This week I officially scheduled two interviews. One of them is Friday morning and the other is early next week. I have prepared my consent forms and the interview protocol for these interviews. My protocol is very open-ended however, asks direct questions because my interviews were directly involved in protesting the layoffs in 2014. I look forward to these interviews.
Since I have been scanning through news articles and research articles the same names keep appearing as protestors of the layoffs. I have found emails of two students during this time who actively rallied against the university. I have emailed these two individuals in hopes they will participate in an interview.
Along with scanning through the articles I had already found, I found approximately seven news articles from various viewpoints including students, community members, faculty, and outside sources. I am reading and then analyzing these articles in conjunction with the interviews I conduct.
Annotated Bibliography:
Anon. 2014. Budget Woes May Cause USM Dorm Closures.
This is a video from WMTW channel 8 news out of Portland, Maine. This video addresses the closing of two 44-year-old dorms. They emphasize the shutdown of these dorms will save the University thousands of dollars. The news station interviews a faculty member from the University who agrees with the closing of the dorms given their inefficiency. This video clip provides real footage of the campus and faculty while explaining some of the reasoning behind the closure of these two dorms.
Anon. n.d. “The Changing Business Model For Colleges And Universities.” Retrieved April 21, 2019 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/lucielapovsky/2018/02/06/the-changing-business-model-for-colleges-and-universities/#6aa1c27d5ed5).
This article is from Forbes. This article discusses the changing mindset in higher education. There has been an increase in competition among institutions for students who will pay. They specifically talk about Southern New Hampshire University who had to restructure itself due to a lack of financial sustainability. SNHU has created different programs to attract more students like the ability for students to work full time while getting a college degree. In addition, other institutions are partnering with private companies to keep themselves afloat. Essentially, this article uses neoliberal ideas to explain how colleges and universities are keeping themselves open and profitable through a new business like model. This ultimately parallels with the changes seen at USM.
USM. 2013. “Tensions over Cuts Linger into New Semester at USM.” USM Free Press. Retrieved April 21, 2019 (http://usmfreepress.org/2013/09/09/tensions-over-cuts-linger-into-new-semester-at-usm/).
Tensions: This article comes from the USM student newspaper. The main point of the story is the misalignment of the faculty and administration of the college and how they do not see eye to eye. The article provides context with information from CFO Dick Campbell who “projected that the university would be forced to make over $12 million in cuts over the next four years”. The faculty felt extremely worried about their jobs and the President at the time reinforced that no one was safe. One of the biggest problems seen by one of the faculty is the exacerbation of socioeconomic status within the faculty. Wealthier faculty could continue to conduct research and teach because they could fund it themselves. However, for those not as fortunate they could only take a sabbatical with half a year pay. Lastly, it appeared that different disciplines were being treated differently. In particular, the humanities were seen as inferior by the administration and therefore, they were impacted most by cut backs.
Comments:
Thanks for this reflection, Hannah. It looks like your research is going well. I look forward to hearing what your interviewees will tell you about your topic.
Let me know if I can be of any help.