S/T, released by Contrapposto, is some of the strangest electronic music to come out of Portland. But something new is going on with this album. Made up of only two members, Jacob Pitcher and Mirabai Iwanko are able to make an enormous amount of sound. Ambient synthesizers, pounding drum machines, and smooth vocals make electronica…
Author: USM
USM students zip their lips for the National Day of Silence
Students at USM and across the world will join in a vow of silence on Wednesday to show their support for the LGBTQA community. Thousands of schools participate in this international event to show their support of gays and transgenders who are facing or have faced adversity. The Queer Straight Alliance leads the effort, but…
Roman decadence thrives in The Great Beauty.
Whether he is walking down a cobble stoned street, dancing to pulsating electronic music on a rooftop into the morning, or staring up at the ceiling, imagining it as a cool expanse of ocean. Jep Gambardella, played by Tony Servillo, is a ghost of a former era, a notion of ‘coolness’ that was born in…
Heroes and misfits and jazz
Heroes + Misfits, released by up-and-coming jazz pianist Kris Bowers, exemplifies the emerging trend of fusing hip-hop grooves with jazz proficiency. Winner of the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition and a Juilliard School graduate, there is no question of Bowers’s ability. Splitting his time between a Fender Rhodes and an acoustic piano, Somewhat of an…
Sign of the rhymes: Poetry serves as a medium for change
Poetry reading has evolved from coffeehouses and dusty leather bound books into packed bars, snapping fingers and vocal performance pieces with powerful messages. No longer is poetry culture limited by cliche love stories, strict organization and clever rhymes. Poetry in today’s age, specifically slam poetry, has developed into an artistic medium that facilitates personal development…
Spring enrollment drop surprises administrators
Enrollment numbers for spring 2014 have come in lower than anticipated by the USM administration, exacerbating already difficult financial circumstances. The 5.3 percent drop in enrollment between this spring and last spring means that, even with the emergency budget cuts, USM will bring in $1.5 million less than projected by the fiscal year 2014 budget….
CAHS talks consolidation, considers proposals to reorganize
Retrenchment and program cuts aren’t the only changes in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. On March 28, the CAHS faculty debated a proposed reorganization of the college. On March 26, Provost Michael Stevenson sent out a letter to the deans of all of the colleges at USM, asking them to discuss ways…
Colleges cope with retrenchment of faculty
Since President Theo Kalikow announced the layoffs of twelve faculty members on Friday, March 21, the colleges of the retrenched faculty have responded by holding a series of meetings. On March 26, a group of students organized a meeting about the effects of the retrenchment on the Muskie School, and on March 28, responses to…
Students for #USMFuture demand funding reform for UMaine System
Two weeks after over two hundred students stormed the law building to protest faculty layoffs, the #USMFuture movement has broadened its focus and is looking to gain support from other Maine universities and the Portland community. On Tuesday, #USMFuture supporters will take to the streets of Portland and march between Monument and Congress squares to…
Students push back against proposed program cuts
The difference between the faculty members who were laid off last Friday and the four programs President Kalikow proposed cutting entirely the week before is that the four degree programs are only proposed cuts, which won’t be evaluated by the board of trustees until July. The four proposed degree programs Kalikow proposed cutting are recreation…
Students continue to organize after denial of bill at state house
Update: March 27, 6:27 p.m. Students who proposed a bill to analyze the distribution of funding in the UMaine System were disappointed today to hear news that the legislative council had denied advancement of the legislation, but they promptly responded that they would use the result to further mobilize and engage students. Six voted against…
Muskie students respond to cuts
Earlier this evening, nearly 40 students from the Muskie School of Public Policy met with the school’s Dean Joseph McDonnell and Associate Dean Andrew Coburn to discuss what a letter drafted by four student leaders at Muskie described as the disproportionate impact last Friday’s series of faculty retrenchments had on the school. “We urge you…
Doyle on 2014 election: Maine needs a plan to serve students in longterm, and Cutler’s will do it
This letter was contributed by Andrew J. Doyle. The University of Maine system has experienced a declining enrollment during a time when pursuing higher education has never been more important for Mainers. Combine that with the state’s declining graduation rate, and we find ourselves with a serious problem that has fell by the wayside at…
Conte: Cuts not just a budget issue, also a human issue
My name is Martin Conte. I have resided in the great state of Maine for 20 of my 21 years. I grew up “Downeast,” up the coast in Blue Hill. I went out of state for the first half of my University education, before moving back to the state, and enrolling at the University of…
Over two hundred students protest university budget cuts, sit-in
Update: 9:00 p.m. After nine hours of demonstrating, starting at the Law Building and moving into the Woodbury Campus Center, all but one of the protesters had left for the night. Update: 4:00 p.m. A smaller group of protesters remain at the Woodbury Campus Center, but they told the group they plan to be in…
Chann: Vote of ‘no confidence’ came too soon
This letter was contributed by Marpheen Chann. I applaud my fellow student government colleagues and the student senate for their support of students and faculty. But I write to voice my dissent in regards to the vote of no-confidence in the administration. In my opinion, the vote of no-confidence is premature given that the protest…
Ward: Students should support admin efforts, work with what they’ve got, stop protesting
This letter was contributed by Dustin Ward. Dear Free Press, I want to first write and say what a wonderful job you and your organization are doing in covering the news and latest events of the situation at USM. After seeing the many comments, and the constant disgrace that so many students at USM are voicing I feel…
Hunter: This is not my USM
Dear Free Press, Like most students and alumni I have been watching the events of the last two days unfold over social media with something akin to horror. As a resent alumnus, I have nothing but a deep since of pride and love for my USM community. As horrible as these cuts are there is…
Lacy: We’re fighting for our right to learn
Dear USM Administration, My name is Caleb Lacy. I am a 4th year Theater Major here at USM and a United States Marine Corps Veteran. Theater has always been my life passion. I grew up the youngest of 4 in a lower middle class divorced home, so when I graduated High School there was no…
Parry: USM pulled out of rip-tide but tossed into furnace by admin actions
Dear Provost Stevenson and Board, Now I’m no economics or mathematics major, but it seems to me that by dramatically reducing the size of the faculty (and subsequently the amount of courses offered) the outcome is obviously going to be fewer students enrolled. An individual was speaking to me and others the other day about…
Student senate votes no confidence in USM president and council
The student senate voted no confidence tonight in President Theo Kalikow and her council following a series of cuts on Friday. More than 20 students gathered tonight at the Woodbury Campus Center in Portland to help the 13 present student senators draft a proposal that will be taken to the upcoming Sunday and Monday Board…
President Theodora Kalikow to students: Faculty Layoffs
The following is an email sent from Kalikow to current students at USM. It was sent at 3:31 p.m. yesterday afternoon. Dear Students: We have made the painful decision to lay off 12 full-time faculty members in nine departments. These individuals were informed earlier today, Friday, March 21. Under the terms of the faculty contract,…
Faculty from London to New York show support in letters for USM faculty laid off
The following is a compilation of letters written from faculty from a variety of backgrounds and from various locations that were sent to Provost Michael Stevenson following the lay-offs of 12 faculty members on Friday and the proposed elimination of four programs earlier this week. The source of each of these letters was verified by…
Faculty Senate votes to reject first round of cuts
In a special meeting of the Faculty Senate in response to the series of faculty layoffs and program cut proposals, the Faculty Senate voted unanimously to reject the actions taken by the administration, including the layoffs and the proposed program cuts, despite its support for the idea of a metropolitan university. “I would like to…