The Board of Trustees for the University of Maine System approved a restructuring plan Monday that is ambitious and growing more and more controversial.

The plan would merge the University of Maine at Augusta with the University of Southern Maine, as well as create a consortium of the campuses at Machias, Fort Kent and Presque Isle.

The goal is to better define and market each campus while increasing efficiency. Eventually, the university system hopes to save as much as $12 million a year.

Now that the trustees have approved the broad outline for change, the real work begins. Already there is significant opposition from members of the system’s faculty and from legislators in the Augusta area, concerned about the loss of a locally controlled institution.

The devil of consolidating USM and UMA is in the details, which will be sorted out as the presidents of the different schools – along with staff, faculty and students – begin to negotiate exactly what changes will be made.

For implementation to begin in 2005, as hoped, the process must be open, the decision-makers must be willing to listen to the people and communities affected, and stakeholders must be patient enough to hear what will happen before working to derail the changes.