FORT KENT, Maine - Officials with the University of Maine at Fort Kent, and the UMaine System, are voicing their support for UMFK President Wilson Hess.
The support comes after the College of the Marshall Islands stripped Hess of his president emeritus title.
The Bangor Daily News is reporting that the Pacific Island school said that Hess displayed a troubling lack of transparency when he was heading up an independent non-profit group set up to support the College of the Marshall Islands.
Hess assumed that position after ending his tenure as the school's president in 2009.
Donald Guimond is vice-chair of the UMFK Board of Visitors; he says Hess enjoys UMFK's full support.
"All of the fiscal issues facing the university as well as the system as a whole has always been brought to our attention at many of our meetings, same with the UMFK foundation," Guimond says. "All of that data is published. All of that data is available. Transparency is of utmost importance to President Hess and we have no concern with that."
The Bangor Daily says that the College of the Marshall Islands is a community college of some 1,300 students that primarily serves students from Micronesia.
