PORTLAND – The governor’s proposed cuts to the University of Maine System would have a drastic consequence on the campuses and “would be counterproductive to the state’s economic interests and condition,” according to UMS board of trustees Chairwoman Margaret Weston.

Gov. John Baldacci has proposed that $7.1 million be cut from the system’s state appropriation, which represents about 3.5 percent of what was appropriated.

“It was already approved as part of our budget for next year,” UMS spokesman John Diamond said after Monday’s UMS board of trustees meeting in Portland. The next budget year begins July 1.

“The state money that we get is allocated to the individual universities,” Diamond said. The flagship campus in Orono gets about half of the state appropriation, while the University of Southern Maine receives about 25 percent, and the remaining campuses receive smaller shares.

UMS Chancellor Richard Pattenaude is expected to address legislators today during the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee public hearing and explain that the system and each campus already have been working to decrease their operating costs.

“The proposed cut in the University System’s state appropriation represents the most serious financial threat since the early 1990s,” Pattenaude said Monday in a press release. “Back then, cuts in the University System’s appropriation led to years of enrollment losses, faculty departures, deferred maintenance and poor employee morale. The cuts also led to significant increases in tuition rates, imposed out of necessity to protect academic quality.”

If that effort is combined with Baldacci’s proposed cuts, “UMaine is looking at having to cut approximately $6.6 million from its overall budget and USM is looking at cutting at least $6 million from its budget,” Diamond said.

The cuts definitely would have an effect on students, he noted.

“Trustee Weston said this afternoon that the universities and the system have been squeezing the budgets for years now and have made some pretty substantial cuts,” Diamond said. “This proposal would seriously affect the quality and cost of our universities.”

The cuts would undermine the universities’ ability to create jobs, products and technologies through research and development.

“Maine cannot afford to dilute the ability of its universities to serve as partners and resources in improving our state and its quality of life,” Weston said Monday in a press release. “And without question, Maine cannot afford to put barriers in front of students who want and need a college degree.”

In addition to discussing the proposed budget cuts, trustees:

. Approved the recommendation of Selma Botman as the next president of the University of Southern Maine, effective July 1.

. Authorized the administrative and operational transfer of University College, the system’s set of academic outreach and distance education centers, from the system’s central office to the University of Maine at Augusta.

. Approved tenure recommendations for 28 faculty members.

. Authorized the renaming of UMaine’s Maine Center for the Arts as the Richard R. and Ann A. Collins Center for the Arts and the naming of UMaine’s Student Innovation Center as the Bion and Dorain Foster Student Innovation Center.

. Approved the last of six collective bargaining agreements for the current budget year.

The board also adopted a resolution expressing appreciation to Richard J. Randall, who recently completed nearly 40 years of service to the University of Maine at Augusta, most recently as UMA’s president.

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