Amid serious practical concerns from the faculty and staff of its constituent universities, the chief governing body of the University of Maine System (UMS) will decide on a major change in the system’s organization today. Among other things, the plan includes merging the University of Maine at Augusta with USM.
Author: USM
Women’s tennis is young, but feeling quite confident
The women’s tennis team lost to Bates 8-1 last Tuesday. Though the outcome of the match was not in favor of the lady Huskies they remain optimistic about the match. “Playing such a strong team so early gives our young team experience and practice,” said junior Catie McCarthy (Newport, VT).
USM Theater opens season with “The Laramie Project”
“The Laramie Project” is a creative compilation from over two hundred interviews with the people of Laramie, Wyoming, examining reactions to the beating and subsequent death of Matthew Shepard in 1998. Director Wil Kilroy and his actors agree that this is not the kind of project USM has seen before.
USM’s Stonecoast MFA experiences changes
The Stonecoast Masters in Fine Arts Creative Writing Program is getting a permanent full-time director. Since its conception, interim directors have cared for the program. On September 1, celebrated poet Annie Finch stepped in as the permanent director.
Drink and eat your fill of grease, day or night
People eat late for many reasons. Some of them are nurses who work night shifts at hospitals and they eat their breakfasts at 10:30 p.m.. Some are insomniacs gone nuts by the claustrophobia of four rooms, driven into the city’s night for a belly full of sleepless solace.
Do you believe in ‘the curse?’
September in New England means three things are certain: the days become shorter and colder, the Red Sox will find a way to disappoint us and everybody will blame “the curse of the Bambino.”
Sports Briefs
A quick look at the past week in USM athletics
Have your cheesecake and eat it too
My friend Diane’s diet allows, nay, encourages her to eat cheesecake. That’s right, cheesecake: the fat-laden, richer than rich, utterly delectable dessert (which just so happens to be a favorite of yours truly). This discovery was made while Diane, I and two other media studies seniors stood in her fabulous gourmet kitchen a few Friday evenings ago.
Question of the Week
What would you do if your hot water got shut off for a week?
Letter from the Editor
I know I said we’d do a nightclub section next week in my last letter. And I know how much you were all looking forward to it. I know. I know it hurts to be lied to, but I just can’t do this anymore. In retrospect, the idea of doing special sections at the very beginning of the school year was a silly idea.
Artists Drink Party Art
Alex Steed is brainwashing you with hypnotism. He is collecting all of the sensitive thoughts in Portland and wrapping them softly. Steed is the compassionate tyrant king of a “dictatorial arts & literature collective specializing in essays, chaos, interviews, stories, music, design and more.
An end to the paper chase?
Hopefully not, at least in the sense that students having the option will presumably continue to attend law school or pursue other educational opportunities. Probably not, in that we may any day soon realize the ellusive “paperless office”. In recent decades, per capita paper use has increased at roughly three times the rate of population growth.
If you don’t have a stove
It is not a stretch to claim that most college students are dirt poor, and finding affordable food for preparation in the dorm can be difficult at times. One might be used to having home-cooked meals prepared by parents, but when the semester starts, it is a different ballgame.
President Patenaude talks about UMS restructuring plan
The University could be undergoing major changes depending on the outcome of the Board of Trustees’ vote on Sunday regarding the System’s Strategic Plan. While the plan gives broad details and goals, it is up to the presidents of the universities to implement them.
In Brief…
Library acquires social movements and women…. Gym complex gains chair…. Free food still a possibility…. Red Cross still wants your blood…. College fair yet to come….
Campus Crime
The happenings of hoodlums.
Five cars burglarized
Between 10:30 p.m. on August 30 and 7:30 a.m. on August 31, four cars at Portland Hall and one car in Gorham were broken into. According to Penny Belanger, a USM Police detective, “They look for anything that looks convenient, that they can break into easy.”
This issue of the Free Press is like a tasty, albeit misshappen, birthday cake (or tofu dish)!
“Stripped of the day-to-day supervision, the freshman has to depend on his or her own faculties in every concievable matter, from balancing studies with social life, to the moral and ethical questions that the depraved college social scene poses.”
SPECIAL: Dorm Living
People often think of a dorm room as a provisional space, a disposable and transitory closet that also has windows and a bed, but a little foresight can go a long way toward making even the meager space allotted in a USM dormitory more useful.
Men’s soccer team undefeated after opening tournament
The men’s soccer team began their season undefeated after two close games in the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) Invitational in Troy, NY. Head Coach Eric Miller said this is the first season in a long time that the team has had such a strong start.
Bookstore hacked
A hacker broke into the computer system that manages accounts and purchases at the USM Portland campus bookstore on August 30, causing a complete system crash.
USM says goodbye to one of its staff
For the greater part of the last 15 years, Kenneth W. Fitzgerald worked for the University’s Facilities Management as a building and grounds management worker. On the Portland campus, he was well-liked by all who knew him. Fitzgerald died unexpectedly of a heart attack on Thursday, June 24, 2004. He was 68 years old.
Zanzibar’s Top Five Top Fives
Zanzibar, the all-knowing Free Press production genie, breaks it down, 1/2 Letterman-style.
Greek Art
I have this idea to write about Greek involvement in the arts. People laugh when I bring this up. They think this will be a very short piece, i.e., Greek Involvement in the Arts… doesn’t exist. It is this stereotype that I seek to break. Are fraternity brothers sculpting anything besides beeramids? Is anyone shooting intellectually stimulating porno? It has been proven that arts flourish in abusive environments, such as prisons and detainment camps.