Orono may soon sink as main campus

Don’t look now, but the issue of where the main campus of the University of Maine should be is turning another corner. The constant friction between the Orono and Portland powers at those University sites doesn’t abate.

Rich Pattenaude is the president of the University of Southern Maine. Just the name of the campus brings back the memories of the dispute over what to call the different campuses: Universtiy of Maine-Portland, PoGo-U, just University of Maine for everyone. Pattenaude speaks of USM as an institution he wants to see become a “first-rate public university.” He’s not talking about the University System here.

Orono has been able to maintain its central presence because it got there first with land and buildings. That fact brought the professors of distinction necessary to a university’s success. The last two decades have been a tough haul for Orono.

The constant budget battles with Augusta have lent a negative aspect to life on campus. Cutbacks and salary freezes have hindered the necessity of maintaining the highest level of educators on campus. The downturn of student enrollment, if only because of demographics nationally, have added to the financial crunch.

At USM, Pattenaude is pursuing an entrepreneurial approach to education. It has resulted in the “Gorham project” which will bring construction to that segment of the USM campus for the first time since 1970. The project will include a $5.5 million fieldhouse and a $3.9 million student recreation center.

The fieldhouse will have tennis and basketball courts, a six-lane track and the most modern fitness equipment available. To this point, USM has used an outdated gym on the Portland campus that features three basketball courts, some racquet ball courts and a very small weight facility.

The new recreation center will be highlighted by an Olympic-size ice skating rink that will become the home of USM’s hockey teams (men and women). It will also offer the potential as an ideal Olympic practice facility for all ice skating events. That potential is enormous.

Portland is an ideal location for Olympic training. Air service is good, Boston is close, the city size is just right and athletes like coming to Maine. The use of Sunday River as an Olympic site for skiing has introduced officials to Portland. It would all fit Pattenaude’s entrepreneurial bent.

The new facilities will be built without tax money nor tuition increases. The Student Senate has agreed to increase student recreation fees and a community user fee will combine to provide the money. If the facilities can also generate rental income from a source such as the Olympic program – bravo.

Pattenaude also sees the new facilities as a jumping off point for university courses in sports medicine and related fields. That has long been an area served with distinction by Wes Jordan’s programs at Orono. Will USM’s venture lessen the attraction in this field for Orono or will they feed off one another? Bear in mind, an entreprenurial approach means competition. USM wants those kids who might head to Orono.

Most important, Pattenaude says the project “changes the culture of the university…” He realizes these additions bring to USM, for the first time since the library was built, the “feel” of a real campus. That “feel” is in, and of itself, a huge attraction to would be students. If the facilities also attract world-class competitors to train, the multiple effect makes USM a real force as a center of University action.

Maine cannot support two centers for its University. If a main campus were being built today, it would not be in Orono. Yet, if Pattenaude can fulfill his order that all new programs must be self-supporting, he may be doing Orono a big favor. While USM’s programs pay for themselves, Orono can continue its educational excellence with tax funding. Nevertheless, at some point USM reaches a point where its status begins to impact negatively on Orono’s center position. Sports and related facilities may be that point.