The University of Maine Outing Club held a meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 11, to discuss their future in a Carrabassett Valley cabin that houses its members on skiing and snowboarding trips to Sugarloaf Ski Resort.
A Facebook post from the Outing Club on Jan. 28 said that the cabin would be closing temporarily “due to pending legal issues.” The local police chief said his department has had little contact with the club recently. University officials say no particular event triggered the closing, and subsequent reopening, of the cabin.
In the short meeting, Jay Berkin, the president of the Outing Club, talked about the cabin’s status, mentioning that it was reopening. The club also passed out a waiver to its participants. The club referenced liability issues, but did not go into further detail, saying that issues were “in the process of being mitigated.”
Berkin also said that the club is looking to form a housing corporation, to operate the cabin like a fraternity operates an off-campus house. This means that it would be recognized by, but independent from, University of Maine Student Government (UMSG) and UMaine and be governed by alumni, assuming all of its own liabilities. These changes don’t have a timetable, according to Berkin.
Each student in the club was handed a waiver. The waiver was necessary to enter the cabin, according to Berkin. The waiver said the club, UMSG and UMaine were not liable for loss of life or limb.
The leader of the meeting read the waiver aloud, so there was no confusion about its contents — the other 15 or so people laughed, talked to neighbors or interrupted with remarks. Berkin, nor other club members, would not give comment further on any event that triggered the waivers.
Carrabassett Valley Police Chief Mark Lopez said the department’s last contact with the club’s property on 3001 M.O.C. Drive was a burn permit that was filed on Jan. 28. Sometimes, there are small disturbances there, he said.
“I haven’t heard of anything up there recently,” Lopez said. “The last time I dealt with students here, I was taking some drunk kids back there, but they were all 21.”
Kenda Scheele, Senior Associate Dean of Students, has been working closely with the club. She said in an interview that there was no specific event that led to the waivers being put into place. She praised the initiative of the club for looking to form a housing corporation, saying that is the right thing to do.
“We have a good group of students, who are interested in the longevity of the club,” Scheele said. “They’re doing the right thing and I’m confident that we won’t stop talking in the future.”