Budget cuts hit where it hurts, bad
To the editor,
I am extremely saddened to find that English lecturers Jura Avizienis and Margaret Reimer, favorite staff members of mine and many of my friends, found themselves without renewed contracts last week. It appears that in order to eradicate the position of lecturer, the English department will move forward without these valued faculty members rather than offering them longer-term positions.
Columbia was right, mostly
Dear Editor:
Angelique Carson is exactly right that “USM should follow Columbia’s example” in providing a free speech forum for Iran President Ahmadinejad’s appearance (“The real meaning of academic Freedom, Oct. l”).
But from the perspective of a career in academe and close attention to Washington’s and the U.
Let academic freedom stand
Dear editor,
I was concerned and confused after reading a “letter to the editor” posted in the (Sept. 24 edition) of the Free Press on the topic of academic freedom. (“What is taught in the classroom has it’s limits,” by Jason Lavoie)
First off, I am in support of having “uniform policies” at USM, something mentioned in last weeks letter.
Kelly McCormick, 20
Third Year, Linguistics Major
We found Kelly on the Portland campus, humming 80’s pop song ‘Two of Hearts,’ so we pulled her aside, and asked if she wanted to be famous.
FP: So, tell us a little about yourself. And your song.
McCormick: I’m Kelly McCormick, Portland-dweller, I’m twenty years old.and a half.
Last week President Ahmadinejad of Iran was invited to not only visit, but speak at Columbia University in New York City. The President suggested to thousands of listeners that the Holocaust was not fact, but theory. He further submitted that Iran, the entire country, contained no homosexuals.
The presentation by Professor Bowen about academic freedom (Last Thursday, in Luther Bonney’s Talbot Auditorium titled “Academic Freedom in American Democracy,”) is worthy of praise. It ably showed the dangers facing that freedom today, and what Jason Lavoie wrote (last week’s Letter to the Editor, Sept.
I write in response to USM student, Jason Lavoie, who, in my opinion, missed the point in his letter to The Free Press last week, regarding what forces constitute the greatest threats to the academic freedom of students here at USM and elsewhere.
I have not written before, but after reading one of the most biased articles in the history of me reading the news (and I’m subscribed to Fox news), I felt I must say something. How much did they pay you to print that garbage?
I hope it was a lot if “It’s too healthy, I want more chocolate” was the only protest you could find.
My Fellow Students:
Hello there! How’s it going? Enjoying your classes? Don’t lie to me; I know you think your lit teacher is a little crazy. It’s ok, you can be honest with me, I’ve been there, and done that. I know how unpleasant it is. Well don’t worry; everything is going to be fine.
Welcome to the next phase of your life.
We decided to put together a little guide to help you navigate your way through USM for the first few weeks. You’ve come to USM at a pretty cool time, a time when there are lots of changes happening around here. Right now it’s kind of an eye sore, but a brand new campus center is being constructed as we speak.
Welcome to the University of Southern Maine! This is a phrase you will hear a lot throughout your first couple weeks on campus. I could not be more sincere when I tell you how excited we are that you chose to pursue your higher education here at USM.
An important part of the college experience that new students often overlook is getting involved on campus. Joining a team, group, or club is a great way to meet people and make new friends at USM. Being part of a community provides a great support system and helps connect you to the faculty and staff here.
Instead of a box of chocolates on Valentine’s Day, I got my love from the universe by starting my new, sweet-ass job as Portland Community Organizer for The League of Young Voters. But before I was hired I was asked to join the League at the statehouse for a joint committee hearing on a bill called LD 203.
Recently President Bush was interviewed on NPR. The interview helped illustrate the clear rift between the public faces of the vice president and the president. Cheney implies that things are going swimmingly in Iraq and Bush, facing a hostile, oppositional Congress, has finally started to get more realistic.
In this week’s paper, we’re running a news brief about a letter President Pattenaude wrote to faculty and staff. It included a few paragraphs about TABOR and why he thought it would have dangerous effects for the university. This follows Pattenaude’s announcment a few weeks ago that USM already was about 2 million dollars in the hole.
Dear Editor,
I wanted to let readers know that USM should be proud of the job its Resident Assistants did to help the kids of our community recently. Some may have noticed the Noyes moving van parked near the Campus Center for three days. It was there to gather donations for the Big BIG yard sale to benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine.
Stephen Schlesinger, director of the World Policy Institute and a recent guest at USM for United Nations Day tried his best to answer the question: Why does the United Nations seem so ineffectual when faced with a military crisis? A tough question, yet one that so many have asked before.
Chandler Woodcock is your average Mainer; he’s not a career politician. His resume includes teaching for 25 years as an English teacher at Livermore Falls, Mt. Blue, and a Skowhegan area high school. As coach of the Mt. Blue girls basketball team, he led them to two Class A state championships.
This week, we were confronted with an unusual circumstance: One of our columnists, Alex Steed, planned on writinga review of the film, “Jackass II.” Instead, he decided at the last minute to use his “Media Whore”
column to criticize The Free Press for what he thought was our biased coverage(Sept.
Rather than just looking at the sky for some insight into your week, I perform a single card tarot reading to see what challenges
and blessings are approaching you during your journey through life.
ARIES (KING OF SWORDS) ????: Energy and zeal, Aries.
This Column is Funny is a weekly look at the least important parts of college life. Once every few years, the God of Colleges likes to take a break from Jesus’s Heavenly Keg Party and smile down on us. His benevolence can be shown in any number of ways: a cancelled test, an unexpected snow day, a bomb threat that no one is really scared of but we still have to take like totally seriously because of the world we live in.
This summer saw a hotly debated military confl ict in the Middle East between Israel and Hezbollah (a radical Islamic movement group in the region). The confl ict was triggered by Hezbollah’s kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers, and the aggressive attacks on Lebanon by Israel had many people fearing the start of a regional confl ict.
What an intense week. I’m dizzy. Keeping your finger on the pulse is our newspaper’s basic premise. At the Free Press, we spend our mornings, days, and nights like bedside nurses taking vital signs every half hour. Between a fatal accident involving the cross country team, a Gubernatorial debate that ended in one candidate being escorted out by police, and a protest march directed against USM administration, the heart of this campus felt more like cardiac arrest than a steady beat.
Rather than just looking at the sky for some insight into your week, I, Lemma Luciferous, perform a single card tarot reading each week to see what challenges and blessings are approaching you during your journey through life. r: retrograde, inverse ????? On top of your game ???? Things are going well ??? Average week ?? You have some work to do ? Time to reevaluate your game plan Aries (7 of Cups) ????: In the words of the Rocky Horror Picture Show, “Don’t dream it, be it.