Thank you for your work.
It is not commonly known, but through advocacy work of my own progress of transgender rights at schools is moving forward.

I brought the issue to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees. Nothing ensued there, but Dick Campbell the CFO of USM listened. He has implemented policy regarding all new buildings and renovations having gender neutral bathrooms and discussions are underway for retrofitting. Hopefully the other universities will follow suit.

An interesting story about rights and the Maine Constitution Marcus..
2 times an attempt to amend the Maine Constitution and grant the right to vote for individuals with a disability and guardianship has been on the ballot. Both times it failed. However, the Supreme Court of Maine and the Legislature said differently and these individuals ARE allowed to vote. Former Majority Leader Michael Brennan was instrumental in this work.

The rights of students in general is a volatile issue and currently all students are far too vulnerable and unprotected.

I understand that "quality, affordable and accessible" are terms in Public Higher Education vernacular across the United States. We love to say, "As Maine goes the nation" and we can start this level of transparency and clear expectations here. Afterall, it is a college system we are discussing and I suspect that I would be asked to clarify my position if I was similarly vague in a classroom.
Advertised Tuition has doubled in six years. The six percent slated for four years increases costs exponentially. Gratitude for a student at UMS school last year was a 6% tuition increase rather than the 10% of the previous two years. I am stymied how timely it is that tuition is “approved” after the traditional school year has ended and dorms are empty.
Students sign up for fall classes not knowing how much they will have to pay for their “purchase.” A group of USM students wrote a letter last year and asked that it be sent to all students. The purpose of the letter was to inform students of the tuition increase and the letter was not allowed to circulate. Ok, I admit there may have been a few editorial statements regarding the history of tuition increases, but that could have been edited. A biased letter on another subject was freely circulated to all from a staff member, but elected “student” leaders and representatives were not permitted to responsibly inform their constituents of the additional financial burdens they would face. Instead students found out in July rather than late May/early June. When you, your friends etc. enrolled did you expect tuition to already have increased by 16%? Where is the fine print *tuition increases a variable amount annually per state budgeting and you will not know the cost of your education when you sign up for classes.* What is this current system teaching students about purchasing choices, financial planning and budgeting?
Sitting in the Finance and Facility meeting last year I was shocked that over almost a million and a half dollars in UNUSED scholarships and waivers were celebrated because the budgets for FY09 were balanced. It was not comforting to hear that this over-budgeting and surplus of aid was "common practice." If it is “common practice” and the University System adheres to the doctrine of "affordability" then a simple form email can be generated and sent out to students several times throughout the year and during the primary application period thereby ensuring that more are aware of other funding opportunities besides loans. Announcements can be on Mainestreet and fliers posted in the Financial Aid Office. Do not tell me it is a celebration if Maine Universities are on budget because students did not utilize aid. Yes, some aid is designated to specific programs, but a flexible system may be needed and policies written accordingly. Tuition increases are repeatedly said to be “last resort” funding choice by UMS. With increases in tuition increased allocation in financial aid is promised. Unfortunately, there is a significant difference between allocated financial aid and granted/utilized financial aid if there is a budget surplus. Last year more Maine students could have enrolled in more classes. More Maine students could have borrowed less and more students could have stayed in Maine enrolled in college with a better aid package.

Sustainability of UMS is intertwined with a Mainer’s ability to buy the product. Let’s be able to read a SWOT analysis on the quality, accessibility and affordability of the schools and how they differ amonst one another rather than how they compare to “peer institutes” in other states. Although drastically underfunded I think the system owes the citizens of Maine proof that the principles are incorporated into actionable and measurable steps and that they are intertwined with the work and changes made across the system to address the structural budget gap. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Cowardice asks the question, 'Is it safe?' Expediency asks the question, 'Is it politic?' But conscience asks the question, 'Is it right?' And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular but because conscience tells one it is right.”
It is exciting to have you sharing the debate.

*Please note that any criticism does not preclude my immense gratitude to the service given by members of the board both past and present. Maine is blessed by this group of people serving in these volunteer positions.

I worry that the conceding of cutting foreign language programs is a "soft" and perhaps superficial victory. In Chancellor Pattenaude's "Agenda for Action" foreign languages were identified as one of the top educational goals and needs of the University of Maine System and the state. The BOT approved this too. Why are campuses identifying programs to eliminate that have been incorporated into the mission of the University of Maine System? So, when I read that foreign languages were on the cutting block I was wary. I believe that the system schools do need to specialize per the "New Challenges, New Directions" plan. Yet each program was supposed to have a chance to prove its viability over three years, I believe.. I wonder if the proposed cuts on the individual campuses are results of the Vice-Chancellor of Academic Affairs and all 7 University Provosts congregating and analyzing educational gaps, SWOT analyses as well as the educational and economic needs of Maine. I hope it is coordinated, but in efforts to close structural gaps think that some programs may be eliminated too soon. I hope that you find out....

The doctrine continuously quoted in ALL UMS discussions is "quality, accessible and affordable" education. It is a mantra and UMS's reports drove the UM examination based upon these tenets. Like most cliches and superlatives the phrase may have lost its meaning. How unfortunate that "affordable" has not been a part of the discussions you have witnessed. Quality and accessible are questionably on the table, but even these may certainly not be consistent within the system let alone in programming choices on campuses. Without hesitation I know the hearts of many of your peer trustees and members of the University communities care vehemently about all three, but like most ideals praxis is problematic. Like most structures with factions of competing interests no one can have it all, but compromise is questionable and politics seems to win. After all, 6/7 UMS schools and roughly 63% of the UMS student population would have wanted the funding formula for UMS changed. It was slated to happen, but politics intervened last summer.
Politics cannot govern Maine's Higher Education System anymore. I have been told that this is something that must be accepted, but "Fighting for Tomorrow's Future" cannot just be the name of a PAC created to pass an education facilities bond. It has to be the true basis of very uncomfortable and realistic conversations seeking to defy the inertia of the status quo. Cuts are being made because the status quo is not working and "transformational change" is the proclaimed goal.

I asked Chancellor Pattenaude to define the terms "quality, accessible and affordable" one BOT meeting at UM. UMS and the BOT consistently ask the seven universities to show benchmarks of success, to quantify and create a rubric to justify and prove programming, budgeting etc.. Yet when asked to quantify these terms in relation to the goals outlined in his agenda the Chancellor could not answer, but qualified his response by validating that the question had merit. I am affirmed that I asked the right question. I learned that no one wants to answer it. Later I was told I asked “hard questions” and I thought of all the questions I was not asking and thought my query basic. I was a Lincoln-Douglas value debater and we could not debate until we had defined the terms. Period.