We all know that imminent, beautiful doom that comes with the dawning of a new semester. We prepare ourselves for only the best, as we should, to keep ourselves comfortable with the idea that we’ll be spending yet another semester paying others for our education. I like to think that some of the best learning…
Author: USM
President Cummings used first semester to repair and heal USM
By Bradford Spurr/Free Press Staff & Troy Bennett/Bangor Daily News Midway through the month of May in late 2015 it was announced that the university had found a more stable solution to the presidency as opposed to the revolving door of interims that has plagued USM for the past four years. Dr. Glenn Cummings, former Speaker of…
First Somali Woman Police Officer in Portland
By Seth Koenig, Bangor Daily News Pious Ali — who was touted as the first African-born man and first Muslim to be elected to public office in Portland when he was voted onto the school board in 2013 — posted on social media that Abu became the state’s first female Muslim police officer. “The Portland Police…
Community Listings
Monday, January 25 Two Small Pieces of Glass University of Southern Maine Southworth Planetarium, Portland Starts: 1:00 p.m. / Ends: 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, January 26 PEB: Pancake Breakfast University of Southern Maine Abromson Lobby, Portland Campus Starts: 7:30 a.m. / Ends: 10:00 a.m. OML Gallery: Five Centuries of Maps University of…
USM Freshman Muna Adan is invited to join Portland’s Global Shapers Hub
By Meaghan Gonsior The Treehouse Institute, located in Portland, announced on December 3, 2015 the selection of the city’s “inaugural class of Global Shapers;” an international community of millennials founded by the World Economic Forum in 2011. Portland has been added to the list of over 450 other vibrant city-hubs to implement innovative community-based efforts…
Police Beats
01/15/2016 Reading Books Deemed Illegal Unwanted person, Glickman Library. Officer located a person that is not welcomed at the library. Trespass paperwork served by Officer. Buying Books, Also Illegal Unwanted person, Woodbury Campus Center. Unwelcome person reported in the store. Unfounded, no official restriction in place. Beating with Books, Awesome Disturbance, Glickman Library. Staff reports…
Art exhibit looks at agression
By Amanda Melanson. On Thursday evening, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., Glickman Library hosted the opening reception for local artist Cole Caswell. The title: Patterns of Aggression. USM’s website entry on the exhibit explains, “Cole investigates landscape, place, environment, and geography, through a strata of observation, technology, subjectivity, and his surroundings.” The reception itself…
Poetry Corner: Last Goodbye
By Dustin Kelly Getting an injection of pure pain and misery It fries my heart and breaks my brain, this thing is a mystery You lied to me, said you’d be a friend to me But you brought out the worst in me, all I could feel or see was the apathy I should…
Film Review: The Revenant
By John Rocker Films can be put into several categories. Some can be mindless entertainment that allows viewers to turn off their brains and have some fun, some can be well crafted stories with intriguing characters and some can be technical works of art. The Revenant fits under this last category. The story takes place in…
Advising Advice: Can you graduate in four years?
Can you graduate from USM in four years? Yes! Many students here have accomplished this goal because they followed the suggestions below and so can you! Even if you are not a first year student, or need to go part time, these tips can help you be more efficient in your progress. Benefits are that…
Film Review: The Hateful Eight
By John Rocker There’s one thing I want to establish before I begin this review. I’m not a fan of ratings. The purpose of my reviews is to tell you, the reader, whether or not the movie I’m reviewing is worth your time and money. The best rating I give is “Go see it this weekend”…
Meet the Free Press team: Nicholas Beauchesne
Nicholas Beauchesne, who goes by Nick, is the Sports Editor at the University of Southern Maine Free Press student newspaper. As an English major with a double minor in history and public and professional writing, Nick keeps himself busy at all hours of the day. Whether he’s reporting on a sports event, Substitute teaching as…
Michael Berube chairs the AAUP investigation
Last week, a team was sent to USM by the American Association of University Professors to investigate claims against USM’s execution of academic freedom and shared governance. Chairing the investigative committee was Michael Berube, director of the institute for arts and humanities at Pennsylvania State University. According to Berube, hundreds of requests for intervention come…
Senate works to retain and train new members
The student senate shot down a motion last week that would have changed the senator application process for the remainder of the semester. Throughout the year the senate has occasionally questioned whether or not applicants should have to gather signatures from the student body in order to become a senator. On Friday the senate decided…
The Open Bench Project creates space for innovators
On Thompson’s Point in Portland is a warehouse that looks ordinary on the outside but inside is a buzzing hub of creative and productive energy. In this vast 7,000 square foot industrial space, robots are assembled and tested out, while quadcopter drones fly over head. In one corner, a group of children are being taught…
Hypnotist makes puppets out of students on stage
Comedian hypnotist Eric Mina wowed audiences at USM with an act that had USM students making a fool of themselves on stage. Mina explained that his routine is a simple one and that everyone has the ability to hypnotize themselves. With a bachelors degree in psychology and a certificate in hypnotherapy, Mina told his audience…
‘We are on the verge of being censured.’: Faculty senate worried about possible AAUP sanction
In response to recent cuts by administration, as well as the threat of a sanction by the American Association for University Professors (AAUP), a special faculty senate meeting was held on Friday to discuss the role of the senate moving forward. In an almost unanimous vote, the senate passed a resolution to ask for a…
Enrollment continues to decline this semester
Classrooms this spring semester will have 374 fewer students in them than last year, based on the current headcount released by the academic affairs. While not completely final, because students may still add or drop courses during the month, the numbers of enrolled students in the spring these past three years show a steady declin–6,717…
USM professors help The Phoenix rise from ashes
USM professors Ronald Schmidt and Jason Read have been filling holes left in the wake of the mass exodus of Portland Phoenix writers to the new alternative weekly in town, Dig Portland. The two professors have had more or less regular columns in the Phoenix, which comes out every Wednesday in Portland and the surrounding…
Obama proposes two free years of community college
Less than two weeks ago, President Barack Obama announced a proposal that would make two years of community college free for student workers in an effort to make college as accessible as high school is for Americans. The program would require action from a Republican-dominated Congress and the details of the plan haven’t been released…
A&C recommends: Concerning Violence film screening
By Dora Thompson Next Monday, you can take a journey into the depths of Africa as it struggles for liberation from the Third World with the premier a new documentary called Concerning Violence. USM staff and students gain free entry to the screening at Space Gallery with a valid university ID as the audience gets…
S(her)lock web series gives a fresh look to an old time classic
A team in the USM community is hard at work on a new web series that aims to explore femininity through the world’s most famous fictional detective: Sherlock Holmes. The gender-swapping scenes of S(her)lock began as a collaborative senior project headed by senior media studies major Kate Tracy last spring and the project has only…
Invest in USM: An open letter and petition addressed to President Flanagan and the BoT
The following is the entirety of an online letter and petition opened in mid-November. 508 people have signed the petition as of print-time. Dear President Flanagan, dear Trustees: We the undersigned, scholars and teachers from colleges and universities around the world, write to express profound concern about the decision by the President and Trustees of…
Simple science: What makes a snowflake?
By: Donald Szlosek Do you ever look out your car window and notice the intricate design of a snowflake? Have you ever wondered how snowflakes are formed and whether they really are truly unique? First off, the formation of ice crystals, more formally known as snowflakes, takes place in the lowest portion of the Earth’s…