Alumni house

As a building, the planned University of Maine alumni house is somewhat in the small potatoes category. It’s the idea and the support behind the project that makes it much more than two stories of brick and glass.

The idea is that the university has something to sell but needs to spruce up its physical appearance to increase its appeal to potential students, faculty and donors. A new “front door,” an attractive gathering place at the campus’s somewhat shabby main entrance, is a good place to start. It is highly encouraging that the university recognizes the need to break a sweat in the highly competitive world of academics and research.

As for the support, more than 12,000 UM graduates have contributed more than $4 million to the building fund in just two years, making it the most broadly based capital campaign in the university’s 133-year history. Given the number of dunning letters alumni receive from alma maters, the response given this one is telling. It’s also worth noting that the single largest donation came from MBNA. The bank has a solid reputation here and elsewhere as being a generous supporter of good causes, but not of being a sucker for pointless enterprises.

The timing could not be better — or more crucial. After several years of decline, UM gradually is rebuilding its enrollment, but still has plenty of room. The importance, the necessity, of post-secondary education in the workplace is growing and Maine is in the unusual position of having exceptionally well-educated high-school graduates but also of having a low college-attainment rate. There are tens of thousands of working Maine adults who will, in the years to come, head back to school. Universities in neighboring states, Massachusetts and Connecticut in particular, are at or near capacity. At the same time, a sharp drop in secondary enrollment is moving up through the grades and will hit college age in 2007. Non-traditional students, out-of-state students and Maine students who might be inclined to go out-of-state can more than make up for this population anomaly, but UM has to make the sales pitch.

The alumni house campaign still needs to raise another $1 million to get construction under way and to establish an endowment for operations and maintenance. More than 12,000 UM grads have sung the praises of the old school by writing a check. Those who have not should join the chorus.