PORTLAND, Maine — A national organization that represents university faculty members throughout the United States is planning to investigate the University of Southern Maine, which has cut 51 faculty positions this fall as it responds to what administrators have called a budget gap.
The American Association of University Professors informed interim USM President David Flanagan in a letter on Tuesday that it will assemble a committee to launch an inquiry into the school’s finances and budget cuts. That panel, which will be made up of professors from other academic institutions, will arrange for a site visit to the university in January, according to the letter.
So far this fall, USM has eliminated 51 faculty positions and five programs while accepting early retirements and resignations from dozens of other faculty and staff, as part of an effort to offset what Flanagan has called a $16 million budget shortfall for the coming fiscal year.
The most recent development in the efforts to balance the budget came Monday, when the university announced 14 additional staff position cuts, as well as a framework to achieve another $4 million in savings, through potential steps such as putting off renovation projects or raising parking prices on campus.
According to Tuesday’s letter, written by American Association of University Professors Associate Secretary Anita Levy, association Executive Director Julie Schmid “has reached the conclusion that these actions at the University of Southern Maine have raised significant issues of academic freedom, tenure and due process that are of basic concern to the academic community.”
As a result, Levy said in the letter, Schmid called for the establishment of a committee to investigate the university.
During the course of a number of demonstrations on campus opposing the cuts, USM faculty members and students have argued that administrators have exaggerated the direness of the school’s financial position, that the job eliminations could be avoided and that the lost positions will cripple USM’s ability to meet student needs.
While the American Association of University Professors letter makes reference to a USM chapter, the association does not represent USM faculty members in collective bargaining. The American Association of University Professors’ leverage in its investigation could come from the threat of adding the Maine school to its censure list, effectively a public black eye as the university seeks to recruit new professors who follow the association’s rankings.
USM over the coming year will be seeking to hire as many as 25 faculty members — replacing faculty who accepted the school’s early retirement offer outside of the 51 positions targeted for elimination — so additional damage to the university’s reputation among the country’s professors could be meaningful.
Lorrayne Carroll, an associate English professor at USM who was listed in Tuesday’s letter as the school’s American Association of University Professors chapter president, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
University spokesman Christopher Quint said Tuesday the school has demonstrated the need for budget cuts and has complied with the terms of the collective bargaining agreement while executing them. He also said USM has no obligation to abide by American Association of University Professors’ guiding documents.
“The university has undertaken retrenchment pursuant to the contract in order to address what are real and demonstrable financial needs present at the University of Southern Maine,” Quint said in a statement. “This thorough assessment of the University of Southern Maine’s programmatic offerings is a fundamental part of the future sustainability of USM as a metropolitan university that is committed to the best interests of the University of Maine System, the faculty and students and the community and state we serve.
“Although the [American Association of University Professors] ‘Recommended Institutional Regulation on Academic Freedom and Tenure’ is not a part of the University of Maine System’s governing policies and has never been adopted as such, both the trustees and decision makers at USM working together have followed all applicable university policies and procedures and the collective bargaining agreement in order to fully provide for the fair and equitable treatment of tenured faculty,” he said. “The role of the faculty has been fully respected in this process.”
