BANGOR, Maine - University of Maine System trustees got an update today on an ambitious, long-term plan to integrate, merge and phase out some academic programs across the system's seven campuses.
Officials leading the initiative say they're committed to consulting closely with faculty and students throughout the process.
Trustees also learned that the system is facing a $16 million dollar operating loss for the budget year that ended in June.
There were a few different reasons for the shortfall, system officials say, including the unpredictability of the stock market and costs associated with restructuring that's supposed to put the system on more sustainable financial footing for the long term. Dan Demeritt is spokesperson for the UMaine System.
"As we close out the books for the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, we have an operating loss of about $16 million," he said. "It's associated with some losses in one of our investment funds, some costs associated with retirement incentives as we downsize and adjust the size of the system, plus some severance expenses that the system incurred as part of a realignment at USM and elsewhere."
Demeritt says the loss will be covered with money from the system's budget stabilization fund. Money from individual campus reserves and a draw down of the system's insurance benefit pool will also be used. The current year's $518 million budget, notes Demeritt, is balanced as of now, thanks to $7.2 million in emergency reserve funds.
After hearing about the financials, UMaine system trustees gave some attention to the academic restructuring that's beginning to take place across the seven campuses. Trustees have already seen what can happen when programs are eliminated or restructured and faculty and students feel like they haven't been heard. Trustee Shawn Moody notes the experience at the University of Southern Maine.
"I know the situation we got in down at USM was very tenuous," Moody says. "And I think two things that I grasped from that experience was the students and faculty wanted more transparency and they wanted more predictability."
At the University of Southern Maine last year, students and faculty protested, loudly and often, after five programs were eliminated and 50 faculty positions were targeted for elimination. Those layoffs have been challenged by the Associated Faculties of Maine and are now before an arbitrator.
The UMaine System administration cites years of flat funding from the state and declining enrollment as reasons why the seven campuses face an unsustainable financial future unless they dramatically cuts costs.
Under the One University initiative now underway, the campus presidents' councils are reviewing all academic programs to make sure they're financially sustainable and integral to a campus's mission. Dr. Ellen Chaffee is running the so-called Academic Program Review and Integration Process. Chaffee says presidents' councils are also looking at what academic offerings set each campus apart.
"By untangling the areas of internal competition and emphasizing areas of distinction, campus by campus, that helps give us some guidance about where some things might stay and why some things might stay, even if they're financials are difficult," Chaffee says.
Chaffee says she's committed to making sure faculty across the system are kept in the loop, as the academic review continues.