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One University The University of Maine System consists of 7 universities with unique missions that serve their region and the state. UMS envisions a new structure for the System that would vastly homogenize courses, programs, and curricular offerings; the concept is being called One University. One likely outcome of One University would be the replacement of much needed in-person instruction with online instruction. UMaine System Administrators argue that One University will save money by streamlining the curriculum. No evidence supporting this claim has been offered. Faculty views on the move are far more focused on student outcomes and educational quality. They share their thoughts below.
Jim McClymer, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Physics and Graduate Coordinator University of Maine One University is more of a slogan than a cohesive, positive plan. This is a problem, because a slogan’s meaning is in the mind of the beholder. Few can argue with the motivation to expand higher education to improve society and individuals as a public and private good. Keeping with the theme of clichés; the devil is in the details and this is where One University runs into serious problems. In many ways The University of Maine System has put the cart before the horse, with multiple academic & programmatic integration efforts having ill-defined and often contradictory goals. “One University” ignores the importance of place. Our 7 Universities have well defined differentiated missions. Our Universities have evolved to fill the unique needs of their students. This point cannot be overstated; the Universities are continually evolving to meet the needs of their communities and their students. UMS acknowledges that this critical step of understanding mission differentiation is way behind. The usual response of UMS to lack of information is to press on, despite the damage the lack of facts and deep understanding of differentiated missions do to students and the State of Maine. There are however positive signs. After too long an absence we now have an academic vice chancellor who appears to understand and values academia. U.S. higher education remains the envy of the world and a critical part of the engine of economic and cultural growth. Academic freedom and faculty control of the curriculum are necessary for Universities to meet the challenges of this century. Careless meddling will level the playing field, pushing the US towards 2nd class status. It is a nice vision to bring the “full power of all of UMS to every Citizen.” It is also unrealistic; the roads might as well be paved with gold. It is a nice fiction that the entirety of a University can “be delivered” to each person. It is critical that all decisions be made with the understanding that education isn’t delivered, it is a social process. A simplistic vision for an almost exclusive on-line education that is “delivered” will lower the quality for Maine students, giving them a 2nd class education.
Susan Feiner, Ph.D. Professor of Economics & Women and Gender Studies University of Southern Maine The University of Maine System’s push to create “One University” will harm the thirty thousand or so students enrolled on the seven campuses. Even as the full time faculty shrinks (from 1200 to 800 in 2016) System administrators continue to impose new work related to One University thereby diverting faculty time from teaching. Ironically, when the expensive consultant’s report included faculty reservations about One University, the Board of Trustees demanded that those findings be deleted. Over and over Trustees and system officials insist a fiscal crisis looms. But the cost of One University is conservatively pegged at 60 million dollars! Yet there’s no discussion of where that money will come from. No wonder UMaine System faculty are nearly unanimous in their opposition. Faculty focus every day on students. We design courses, offer mentoring and provide counsel to support student success. We know the students at Fort Kent are not cookie cutter replicas of those at USM or Presque Isle. The students at UM are not just like those at Farmington or Augusta. One University supposes a false uniformity, and thus sees no problem in radically reducing student choice by imposing the requirement that there be one history department for all of Maine, one MBA for all of Maine, one math department, language department, engineering department. Faculty understand that what students need and want varies across the campuses. One University quashes diversity. Why? Clearly not to save money, but to spend more on administrators who administer other administrators. Who needs those pesky faculty anyway? Faculty stand united in support of the public higher education Mainers deserve. We wish the administration did. One University is a consultant’s dream and a nightmare for Maine’s college students. February 2017
• www.maineea.org
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