There are many compelling reasons why a takeover of the University of Maine at Augusta by the University of Southern Maine is not in the best interests of the people of central Maine and the state as a whole. These drawbacks have not received wide dissemination in Maine newspapers.

Several of the arguments made in favor of the takeover of UMA were false. An artificially manipulated budgetary gap was created by assuming no tuition or appropriation increases and then sounding the alarm. In addition, there was a private and false message to the governor that UMA was on the verge of losing accreditation, another example of disinformation.

There has never been a good argument about how the takeover would save money. Currently, UMA is the most efficient of all the campuses at providing education, measured in FTEs (full-time equivalencies), total number of students or any other measure. Coordinating with another campus 60 miles away in this era of high gas prices, with limited capability for video conferencing and with heavy teaching loads will decrease, not increase, UMA’s efficiency.

Augusta is the capital city of the state of Maine. An autonomous campus there makes sense for many reasons. It functions as an engine of economic growth and has developed a special relationship with state government. If Fort Kent, Machias and Presque Isle merit their own campuses, what sense does it make to deprive this city with its unique mission as state capital of its own campus? Central Maine would lose the ability to champion its own issues and its budgetary decision-making would come under the control of the Portland campus.

UMA currently offers 22 baccalaureate degrees and is developing others. Students entering associate degree programs are offered seamless progress into the third and fourth years. The associate degree programs that are already in place are functioning well. Relocating them in the community college system would involve expensive shutdown and startup costs and add an $18 million expense to the community college system, an expense that system is unable to handle.

Recent plans to centralize registration, admissions, financial aid, advising, loans and the business office at the system office in Bangor are not in the best interests of UMA’s students. This is an example of empire building that will not improve services that are best delivered locally.

If one examines the recent history of corporate mergers, one discovers that a great deal of energy goes into merging cultures, and the results are mixed at best.

UMA and USM have had different missions, different constituencies and different priorities. Isn’t attempting a merger the triumph of hope over experience?

In summary, the decision to reconsider the merger is a good one. The University of Maine at Augusta has a unique mission in central Maine, and the merger would create more problems than it purports to solve.

Diana Cundy, RN, MSN is an associate professor of nursing at the University of Maine at Augusta. She lives in Paris.

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