Come next semester, Dickey Wood Hall will be entirely offline to students. Due to a combination of low on-campus enrollment and the unpopularity of the towers, they will remain empty during the next school year and possibly beyond. “We’ve made this decision for now, but we’re not entirely sure what’s going to happen in the…
Author: USM
Stonecoast MFA may soon be out of a house
One of USM’s most prestigious pieces of architecture may have reached the point where it’s more trouble than it’s worth to the university, according to a recent University of Maine System maintenance report. When President Kalikow announced her first round of proposed cuts in February, one of the considered cuts was the Stone House, home…
New student body president pushes to dissolve BSO
After 23 years of controlling student activity fee funding for student groups, the Board of Student Organizations may be stripped of its financial responsibilities, putting that power back into the hands of the Student Senate exclusively. According to Student Senate chair Joshua Dodge, the BSO was originally developed so that the senate wouldn’t be overwhelmed…
Head Coach Bergeron optimistic for championships after men’s tennis wins ten straight matches
This week the Huskies’ men’s tennis team added two more wins, improving their record to 10-3 while remaining undefeated in the Little East Conference with a record of 4-0. The Huskies are also undefeated at home and have won the last ten matches straight. In the match against Salem State University Tuesday, the Huskies performed…
Paying to play: USM students and officials talk about cost of sports
There’s no doubt that college sports are expensive, but although the majority of the expenses are covered by the university, student athletes still have to pay out of pocket occasionally. Raquel Heitor, a freshman on the women’s lacrosse team, believes that lacrosse is the most expensive sport for students. “It might be second, but it’s…
Huskies defeat UMF 24-4
By: David Sanok In what was easily their strongest performance of the season, the USM Huskies women’s lacrosse team defeated the UMaine Farmington Beavers 24-4. With this win, the Huskies improve their record to 3-5, while the Beavers drop to 2-7. Offensively, it was a total team effort as 11 different players contributed to…
Freidman: What college teaches you about money
Given the plethora of articles written about the present circumstances surrounding the average college student’s financial security and future. In the wake of on-campus protests, I would like to take this opportunity to address the fiscal lessons I have learned while attempting to achieve a higher education. 1) Return on investment This is a concept…
You Are Wrong: Don’t believe everything you read, except this
I’m Thaddeus Moriarty, and you are wrong. Why? Because you believe what you read. Because you believe that because an “expert” said it or wrote it down, it must be true. This is a fatal flaw in mankind, to be sure: we tend to take things at face-value. We watch the news or we log…
Our Opinion: USM has cause to celebrate for now …
Certainly there’s a reason to celebrate at USM since last Friday, but let’s not forget about the fine print: student protesters and faculty may have won the battle, but they haven’t won the war yet. President Kalikow’s surprise announcement that she’s cancelling all of the faculty retrenchments she announced last month (except for faculty associated…
News Analysis: Same deficit, different decade
As a university news source, the Free Press tries to do a few different things. The ones that are the most relevant to our day to day work for publication are to cover news for and about the USM population more closely than community news outlets and to be a showcase for student work, but…
Recent grads discuss their level of career preparation post-USM
One of the arguments made by protesters of the recently retracted faculty layoffs and the still slated for elimination program is that such cuts will significantly devalue a USM degree. “That’s the sort of thing that I worry about as a reality as I apply for grad school,” said Philip Shelley, who graduated in December….
#USMFuture pledges to keep it up
#USMFuture protesters were thrilled Friday when President Theo Kalikow reversed all twelve faculty cuts made in mid-March, but the protests’ organizers assured the Free Press, even with summer break quickly approaching, they have no plans to let up on protest efforts. LaSala said that while the members of the movement are excited for the decision…
Future remains unclear after Kalikow cuts back on cuts
President Theo Kalikow surprised everyone at Friday’s Faculty Senate with the sudden reversal of all 12 of the controversial March faculty cuts, but for some, the celebration was cut short when Kalikow said later to reporters that by October, the positions of the once-retrenched faculty may be back on chopping block. Kalikow made the last-minute…
Saving bucks with bikes
From insurance payments to oil changes, cars can be just as limiting as they are liberating. However, there is one method of transit that is a bonafide budget saver. There is a long list of costs associated with the proper maintenance of an automobile, and for a college student, this list can often be too…
Musicians riff to pay the bills
Singers and musicians whose passion is pouring hours of practice and rehearsal into honing a musical craft, are finding plenty of ways to make money that go beyond just playing gigs. Landing gigs and performing at esteemed venues is near the end of the long road to making it big in a very competitive industry….
Movie Review: The Grand Budapest Hotel
Go down the road that splits at the Starbucks until you see the statue of the man with the lobster. Enter the theater doors beyond the statue of the man with the lobster, purchase a ticket for the film named The Grand Budapest Hotel, walk thirty paces until you reach the theater doors, sit in…
Azaria Chamberlain set to perform last show
Two USM students, Nick Decker and Chris Armstrong, have been bringing new sounds to Gorham with their band Azaria Chamberlain, but now, with only two shows left, the band is dissolving after being one of the most active bands on campus this year. Considered by some to be out of their element at USM, Decker,…
Hartley’s latest album is full of lyrical twists
No, Portland is not the home of Willie Nelson or Townes Van Zandt, but we do have Wesley Allen Hartley—a country/folk asset giving this Northeastern city Texan comfort. Dusty roads, rusty road signs, cheap whiskey and heart-wrenching stories are at the heart of country/western music. Few listeners pick up an old fashioned country album to…
Watts releases solo album after 31 years
Ben Watt, an accomplished writer, DJ, BBC radio personality, and musician, gives a peak songwriting performance on Hendra. Hendra begins with its self-titled track. Acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, background strings and a reverberated picked electric guitar part create a dim and somber feeling. Lyrics go, “I wish I’d studied harder now, made something of myself…
President Kalikow surprises at senate with a reversal of all 12 faculty layoffs
President Theo Kalikow surprised those in attendance at today’s Faculty Senate meeting when she announced a reversal of all 12 of the faculty cuts that Provost Michael Stevenson had made in March. She made the decision at the meeting, she said. It was so sudden a decision, she noted, that the previously retrenched faculty had…
Sustainability and ME: An Eco-Rep Program Begins at USM
By: Jocylin Egan The USM Assistant Director for Sustainable Programs, Tyler Kidder, and a few student workers ,are planning the launch of an EcoRep program at USM for Fall 2014. A USM EcoRep will act as a liaison between the Office of Sustainability and their fellow residents. EcoReps will promote sustainable practices at the university…
Who will lead the pack this summer?
As the weather warms up and athletic events move outdoors, so begins the season for marathons, dashes, and road races. Here’s the inside scoop on upcoming USM races, muddy obstacle courses, 10k road races and the toughest challenge of all. USM starts the running season with two organized events; the Husky Dash 5k and the…
You Are Wrong: The cuts you should have made
I’m Thaddeus Moriarty, and you are wrong. Why? Because you didn’t think that I would be delving into the #USMFuture issue here in You Are Wrong. And why would you? I write about silly things, whimsical things, not emotionally-charged hashtag things. Thaddeus isn’t a writer of seriousness, you thought. He’s a wanna-be Dave Barry, you…
Our Opinion: Everyone is watching, USM
During the slew of recent cuts at USM, we had to bring you the news, but we can also see the effect that these stories are having on the reputation of this institution. We can’t change the news, and we can’t alter it to benefit any party –– it’s our obligation to report the facts…