You walk into the communal bathroom in your first-year dorm. Right from the start, you hear music blasting on a speaker, echoing off the walls. You see another student dumping a ramen cup all over the sink you are about to brush your teeth at. And when you finally get to the shower, the stall is so small there is not a dry place to put your towel or clothes. You miss your bathroom at home where you can shut the door. That’s the appeal and the need for single-use bathrooms: allowing privacy and comfort. The University of Maine needs to continue investing in single-use bathrooms because it’s an investment in student comfort.

In residence halls alone, there have been 26 single-use bathrooms (toilet, shower and sink) installed since 2020. In total there are 36 complete single-use bathrooms throughout campus residence halls. The most being in Hancock Hall, which just had 17 of them installed over the summer. We also have new single-use bathrooms in our academic halls. Boudreau Hall has had two single-use bathrooms installed in recent years. All of these bathrooms are gender neutral, so anyone can use them. 

Single-use bathrooms are incredibly popular on campus. I’ve heard of students moving off campus just so that they can ditch the traditional four-shower freshman bathroom. Single-use bathrooms could be the key to making students want to live on campus. Single-use bathrooms feel less commercial than four-stall bathrooms, which creates a more comfortable environment overall. Single-use bathrooms are just superior. You get an entire room to change your clothes after your shower, instead of a little stall with a tiny bench that’s always soaked. 

Around campus, single-use bathrooms are a relief for LGBTQ+ students. Students who identify outside of the gender binary often strongly prefer single use bathrooms, as they are also gender-neutral bathrooms. Single-use bathrooms can be much more comfortable for a transgender or non-binary student who needs that extra privacy. Around 5% of young people identify as transgender or non-binary, so it’s important that the University works to accommodate their needs.

I feel proud of my university for the continued effort to install single use bathrooms. I applaud any administrator that had a hand in funding these construction projects.  However, UMaine’s efforts are not all progress. Recently the administration decided to convert Estabrooke hall from a residence hall into office space. Estabrooke included around 60 single rooms, recently renovated in 2016. Estabrook’s main selling feature was its large single-use bathrooms. UMaine turned this space into offices that are not utilized by students.  

The University decided to add single-use bathrooms to more residence halls on campus as consolation. However, the new single-use bathrooms are poorly constructed. In Aroostook Hall, single-use bathrooms are closed because the doors are not working. The doors swell with heat and students reported getting stuck in the bathroom. In Hancock Hall, the plumbing in new single-use bathrooms exploded within the first week of use. Residents reported water gushing from the ceiling below these bathrooms. 

It’s amazing that the University is investing in the construction of single-use bathrooms. It feels rare that the University invests in facilities that every student benefits from, not just engineering students and athletes. I applaud all the money allocated to renovating student spaces. Single-use bathroom addition is bringing UMaine into the 21st century. 

However, what good are these investments if the bathrooms aren’t usable? In the short-term, students are left with decreased bathroom access. The University’s next student investment should be in fixing these bathrooms as soon as possible. 

It feels as if the offshore wind conversation in Maine is never-ending. Every day there is a new proposal and a new problem. The recent proposal making headlines is for an offshore wind port off Sears Island. Lawmakers and community members should do everything in their power to accommodate and expedite the offshore wind project on Sears Island. 

On Feb. 20, the governor’s office made it official: Sears Island was selected as the “preferred site” for the development of an offshore wind port. Despite the controversy, here is why I support the state’s decision.   

There is no perfect place for construction. Sears island is remarkably close to being perfect. Logistically, it works well. The island was originally intended as a port, and its location allows ease of access for contractors. Furthermore, Sears Island has deep water access, making it marketable and feasible for wind power. This location is also the most affordable for the state. The state already owns the land so there would be no costly lease and the site needs limited retrofitting. Overall, the location is close to perfect for Maine’s newest offshore wind port.  

There are two groups of people advocating against this project. The primary group is those advocating for the offshore wind to be built off Mack Point, which is relatively close to Sears Island. The argument is that Mack Point is already developed while Sears Island is undeveloped. I do not think we should build on Mack Point, as it is privately owned, and taxpayers would be putting money into leasing the area for years to come. Not to mention, Mack Point needs severe environmental reconstruction to be feasibly used as a port. The purpose of renewable energy is to set up future generations for success and building on Mack Point would do the opposite. The second group is those who oppose wind power altogether. Wind power is one of the most tried and tested forms of generating energy we have access to.

