The duality of Maine’s treatment of its university system is perplexing.

The Legislature can’t find the resources to adequately fund the University of Maine System. Granted, the state’s economic circumstances have put many worthwhile programs on a steady diet of flat or reduced funding, but over and over again we hear decision-makers bemoaning the lack of good paying jobs in the state, the flight that pushes many students away and the need for entrepreneurship and creative thinking. When it comes time to build the foundation – a strong university system – of those ideals, the message gets translated a bit: Maybe next year.

Voters show a similar apathy for the state’s universities. A bond that would have provided $9 million to improve and expand the University of Maine and the Maine Community College System failed in November, 193,077 to 195,939. Of five bond questions, it was the only one rejected.

Despite its inability to come up with the cash to operate the universities, the Legislature has not been shy about intervening in decisions meant to sharpen the system’s focus and control costs. Intense pressure from lawmakers has scuttled an effort to combine the University of Maine at Augusta with the University of Southern Maine, a component of a reorganization plan developed by Chancellor Joseph Westphal and adopted by the board of trustees to make the system more cost efficient.

Much of that plan is dead, and other parts have been significantly watered down.

The message from lawmakers and voters alike is unrealistic: Maintain a quality university system with affordable tuition and a broad presence in every region of the state, but do it with limited financial support and without offending the constituencies of powerful lawmakers intent on protecting their turf.