Liberal Arts Under Fire - University of Maine Test Case

The situation at University of Southern Maine raises a number of interesting questions: first, is there a trend in higher education to cut the liberal arts and social sciences (see: "Study finds that liberal arts are disappearing' - here)? Secondly, will the public allow departments to be axed (professors lay offs)? Will academics and students lock arms in solidarity to defend a vision of higher education that appears to be under attack? Is higher education, mimicking the corporate neoliberal paradigm / corporate-work culture in America, sacrificing the workers (teachers / staff) while top administrator pay increases (click here to view college president salaries)?  

On March 15, 2014 the Portland Press Herald reported that: "The University of Southern Maine should cut four majors and lay off as many as 50 faculty and staff to help close a $14 million budget gap in 2014-15, USM President Theodora Kalikow said Friday...On Friday, Kalikow proposed eliminating the American and New England Studies, Geosciences and Recreation and Leisure Studies majors at the Portland and Gorham campuses, and the Arts and Humanities major at the Lewiston-Auburn College, which is part of USM." here

In commenting on USM's cuts, Paul Krugman suggested that the university "seems eager to downsize liberal arts and social sciences for reasons that go beyond money." here

Bob Caswell, a university spokesman, said that while the bulk of the recent layoffs are in the liberal arts college, the administration believes arts and humanities are still at the core of any education.

"I understand where the faculty are coming from," he said, "but in terms of claims we are trying to gut the arts and humanities -- I know it feels that way -- but it just isn't the case." here

However, Susan Feiner, economics professor at USM, says that administrators' claims that they were forced to hand out mass layoffs are suspect. The University of Maine system received an AA- bond rating from Standard & Poor, which she describes as the "the fourth highest rating possible," in an article in The Portland Press Herald.  Furthermore, over the past six years, the University of Maine system has increased unrestricted net assets by $100 million, and in 2013 the total reserves of the system reached $283 million, Feiner points out." here

During the past few days "students, faculty, and staff protested by taking over part of a university building last Friday. A few days—and sit-ins and walk-outs—later, their continued mobilization against the "national corporate war on public education" appears to be resonating with students and university workers across the country...Over 100 students and faculty responded Friday by staging an occupation of the law building that houses the Provost's office—lining the hallway that faculty were forced to walk through to receive their layoff letters." here and here

"Meanwhile, faculty firings have taken place across the seven universities in the Maine system, with 520 faculty and staff positions cut since 2007 and plans to lay-off 165 faculty and staff this year, according to Inside Higher Ed."1 here

If the situation at USM isn't just an issue limited to Maine, then perhaps it's time that we had a national discussion about the purpose of higher education along with an international debate about merits/dangers of neoliberalism.