Originally, the State House rejected legislation that created exceptions for construction on sand dunes. The exception is critical for the success of this project. Thankfully, days before the legislative session ended the house reversed this decision in a 77-65 vote. Legislators must continue to accommodate clean energy projects. Specifically, legislators must continue to promote the port on Sears Island. I predict sand dune protections are not the last obstacle facing this project. 

I love Sears Island and have enjoyed many weekend walks there. I want to enjoy nature walks for years to come. I will not be able to do that if climate change worsens. The long-term health of Maine’s environment is dependent on investment in clean energy. Sacrificing recreational land is an investment in future generations. We must protect the rest of Maine’s environment through sustainable action today.

It is no secret that the University of Maine is financially struggling. From hundreds of millions in deferred maintenance to decreased state funding, UMaine needs to be creative in solutions to fund the daily operations of the university.  

One of the primary cost-cutting strategies is to take older aging infrastructure offline, meaning the closing of existing buildings and consolidation of students and staff into alternative locations on campus. Students took note of student accessibility services moving from the East Annex to the UCU building. While I personally see this as an upgrade for those essential UMaine services, not every student and department is as fortunate. 

On-campus students are losing the most modern housing. Estabrooke, a dorm remodeled in 2016 as housing exclusive to upperclassmen, is being converted to offices to accommodate for staff and facilities. Students have been promised that Hancock will be receiving renovations to make up for the loss of modern single-use bathrooms. However, students are still displeased. Estabrooke is a popular dorm for upperclassmen. The university can renovate Hancock, but students will lose their proximity to York’s dining hall. Students will suffer so the university can save money. 

This isn’t the only housing loss on campus. University Park is a family housing complex run as a service by UMaine. Built with funds from the GI Bill in 1946, University Park provides housing at cost to students and faculty with families. Recently, UMaine has set aside money for the demolition of UPark. 

Derek Demello, a Ph.D. student who spoke out at the grad workers union protest about the closure of UPark, lives in the complex with his wife and young children. Demello raised the point that underpaid graduate students with families cannot compete with the rest of Orono for housing. Offering a family housing service allows non-traditional students to thrive on this campus. This service is also offered to faculty with family as an affordable option for housing in the area. 

This attack is primarily on non-traditional students who have families or support people other than themselves. These students cannot just sign a lease at The Ave or live in Gannet for nine months. I asked Tristin Friend, the student government non-traditional student representative, about the loss of UPark. 

“I think it is unfortunate that this complex is being closed considering non-traditional students already struggle as it is. It decreases opportunities for students who are already struggling,” said Friend.

Friend is right. The cost-cutting measures taking place at this university come at the expense of students. Right now, they are happening at the expense of our most vulnerable populations. 

Affordable housing is already in short supply. Our public university suspending this affordable housing service does not only affect residents of UPark. It impacts all of Orono, which is already losing over 60 affordable housing units. Public universities themselves are supposed to uplift the community, that’s why we receive funding from the state. Have we forgotten the mission of public education? 

How can anyone at the administrative level think this is justified? I certainly don’t. I see this as an attack on students. From the loss of popular modern housing to the loss of essential family housing, students always seem to lose. 

There are a few actions students can take to remedy this. We can hold the university accountable for timely renovations of Hancock Hall. We can email university administrators such as the president, the chief financial officer, and the board of trustees calling for a hold on the demolition of UPark. Advocating for one another is more important than ever as students are under attack. If you haven’t been affected yet, you could be next.

The number one comment I hear when I tell people I live in a dorm is “why?” And frankly, I don’t get it.  

Living in a dorm provides me with walking access to my classes. When attending classes, I do not need to worry about the threat of traffic or the task of finding a parking spot, unlike many students who commute to campus each day. Walking allows me to focus on being prepared for class without thinking about things like cleaning off a snow-covered car or getting gas. 

More importantly, living on campus provides me with walking access to my community. I pay a premium to go to an in-person college. In today’s world it’s much more affordable and flexible to get a degree online, but I pay that premium for access to a community. I am within walking distance to the Memorial Union where all of the clubs I partake in meet, and where I can see my friends.  

