Chancellor Joseph Westphal should be excused for thinking the Legislature was serious about increasing efficiency within the University of Maine System. It is not.

Last fall, a plan to restructure the state’s universities was approved by its board of trustees. Included were plans to merge the University of Southern Maine and the University of Maine at Augusta, and give new names for the remaining campuses in the system.

Now, stuck into the middle of a 350-page budget document reported out of the Appropriations Committee is a provision meant to block the merger and any name changes, and it would essentially freeze the university system in its current form.

Westphal did a poor job of selling his plans for the UMA-USM merger to the faculty and staff, who oppose the plans. And lawmakers have rallied to the parochial interests of protecting the identity of the colleges near their districts.

But establishing the structure of the university system in the budget bill – without appropriate public discussion or debate – steps all over the authority of the board of trustees and the chancellor to manage the system efficiently and to react to changes that directly impact the performance of the various schools.

After Westphal agreed to postpone the UMA-USM merger, a sweetener – or perhaps as a payoff – of $6 million was included in the budget along with the restrictions on changing the system’s structure.

The university system is chronically underfunded and the money is welcome.

But the implications are clear. Unless the statutory limitations on change are stripped by an amendment, to stop a restructuring plan that they dislike, lawmakers are willing to find new money in an already tight budget without regard for whether the derailed changes would enhance the system or make it more cost-efficient.

Everyone demands that the state cut costs, but when a plan is created to do just that, the Legislature steps in to stop the changes. By doing so, it committed future legislatures to funding a system that might be outdated and in need of reform.