Walking through Luther Bonney this past semester it was hard to miss the group of campaigning students who called themselves the “Window Warriors.” This was the most recent campaign of the USM Green Team, whose past efforts in the fall of 2006 involved covering light switch covers with sticker bearing the phrase “Flip it Switch it Turn it Off.
Author: USM
Gender outside the box
MTV’s “The Real World,” the show that give birth to reality television, took a step closer to representing the real world by adding a transgender to their cast for the first time. But while MTV was taking their time getting to the transgendered population, a pair of USM alumni were bringing transgender issues to the forefront of peoples’ consciousness.
Hangin’ with Mr. Tardiff
With the economy in the toilet and the state looking to make ends meet, a conversation has arisen about the importance of sports. Though most of the discussion has focused on high school sports, no level is immune to the ill-effects of budget cuts.
It’s easy enough to course through a budget, line by line, and strike games off schedules and limit sport-related expenses with an executive turn of the wrist.
USM announces next Provost
President Botman has named USM’s next Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs – Dr. Kate Langdon Forhan of Northeastern Illinois University.
Forhan is currently the dean of NEIU’s College of Arts and Sciences, a post she has held since 2002. Her selection caps a hiring campaign that yielded 97 applicants from colleges around the country.
Fifield Day in Gorham
Mike Tardiff
Sports Editor
Hugs were in greater supply than jump shots on Saturday at Hill Gym. With former women’s basketball players and coaches slowly collecting and reuniting in the gym, it was a time to celebrate.
It was Gary Fifield Day in Gorham.
The notorious gentlemen of Mint Films
It was approaching midnight on Ferry Point Beach as the Mint Films team pushed to finish filming their 2008 short film, a scene in “This We Have Now” called “Jess & Andy.” After several hours of shooting, the tide came in and stranded Jeff Griecci’s Jeep on an island of sand in the distance.
Guest Column
Dear Sandra Eustis Bracket and President Botman;
Parking has been a huge issue, this year due to the added Hannaford Conference Facilities and the WishCamper Campus for Ollie Students. I have been a student at USM since 1999, as a non-traditional single mother who relies on commuting both to the university and to my children’s schools.
Books on hold
When President Botman announced $2.7 million in budget cuts last month, perhaps the most sensitive point was the dismissal of 65 faculty and staff members. All done, she insisted, while adhering to a motto of “do no harm to the classroom.”
But just moments earlier, she also mentioned draining funds from what amounts to a central artery in any University’s academic profile: the libraries, which would immediately see a jolting loss of $300,000.
Hangin’ with Mr. Tardiff
Thanks to Earth’s propensity for circling the sun, days are getting shorter. And with shorter days come few opportunities.
And thanks to reduced levels of melatonin many of us grow lethargic and want to sit on the couch all day.
An alternative?
Well, whether you celebrate Christmas or not, Christmas tree farms can be a good place to start.
Into the great wide open: part II
11/15 – Ottawa, ON – Café Dekcuf
Ah, waking up with your drummer’s arms wrapped around you.how comforting. Well, we were at a Comfort Inn after all; Adam must have been having quite the dream. North Bay looked different in the morning light, or maybe I should say in the sunlight, because it wasn’t exactly morning anymore.
Faculty Senate postpones EYE requirement.
The USM Faculty Senate voted in favor of dropping the Entry Year Experience – or EYE – course requirement for incoming freshmen of the Fall ’09 semester. In their monthly meeting last Friday, the Senate voted 16-7 to postpone making an EYE course required for next year’s freshmen class.
Get out!
It’s the first real snow storm of the winter, and while there’s plenty of school work to be done before the semester ends, you don’t want to be stuck inside all weekend. What can you do? There’s not enough on the ground for sledding, but it’s still gross enough to keep you from going for a run or bike ride.
Jake Cowan on:
I will never be able to suck the milk out of a cow’s udder. I will never be able to share the same ice cream cone with my significant other. I will never be able to eat string cheese; I will only be able to mercilessly whip someone in the face with it. Why am I destined to suffer this fate? Because I am lactarded.
Epicurean Epics
Maine’s hardworking fishermen began netting and trapping in the North Atlantic’s icy waters for sweet and succulent shrimp last week. This years season, the longest season since 1991, has been extended by 28 days. ending May 29, thanks to a projected abundance of the tasty shellfish, a taste of the sea in every one.
Day without a gay
This Wednesday is the day when all gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgenders, and straight allies are encouraged to participate in a strike against the passing of Proposition 8 and the losses that the gay movement worldwide are experiencing.
On this day, participating involves calling out of work as “gay”(or as a gay ally), and using the time off to volunteer.
Punctuation mark
Gary Fifield got to watch his former squad beat-up on conference foes Keene State on Saturday. The Huskies busted out a 13-0 run early in the first half to lead 18-5 and never looked back, cruising to a 61-47 victory in women’s basketball action.
Led by sophomore Kaylee Demillo’s (Jay) 18 points led three Huskies in double-figures and paced USM to their sixth straight victory to open the season.
Winter Movie Preview
Australia
Currently in theaters
Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman
A mash up on multiple genres, “Australia” is a throwback to the era of classic epic romance films. Nicole Kidman plays an uptight English aristocrat who travels to the outback only to fall for a ruggedly handsome cattle driver played by Hugh Jackman.
Deferred maintenance
In light of USM president Selma Botman’s November 24th announcement that an additional $2.7 million will be cut from an already anemic University budget, the Department of Facilities Management may have trouble funding critical repairs.
According to a Facilities Management breakdown of estimated deferred maintenance, USM’s backlog of maintenance and upgrade costs totals $60,587,000 for all three campuses.
Hockey loses heartbreaker
The USM men’s hockey team was three minutes away from knocking off number-three-ranked Middlebury College on Saturday.
But two late flurries in front of net yielded a pair of scores and the Panthers remained unbeaten with a 5-4 win over USM.
Middlebury senior Ian Drummond capitalized on the skirmishes with a goal and an assist to help the Panthers remain unbeaten and overcome a late 4-3 deficit.
Brew review
While most people think of robust beers during the winter, there is a wonderfully spicy alternative: Belgian witbiers (White Ales). And even though witbiers are often characterized as a spring/summer offering, their complex flavorings and spiciness make them the ideal counterpart to winter warmers.
MECA and USM
Danica Koenig
Staff Writer
The Maine College of Art (MECA) attracts art students of all levels, from recent high school grads to professional artists. Founded in 1882, it is the oldest educational arts institution in Maine. Its gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art, has been hailed as one of the finest art spaces in the Northeast for the exhibition of contemporary art.
Provost profiles
While Maine College of Art on Congress St. is one of the regions leading art institutes, some students are lured to USM for diversity and structure.
Betty Rambur, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Professor, Health Policy and Nursing
University of Vermont, Burlington VT
Running on: Long resume of research projects, and plenty of experience on committees similar to the one evaluating her candidicy.
Women’s hoops rolling, hope to topple Polar Bears
So far, so good for the USM women’s basketball team who, with their 67-57 win against Bates last week, moved to 4-0 on the season.
The Huskies will now get ready to face their toughest test thus far, the perennial powerhouse and 15th ranked Bowdoin Polar Bears on Tuesday.
Life after USM
For many students, the looming transition from college to real world is daunting: the need to support oneself, establish a career, pay back student loans and simply stay afloat without the raft that is college frightens. Upon receiving a degree, the excuse of being in college will no longer validate excessive and random drinking, sleeping, eating, or movie-watching.