I spoke to Nate Feng, a first-year political science student who is choosing to return to the dorms as a sophomore. “I love living on campus because it allows me to be closer to my classes and build better relationships with my friends,” said Feng.

Another reason to stay on campus is that it’s better for the planet. As third-year student Beau Michaud says, “I live on campus because it gets me more exercise and I don’t have to be dependent on a car.” 

I can understand the hesitancy to stay on campus. The off-campus apartment complexes have marketed themselves in a way that promotes a false narrative of scarcity. Students do not have time to think critically about their living arrangements due to the fear tactics used by places such as the Avenue, demanding that you sign a lease in October.

This isn’t just the fault of the Avenue’s management. The university has allowed the dorms to fall into disgusting disarray. The university does not need to hear about the condition of dorms from a consulting firm. Ask any freshman in the Stewart complex and you will quickly discover the consensus that deferred maintenance deters students from returning to dorms.

Living off campus isn’t only a preference; it’s a problem. When the large off-campus complexes were built, Orono had parking minimums for new construction. This, in combination with a slim bus schedule, has created a car-dependent campus. This hurts the walkability of our community and expands our carbon footprint.  

Once the University of Maine properly invests in the future of on-campus residences, we will have a more engaged student body and a better campus community. It will not happen overnight, but I have hope. With the addition of single-user bathrooms to upper-class dorms, the future is bright. If you can afford to live on campus next semester, I encourage you to do so.  

The state of Maine sets aside its budget surplus in case of emergency, but we are not seeing the budget surplus come back to support struggling Mainers and our institutions. 

The Maine Budget Stabilization Fund, or the “Rainy Day” fund, is where any state budget surplus is allocated, similar to a personal rainy day fund. Surplus money that isn’t spent gets set aside in the event of an emergency. Through fiscal responsibility and federal allocation during the COVID-19 pandemic, the state has set quite a bit of money aside for the Rainy Day fund. In late 2023, Governor Janet Mills announced that the rainy day fund had reached its cap at $968 million.

The state ended the fiscal year with a $141 million surplus. Because there is a limit on how much money can actively be deposited into the rainy day fund, the state allocated the extra funds to affordable housing projects. That is amazing and helps Mainers benefit from the fiscal responsibility of their state leadership.  

I think that having a large rainy day fund is both critical to the economic security of a state government and a display of the fiscal responsibility of the state over the past few years. Is the state being too fiscally conservative? A common way to rank rainy day funds state by state is for how long the state could run solely on the rainy day fund, but  I find that this is a flawed form of thinking as our state currently isn’t running at its highest standard. While the state works hard to contribute to the rainy-day fund, it must recognize that the rainy day is happening right now with the state’s public universities.

I recently attended the president’s State of the University address. What I found is that the University of Maine is underfunded. This university can do much more, but it is held back by hiring freezes and deferred maintenance. Investments into deferred maintenance are coming this summer, but in order to recruit and retain students during an enrollment slump, we need to work fast to ensure the health of this university. 

This university system is critical to the economic development of Maine; I cannot envision our state without the University of Maine. It’s time the state allocates rainy day funds to their public university system. I do not mean funding engineering research or new sector-specific funding. It’s time for the state to take this surplus and provide general funds for the betterment of the entire University of Maine system.

Sodexo is the hot topic this year at the University of Maine. From the food changes in the dining halls to the rising prices of retail dining on campus, every student resident and commuter has taken notice. Going from a nonprofit school-run dining program to a for-profit company would be a hard adjustment for any university. However, other schools in the state have worked with Sodexo for years. Is UMaine different? If so, in what ways?

UMaine Machias has distinct differences from the other universities in the University of Maine System (UMS). Machias has existed as a satellite campus since its acquisition in 2016. However, the two universities had separate dining programs until UMS entered into a contract with Sodexo before this academic year. Before students in Orono were exposed to for-profit dining, Machias students had already been served by Sodexo dating back to 2017.  

The transition to Sodexo has been rough, which is bewildering given Sodexo’s established relationship with other universities in Maine’s system. Students have been left wondering the reason for the new dining provider’s bumpy transition. There is virtually no answer to that question, and students at Orono and Machias are subsequently left to deal with a subpar dining experience. 

