UMaine campus merger dropped Chancellor revises restructuring plan

FREEPORT – University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal, aiming to accommodate critics of his draft restructuring plan, offered a new proposal Monday that calls for abandoning the idea of merging three campuses and for continuing to offer two-year degrees through a collaboration with the Maine Community College System.

According to the alternative strategic plan presented to the UMS board of trustees, the Fort Kent, Presque Isle and Machias campuses would not be merged into one university, but would instead form a “consortium” in which they would create one set of general education requirements and one budget. They would keep separate presidents who would report to the vice chancellor, seek ways to reduce administrative costs and aim to minimize duplication of majors.

The original draft created a firestorm of controversy by proposing, among other things, to merge the universities at Fort Kent, Presque Isle and Machias into one University of Northern Maine with three campuses and one administration. It also called for the University of Maine at Augusta to become part of the University of Southern Maine and for all two-year programs to be shifted to the community college system.

“We listened to the public comments and … understood the concern about identity and leadership,” Westphal said after the meeting at a conference center in Freeport.

The new plan “creates a real synergy of collaboration and cooperation among the campuses,” he said.

Trustees said they generally liked the plan, but agreed it should include incentives for the presidents to collaborate.

“We need to demand accountability,” said trustee Barry McCrum.

Trustee Greg Cyr liked the proposal because it provides a “mechanism for greater prioritization on the part of the three presidents,” he said.

Said trustee Jean Flahive, “It’s a good direction to move in,” but she wondered why one set of general education requirements for the new consortium would need to be created when all classes are transferable.

With the new plan the transition of associate degrees from the university system to the community college system would be helped along through the creation of “higher education parks” in which Kennebec Valley Community College would expand its Fairfield operation to the University of Maine at Augusta and Eastern Maine Community College would do the same at the University College of Bangor.

While the previous plan didn’t envision a university presence in Bangor, the new proposal has UCB offering some bachelor’s and associate degrees and being run by the University of Maine, most likely through its Division of Lifelong Learning. As in the previous draft plan, the University of Maine at Augusta would become part of the University of Southern Maine.

According to the new proposal, all university outreach centers would remain open. UM would oversee those in Ellsworth, Dover-Foxcroft and East Millinocket, while the University of Maine at Machias would run the Calais center and the University of Maine at Presque Isle the Houlton center. The University of Southern Maine would run the centers in Rumford-Mexico, Oxford Hills, Sanford, Saco-Biddeford, Bath-Brunswick and Thomaston.

James Mullen, chair of the trustees’ strategic plan subcommittee, said his group would review the new proposal and issue a revised draft on Sept. 7. The full board will consider the plan at its meeting Sept. 20.

The new plan asks for more cooperation on a voluntary basis, but still requires an implementation plan to make sure it happens, he said.

Under the new proposal, UMS would save $12 million per year compared with $15 million under the previous plan. But money isn’t the only consideration, according to Vice Chancellor Elsa Nunez.

“This model of collaboration allows us to accomplish some of our goals without a merger,” she said. “Among those goals is not only savings, but building academic quality.

“At the end of the day, people listened carefully to public comment and saw that many of the ideas put forward made good sense.”

Westphal agreed that not having a campus leader at each of the rural universities would have lessened their connection with the community and the ability of those institutions to raise private funds.

But at least one professor was less than enthusiastic about the new proposal, in part because faculty weren’t consulted. “I can see some improvements,” said UMM professor Ron Mosley. “But they still don’t understand what shared governance is all about.”

Mosley also took issue with having the presidents of UMM, UMPI and UMFK report to the vice chancellor instead of the chancellor. “They’ll be the equivalent of a provost. They won’t be university presidents in the true sense of the word,” he said.

The plan also recommended against decentralizing distance education technology, which would be maintained as a systemwide service. The chancellor clarified that some centralization could be handled by collaboration among campuses rather than in Bangor. Also, “front-line” services such as admissions and financial aid wouldn’t be centralized, he said.