26 faculty in Bangor pan UMS plan, chancellor

BANGOR – Twenty-six University College of Bangor faculty members on Wednesday issued a unanimous no-confidence vote against the University of Maine System’s chancellor, board of trustees and the strategic plan that will reorganize the university system.

The UMS strategic plan will hinder students who are pursuing two-year degrees, not help them, the faculty members concluded. The college has 32 full-time faculty members.

“It’s really because of concerns we have for our students and their education,” Don Naber, president of the UCB faculty assembly, said Wednesday. “I think that the vote of the trustees and the chancellor with the strategic plan is really destructive for the students of this area.”

The plan is a controversial reorganization of the UM campuses approved two weeks ago by the UMS board of trustees.

Many faculties across the state are registering their dissatisfaction with the proposal.

Of utmost concern to Naber and other faculty members is the strategic plan’s near-elimination of two-year degree programs in all UM campuses. The two-year, or associate, degree programs will be transferred to the state community college system, which is not able to handle the influx of students and programs right now, according to UCB faculty.

“Their funding is extremely tight as is,” Naber stated.

The associate professor of biology expressed pride in the role that UCB has played in training and educating many area students who might not otherwise have been able to seek higher education.

“We’ve been here in excess of 30 years. We are a very, very successful and growing institution,” he said.

A majority of the 1,100 students now enrolled in UCB are in associate degree programs, Ann Blanke, UCB professor of developmental mathematics and vice president of the faculty assembly, said Wednesday after the vote.

Blanke agreed that losing the two-year programs would be a severe blow to area students.

“There are a lot of students who have not had any college experience,” Blanke said. “They can see coming to school for two years. Four years seems impossible. The associate programs are a nice access into higher education.”

Associate degree programs slated to remain with the UMS colleges include animal-medical veterinary certification, dental hygiene, and a forestry program.

UCB students are very worried about the future of their programs, according to Blanke.

“If they close down associate’s degree programs before the community colleges are ready, a lot of students will lose access,” she said.

In her view, the students would be best served if the UMS board of trustees halts progression of the plan immediately.

“They should stop right now, go back, and include all the faculty to sit down and really look at higher education in Maine, and really see if this configuration they have chosen is the best one,” Blanke said.

Ideally, Blanke said, Maine students should get the best education for the best possible price.

The strategic plan is not the way to do that, she said.

“What they’ve managed to do is to pick a very expensive plan for the state of Maine.”