Students who preferred to remain anonymous shared a recent story regarding the food quality at UMaine Machias. “So, yesterday, Feb. 1, 2024, I was eating lunch. I got the international special, which was a pesto pasta. As I was eating, I bit down on something flat and solid. Believing it to be a piece of uncooked pasta, I took it out of my mouth. What I found was a shard of acrylic plastic, a millimeter thick and a tad larger than my pinky. It was a right triangle and had sharp edges, but thankfully, no harm was done. I reported it to the Sodexo office, and the grill and international were suspended for the rest of the day,” said the student.

While that is an extreme example, similar problems often occur between the two campuses, such as a lack of quality in the food being served. It’s not uncommon for students to open social media and see photos of undercooked chicken or other instances of poor dining experiences regarding the food. Although these issues aren’t new at Machias, the students at Orono have recently voiced complaints, leading to the question of why UMaine would expand a program with known long-term food quality issues. Although these issues aren’t new at Machias, the students at Orono have recently voiced complaints. We have to wonder, why would UMaine expand a program with long-term food quality issues?

Typically, decisions are rarely made in the student’s favor in our unified university system. Budget cuts are continually being made, with executives suggesting that students dissatisfied with dining can get better food at another campus. However, as a unified group of student bodies, we can affect change. If students mobilize as a collective, we can advocate for each other. If students across the university collaborate on the issue, we will begin to see change. Just recently, Sodexo took away fruit during lunch and dinner. Students, rather quickly, started an email campaign with the dining hall managers. In just a few days, fruit returned during lunch and dinner at Hilltop and York. This inspires hope in the change a united systemwide student body could make.

The Board of Trustees of the University of Maine System has recently and publicly claimed that the Divest UMS movement is a success story of how a board of trustees can listen to students and change policy.

“lt was because we heard from our students who were passionate, persistent, and informed that trustees voted last year to divest from fossil fuels,” said Trish Reilly in a testimony submitted to the state legislature.

However, this view doesn’t accurately represent the arduous struggle for divestment. For over a year, Divest UMS worked hard, protesting and advocating for divestment. It was far from an easy win for students, largely due to a lack of accessibility and transparency on the part of the board.

Another big change is coming to campus in March. If you are a student on this campus, you may have noticed the inconvenient construction on Munson Rd. This repurposing of old buildings will soon be the self-described ‘boutique’ Hotel Ursa. The hotel has already received 400 reservations before its completion and is set to open this March. They have requested an additional $500,000 from the University of Maine System, and the Board of Trustees is tasked with making this decision.

Most students do not know what the board of trustees is or does, which I believe is by design. Without a means of connection with the board, most students aren’t aware of who is responsible for making major decisions like those regarding Hotel Ursa that impact our campus. The lack of promotion and transparency with regard to the board’s goals prevents student action. Students cannot express their anger and concern properly, as they are rarely allowed to.

Today, the board will make their annual visit to the Orono campus. I predict they will approve the extra $500,000 for Hotel Ursa. The benefits that Hotel Ursa provides to students are minimal. There are so many possibilities for those $500,000 to improve the lives of the student body genuinely. We could add elevators to inaccessible buildings or put them towards dorm upgrades. Rather than invest in student spaces, the board has put $3 million into that hotel. Even if a few students show up to testify on Monday, will anything change due to their testimony? I don’t think so, and I have lost hope. Over and over again, I have seen the board act outside of the students’ interest.

There are two action items for any student reading this article. First, email ums.trustees@maine.edu with your issues on how they spend our money. The second is to recognize that while the UMS Board of Trustees is not receptive to student input, many more productive offices on this campus are. The board rarely considers or encourages student input. I have never seen a board member talk to students on campus.

Engaging with the board is not an entirely futile endeavor. Sometimes, if enough students bring an issue to their attention, they listen. Recently, students were upset about no longer being whole and having to cut fruit for dinner. Within days, due to student backlash, the fruit had returned to the dining hall.

Students, however, will be unable to stop an almost completed boutique hotel from wasting our tuition dollars. We can only fight for ourselves, as the UMS administration will never fight for us.

