University of Maine System Chancellor James H. Page will visit the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus at the end of this week to talk with faculty and others after a failed, but close, faculty “no confidence” vote in USM President

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Page’s open forum for the university community will be held from 10:30 a.m. to  noon Thursday. A video conference link will be set up in room 285 at USM’s Lewiston-Auburn College to allow employees at the Lewiston campus to participate. 

Last week’s no contest vote was open to 377 full-time faculty members. Although the vote was 194-88 against Botman, it did not have the two-thirds faculty majority it needed in order to pass and be forwarded to the University of Maine System Board of Trustees, as per Faculty Senate bylaws. 

But while there’s disagreement about that — some faculty members say the vote should have passed with the approval of two-thirds of those voting, not two-thirds of the faculty — the vote was enough to get the attention of Page, who began serving as chancellor on March 20.

“My first priority is to engage with all of the parties to move USM forward in a unified way to serve our students and our state,” he said in a statement.

At Lewiston-Auburn College, one of USM’s three campuses, faculty chairwoman and social and behavioral sciences professor Rose Cleary is pleased Page will be speaking with faculty. She hopes it will help the university, which has been facing mounting discontent from faculty and staff.

“My sense of leadership is when people are on the ground and respecting the people that are involved and listening to their perspective in a serious way, trying to help them move forward,” she said.

Not all faculty members oppose Botman. Some have started a blog to publicly support her.

But other USM faculty have been upset for a while over the unversity’s leadership. Sixty-two percent responded to a recent survey by the USM chapter of the Associated Faculties of the University Maine. In that poll, the vast majority of respondents didn’t like how USM was managed and didn’t believe top administrators were providing competent leadership. Nearly 83 percent did not think reorganization was good for USM.

As part of reorganization, in 2009-10 USM consolidated six schools and colleges into three colleges. Lewiston-Auburn College and the USM law school were not affected. In the 2010-11, the second phase began with the consolidation and reorganization of individual academic departments in an effort to save money and better benefit students. That has continued through this year.

While the reorganization has displeased some, faculty and staff grew more upset in March when the Portland Press Herald reported that Botman had given discretionary raises to some staff members while most other employees went without.

Betty Robinson, former dean of Lewiston-Auburn College and current associate professor of leadership studies, said the turmoil has been a distraction for faculty trying to wrap up courses for the end of the year.

“There’s no question about it. Really, it becomes just another stressor,” she said. “It’s unfortunate.”

Still, she said, the atmosphere at LAC is typically better than others within USM.

“We’re certainly affected in most the same ways, but being a little geographically distant makes things a little less intense,” she said. “It feels a little more intense, let me say that, when I’m down in Portland.”

LAC has 37 full-time faculty members and 25 to 30 part-time or adjunct faculty members during each semester. LAC’s Dean Joyce Gibson could not be reached for comment. 

Botman, USM’s president, said she takes the faculty’s vote seriously. Although she said she will not meet with faculty and staff as a group, she does expect to meet with people one-on-one.

“My commitment is to work diligently with faculty so we can advance this institution,” Botman said. “I think one of the takeaways from this is how deeply and passionately faculty feel about USM, and I think that’s a great way to start.”

Both Robinson and Cleary declined to say how they voted, though both said they’re hopeful.

“I really hope together a way can be found to get some resolution,” Robinson said. “Because the way things are right now, it’s hard to imagine things going on like this for a long period of time.” 

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