Dive Brief:
- A state bill that would have staved off $36 million in budget cuts for the University of Maine System has been blocked.
- The bill would have put a 12-month moratorium on faculty, staff, and program cuts until a committee led by students and faculty members reviewed the state university system’s finances. The proposed cuts are for the fiscal year that begins in July.
- The University of Maine in Orono is expected to release plans for its $12-million share of the cuts today. The University of Southern Maine has reported plans to cut $14 million, along with the University of Maine at Augusta’s plans for $2.7 million in cuts and the University of Maine at Farmington with $1.65 million.
Dive Insight:
Is University of Maine alumnus and donor Stephen King writing a new bestseller featuring the grisly demise of heartless, budget-slashing college administrators? Students and faculty members at the University of Southern Maine have staged protests and a sit-in of sorts against the cuts. Protest groups calling themselves #UMaineFuture and #UMOFuture are pushing state legislators, threatening to make their action on the cuts, or lack of action, an election issue.
