Lincoln Tiner is a recent graduate of the University of Maine with an MA in history. He hopes to pursue preservation carpentry. John McCormack is a 1972 University of Maine graduate and civil engineer with decades of experience in parking lot design, building maintenance and construction.

On Feb. 18, the University of Maine demolished the oldest building on the Orono campus: the Crossland Hall farmhouse, built in 1833. Like many of Maine’s oldest buildings, Crossland had weathered many changes and like much of the university campus, it had suffered from sustained neglect (delayed maintenance costs for the campus are supposedly over $1 billion).

Yet, Crossland’s structure was sound, the foundation secure, and it had a modest elegance and welcoming atmosphere not found elsewhere on campus. Contrary to the administration’s wildly inflated claims, the costs of preservation and restoration would have been minimal, particularly when compared to other deteriorating campus infrastructure (including that which will be invested in as part of this plan).

Nevertheless, like the East Wing of the White House, Crossland was demolished and, drawing on a line of Joni Mitchell’s, will be replaced by a parking lot. While the university administration claims that the demolition will create 200 spaces, independent experts have estimated the space Crossland occupied can only accommodate a fraction of that number.

On Jan. 26, the University of Maine System Board of Trustees approved the demolition on what might generously be described as “alternative facts.”

Who opposed the demolition and what would the argument for preservation have been if the board had thoughtfully considered it? Opposition to the demolition came from many advocates. It included both undergraduate and graduate student governments. It included more than 1,500 people who asked the board to consider alternatives. It included employees at the university who were unwilling to speak publicly because of intimidation.

It also included a group of bipartisan leaders from around Maine, people like Troy Jackson, Paul LePage, Joe Baldacci, Severin Beliveau, Sean Faircloth and many others. It included construction engineers who could detail how the university’s assessment of Crossland Hall was faulty. It included Franco-American communities and allies who thought of Crossland as the home of the Franco-American Centre and regarded the relocation as further marginalization and any related reassurance from the administration (given a rich history of broken promises) unreliable.

What if the board had given the public a fair hearing?

1) A more credible maintenance estimate would have been discussed (at most a quarter million dollars rather than the unexplained $10.4 million university administrators used as a scare tactic). This would be far less than the immediate cost of demolition, relocation and restoration of buildings in which the Franco-American Centre will now be housed.

2) Concerns over the source of this funding would have been considered. These costs will be funded from the same budget that funds academic programs slated to be cut because of deficits. It will be at the expense of academic programs and possible retrenchment.

3) The board would have learned that the new facilities for the Franco-American Centre — despite the administration’s assurances — are inadequate, a highly questionable development given the aforementioned history of bad faith and ongoing plans to demolish the recently decommissioned building the Centre was just moved into.

Perhaps of greatest concern is not the demolition of Crossland, however, but the way it was approved. In a day-long meeting largely given to self-congratulation, public comment on the board meeting, including this critical decision, was restricted to one hour and individual speakers to three minutes.

Under the best of circumstances, this format prevents a coherent public presentation. The public is managed rather than engaged, and even this format was mismanaged. Rather than make the wise decision to reschedule due to the severe snowstorm, a last-minute switch to Zoom prevented many from testifying as planned. Others were afraid to testify. The meeting was a disservice to the people of Maine that the University of Maine serves.