Like UMaine Chancellor Dannel Malloy, I am not from Maine.
I came to this beautiful state that has become like home in September of 2019 to begin attending the University of Maine at Farmington — the small class sizes, close faculty relationships and the affordability gave the campus major curbside appeal.
However, as I start my senior year in the fall, the campus I had once fallen in love with is a skeleton of what it used to be — and that is due to the dictator at the helm of the UMaine System (“UMaine extends Chancellor Dannel Malloy’s contract 1 year despite calls for removal,” July 11).
At the tail end of our spring semester, our campus was rocked with nine faculty layoffs and a presidential turnover that ultimately resulted in the dissolve of our Foreign Languages, Women & Gender Studies, Philosophy, and Religion Departments. While many students organized against the layoffs and called out against the mediocre-at-best solution unified accreditation offers, it was made clear that the chancellor had no interest in hearing from students; he sent copy-and-paste responses to our emails, and at one point, his office voicemail filled up with outraged students trying to get a meeting.
While it would be one thing if the chancellor was shown to be duly incompetent for one campus; the presidential search at UMA and disapproval from faculty on all UMaine campuses pays homage to his unpopularity in Connecticut.
The decision to renew Chancellor Malloy’s contract displays one clear message: that our board of trustees does not work for us, and they have no interest in actually listening to or working with the people they represent.
UMS members cannot trust their trustees, and cannot fall silent in the shadows of the monstrosity that is Chancellor Malloy’s leadership, as he is sure to be the end of quality public higher education in Maine.
Celia Canavan
Farmington
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