amphitheater gave students a chance to give input on the impending university restructuring, slated to begin implementation over winter break.
Students weighed in on topics ranging from online classes—which they came out against in force—to the controversial “12-5” rule, a system that has been in place for years and is used to determine which programs and classes will be put under review and possibly cut.
The topic of online courses emerged early as one of the core concerns of the students present, as the University continues to push more of it’s course offerings online, and the UMS board of trustees expresses it’s aim to move 1,000 programs online, system-wide.
“I am adamantly against online courses,” said Stephanie Clark, a women and gender studies major. She wasn’t alone. When Board of Trustees student representative Dustin Ward’s panel conducted an informal poll among the audience, roughly 75 percent of those present also expressed concern with the growing trend of online classes at USM.
“If I wanted to take online classes, I would have gone to an online college,” said communications major Samantha Peters.
Student body president Maggie Guzman commiserated with the students’ opinion. “I second your concern,” she told the crowd.
Guzman said the event was vital in getting a direct response from the 60 students who stopped by the forum. “We don’t normally have that kind of feedback, it was the best kind of energy.”
“I didn’t realize all the animosity to online classes and how it takes away from the academic experience,” said Ward. “It’s not like we want to avoid moving forward in technology, we just don’t want to lose that person-to-person experience.”
Molly Dolby, chair of the Student Senate, said she felt “validated” hearing students express their concerns with online courses, and said a larger student voice than that of her fellow senators might go further in affecting policy.
“We bring it up in the student senate a lot, how it is outrageous,” said Dolby. “But with all these students, we can have a much larger impact.”
Robert Johnson, a political science major, suggested if the entire University System consolidated online offerings into one entity, it might be a more cost effective way to provide online education throughout the state.
“That’s a conversation that should be had, but I don’t know how much it would cost to do that,” said Ward.
WGS major Clark also voiced concern over the 12-5 rule, and the effect it could have on her and other departments’ course offerings. Clark sees the 12-5 rule— which dictates that any class with under 12 students, and any major that has graduated fewer than 5 students, on average, over three years, will be put to review and possibly eliminated—as directly opposing the strategic plan’s second goal of “making student success a core university priority.”
“I am wondering how you do this when you cut [the number] of classes that are offered,” said Clark.
Geoscience major Kate Smith was also concerned about how ever-falling funding and cutting classes will affect her department. “We have amazing professors, but can’t afford samples,” said Smith.
“I’m in my sixth year of college, and really want this major to survive,” said Smith of the geoscience program, which she said has only 30 majors enrolled, postulating that if the 12-5 rule is followed, “all our classes will be cut.”
Smith says that STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) programs like geoscience are growing fields, and vital to Maine’s future. “If we want to be the 21st century USM, we have to act like it,” said Smith.