The same for less at UMS?

Wondering why there were not more rich men in the world, Edmund Burke concluded that their upkeep was expensive and the poor could only afford to support a few of them. The recent announcement of the pending retirement of the University of Maine System chancellor raises the question whether this is one more rich man that the rest of us can afford.

As a tenured professor in political science, Joe Westphal could of course join the rest of the faculty and teach Maine students. Like other faculty he would receive reasonable, if not exorbitant compensation. Like some other top administrators who have recently been retired, Westphal will instead become a University of Maine System professor.

While I do not have access to the dollar figures and the chancellor’s office can correct these figures if I am wrong, with Westphal’s retirement I believe it is safe to say that funding for University of Maine System professorships (professorships for which there is not the slightest demonstrable need) will probably exceed $750,000 a year.

To clarify what this funding means: Given the cost of credit hours and fees, every three-credit course at the University of Maine, for example, costs $639 for in-state students.

If $750,000 is a reasonable (probably conservative) estimate of the cost of University of Maine System professorships, then the same funds could be used as scholarship support for approximately 1,175 courses (or approximately 120 scholarship students a year) at the University of Maine.

Alternatively it could fund 10 to 12 assistant professors, and if they were to teach 100 students each a year, they would earn their salaries back in tuition. Either use of the funds would involve a significant investment in Maine’s future.

Can anyone seriously suggest that funding of University of Maine System professorships offers anything like a comparable investment in the future economic and cultural prosperity of the people of Maine? On what basis does the UMS board of trustees justify such an expenditure?

A number of Maine citizens are now forming a consortium which plans in the future to nominate a candidate for chancellor of the University of Maine System. Our commitment is that this candidate if hired will do as well as his or her predecessor for 50 percent less.

We make no commitment to greater competence or less incompetence, but we do promise substantial savings. We will not be undersold.

If you would like to join us in this important cost-cutting and downsizing effort, we welcome your participation and support.

Tony Brinkley is the faculty associate in the Franco-American Centre and former chair of the English Department at the University of Maine.