Have you ever donated to a political action committee? If you are a student at the University of Maine, you have. Just as an average Maine resident can submit testimony on bills in Augusta, so can the University of Maine System. As we enter the short-term legislative session next semester, we will see how UMaine chooses to lobby for or against us. 

You can see here the testimony they submitted on behalf of the university against student representation on the board of trustees. Not only is the administration at UMaine testifying in favor of bills I don’t agree with, but this written testimony, in particular, is insulting to students, as it insinuates that we don’t deserve representation and that we are not capable of serving in the roles typically filled by Janet Mills’ friends.  

Supposedly, this testimony represents the school’s opinion on LD1656. This university cannot put “We are UMaine” flags around this campus because if that were true, that testimony would be written by a student.

The board of trustees testifying is one thing. That is a voluntary position without income. The real shame is when UMaine puts money, our money, into lobbying.  

The university should not have any lobbying or government affairs infrastructure that isn’t entirely made up of students. Yet UMS has a full-time lobbyist employed. This lobbyist has fought for students to be excluded from workers’ rights bills in order to save the university money. In 2019, it was reported that Samantha Warren, UMaine’s government affairs director, lobbied the state of Maine to prohibit student workers from accessing benefits workers would have in those states and lobbied against workers’ rights as a whole. This proves that UMaine values profit over students. It is written into the state paid time off bill that the law does not apply to “anyone who works for the university in which they are enrolled as a student.”

While public testimony is available online, the UMS needs to publish to students every time they engage with a piece of legislation. I need to see the action that my university is taking. The real remedy is discontinuing the university’s governmental affairs program altogether. Until then, providing transparency is essential. I want a monthly email of every policy that UMaine engaged with on my behalf. 

If a bill will truly help students in the state of Maine, students themselves can go and give public testimony. Testimony is open to anyone who is passionate and wants to give it. The short-term legislative session starts next semester, and I encourage every passionate student to find a bill and give testimony written or in person in Augusta. UMaine and its students should not be considered separate benefactors of policy.  

I was warned the publishing of this article might harm me politically or ruffle the feathers of administration. Students are a younger and poorer constituency group in this state. To make real policy action we will have to work together. Whether that’s fighting for the students at EMCC for free tuition or advocating for the fair treatment of Farmington students as their programs are cut, students need to look out for one another, because the university is not there to look out for us.

When we talk about the history of Maine Day on campus, we are told of a vision to reunite and bond the different classes at UMaine in service and volunteering. However, we do not talk about why the classes were in need of building a community in the first place. The precursors to what we now know as Maine Day are much darker than discussed.

The nightshirt “parade” was a tradition at the university that consisted of an academic class war between the freshmen and the sophomores on campus. I dug through old editions of The Maine Campus from the 1920s and 1930s to get an unfiltered student account of what occurred on those nights.

These parades usually consisted of the kidnapping of freshmen from their campus dorms. I mean that literally, as stories describe students “being removed from bed” to forcefully attend the nightshirt riots. Over the course of a decade, the nightshirt parade evolved from humiliating acts in front of women-only dormitories to students being stripped of their clothes and hair, chased into the woods, paddled and thrown into the Stillwater.

How do you repair the relationship between these two student groups? Community service, apparently, because the Maine Day tradition of service was born. Maine Day had remained a stable tradition until last year when safety concerns arose out of the extreme partying and drug use associated with the events after the volunteer work was done. 

I was on the Maine Day task force in a room full of students, staff and community members who worked to balance the tradition of Maine Day with student safety. Out of the task force came Maine Week. While not the task force’s intention, this only hurt the student experience. Now, a week before finals, students and staff were expected to create an entire week’s worth of programming for students. The students who used the day off to study and work no longer had that opportunity as classes were held. The task force discussed a longer period off of class to spread out and limit binge drinking, such as two mornings off class, and the university administration morphed it into an infuriating Maine Week that did not accomplish the end goal of student safety or any volunteer work.

Maine Day is all about community. Making sure students are safe starts in the community. It starts with having water, first aid services, and dumpsters readily available at the Ave. If we want to build and uplift the UMaine community, we must start with safe rides and transportation on Maine Day, emphasizing bystander intervention. Maine Day began as a day to build bonds, and the future of Maine Day is reliant on the promotion of building a community that takes care of one another.