UM athletes achieve academic excellence

Recently, 231 student-athletes at the University of Maine were honored for their academic achievements.

Representing more than half of all UMaine student-athletes, each of them earned a grade point average of 3.0 or better. We heartily congratulate these dedicated, hard-working young people for their noteworthy individual academic achievements, as well as the professors, coaches and staff who serve them.

This stellar performance by UMaine scholar-athletes is no fluke. During the past four years, UMaine athletes have twice won or shared the America-East Academic Cup, awarded for the highest collective grade point average among athletes at all universities in America East. The other two years, UMaine finished second in the conference. This collective academic excellence during the past four years is impressive, representing consistent effort and success across the board for all of Maine’s student athletes. Among all conference championships, it is the most coveted by university leaders and I have no doubt President Robert Kennedy will be rooting for an addition to his trophy case this summer. Get busy, kids!

The character, effort and organization required to compete in Division I athletics while succeeding academically is daunting. Contemplating either makes me want to lie down. Congratulations to these most recent recipients of the Scholar Athlete Medal, who exemplify UMaine’s ideal for the scholar-athlete to achieve the proper balance of scholarship with athletics, and we are especially proud of them.

Michael B. Trainor

Chair, UMaine

Board of Visitors

BDN reporter, editor need to check all facts

The most important job of a reporter is getting the facts right. Checking the reporter’s article to see if it is well composed and factually correct is the job of the editor. Then once published, the newspaper for which they both work is now held to a high standard of veracity. Factual errors can lead the readership to begin to doubt what else printed here is not really true. I would not want to see the reputation of the Bangor Daily News hurt.

My concern is in an article written by Andrew Neff (BDN, April 1): “Costigan played 21 of 30 games and started one. The former Westbrook High star …”

Mr. Costigan attended and played basketball for all four of high school years at Cheverus High School in Portland. I do not know if Mr. Neff received incorrect information from the university or simply did not actually know which high school Mr. Costigan attended and simply put one in his article. In either case he did not do a proper reporting job: checking the facts before writing the piece for publication.

I can understand that a staff reporter, perhaps not acquainted with southern Maine, could make such a mistake. However, it obviously escaped the eye of the sports editor who should have known the sports of southern Maine.

Louis Marcucci

South Portland

Note to readers: The BDN reserves the right to edit submissions for libel, taste, clarity, and to fit available space. Letters should include a signature, full name, address, and daytime phone number. Letters may be mailed to: P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, ME 04402, or e-mailed: bdnsports@bangordailynews.net