Category: Perspectives

The two disasters are clearly staggering in proportion, but the response of the news media and the international community has been different.

As I continue to struggle with the terms diversity and multiculturalism being imposed on…

The lack of student involvement at USM is no secret, and it’s a fairly…

A few weeks ago, I was at a Portland bar talking about The Free…

Two years ago on an awkward blind date, I heard my first explanation of…

The topless march held earlier this month saw men and women strolling through Maine’s…

Exactly whose cause is the Free Press championing? USM is but one of many…

I love Maine. The state has been my home for all of my 27…

This week, a long running dream of mine finally comes true: The Free Press…

I am the mayor of USM.

Well, on Foursquare at least.

To employ the PR-speak that accompanies all action within a public institution, one could say that USM is currently “in a period of great transition.”

But such flowery descriptions are just an effort to mask the truth of the matter. We are broke, confused and anxious about the future of the university.

When I first learned about the concept of feminism, I was pretty doe-eyed about the idea of a “sisterhood.” It was inspirational to imagine women across the globe united in a collective consciousness, a struggle for equal rights, with all of us supporting each other like an extended family.

Last week, amid the flurry of gathering last-minute quotes for stories, rushing to get photos and tracking down local politicians, I formed a band with four musicians with whom I had never played and wrote and performed a live set of original music.

The University of Maine System continues to eye online courses as a cost-saving, accessible way to pursue a degree, with the Board of Trustees having expressed it’s aim of eventually moving 1,000 programs online, system-wide.

With advances in technology and the Maine’s high-speed internet infrastructure, the computer can now viably stand in place of the classroom as our primary venue of higher education.

Up until the age of about six years old, I didn’t understand the concept of being a “girl.” I hated dresses and the color pink, but I loved playing in the yard and collecting bugs with my best friend, Jonathan.

The Reorganization Design Team has proposed to dismantle the College of Education. Not merge it or transform it. Get rid of it.

On March 4, I attended the teach-in in support of the Nationwide Day of Protest in Defense of Public Universities organized by our Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom.

Last Wednesday, I pulled up to Stephen Ricci’s house at 915 Brighton Avenue in Portland to find out if he’s as dangerous as police say he is.

You may have heard Mr. Ricci’s name in the news. Originally charged with indecent conduct in August of 2007, Ricci ignited public controversy last year when he threatened to rape and mutilate a woman upon his release from jail unless he got the mental care he said he needed.

Somewhere in the history of American education, the ideas seems to have emerged that college is college, and the real world is something distinctly different.

Maybe it’s this notion that accounts for our tendency to let things slide in the college atmosphere.

The cultural critics over at Family Guy have once again aired grievances about an often ignored social issue: women and aging. Network television shows in this comedic genre often address civil rights, but the underlying points can get lost in layers of crude satire.

As many of you are aware, our University is the process of closing a $3 million dollar budget gap, and thus making large scale changes that will directly effect you and all future USM students.

As the process of restructuring takes place, we have held 2 convocations; in which many members of the USM community came together to define USM’s strengths and identify what; as an institution we should build upon.