If you found yourself cheering or fist pumping when you heard the news last Tuesday that the university was closing at 2 p.m., then you have Dick Campbell to thank.

Campbell, USM’s chief financial officer, decides when the university closes for weather. But it’s not a duty he relishes.

Republican Gov. Paul LePage, leading his party into newfound control of the Blaine House and legislature, touted the private sector’s role in job creation and his plans for education in his inauguration address Wednesday afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center.

All five candidates criticized Maine’s business climate in a live televised debate two weeks away from the Nov. 2 election — but each suggested different ways of bringing businesses and jobs to the state.

The panel was organized as part of the National Day of Action to Defend Education, a movement started last fall in California after tuition spikes and cuts in state funding prompted a day of protests and strikes on March 4 at universities and colleges across the country.