Dear Students, Colleagues, Trustees, and Friends of the College,
All around the country, college and university students are putting finishing touches on seminar papers and lab reports, donning medieval robes, and throwing mortarboards into the air. Families and friends are proudly celebrating the achievements of their graduates. Thomas is no different: campus is in full bloom and full of excitement as we prepare for the College’s 131st Commencement Exercises.
As valuable as we know a college degree is, and as critical as we know our graduates are to their communities and our economy, things are different this year. Nearly a month ago, I signed onto an American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) letter titled “A Call for Constructive Engagement.” I was in good company. As of May 12, the presidents of more than 625 colleges, universities, and educational consortia had signed, including five other colleges and universities right here in Maine. The letter, which can be found at aacu.org, affirms support both for the constructive reform of higher education and legitimate government oversight of the sector.
The letter also highlights the foundational premise of U.S. higher education: that colleges and universities have the right and responsibility to oversee their own admissions processes; their staff, faculty, and students; and the academic programs they deliver. This letter was easy to support because it is measured and reasonable, calling for constructive engagement; it is also non-partisan, inviting institutions and partners of all kinds to the table. Most of all, the letter foreshadows the potential damage to our economy, to society at large, and to our way of life if higher education ceases to function as we have relied upon it to do.
In my last message, I wrote about higher education as a kind of connective tissue between the present and future. I said that the college of the future would be a catalyst for community, workforce, and economic development. In the modern world, a strong economy relies on a strong system of higher education, but a strong economy is not the only thing human beings need from higher education. History offers a cautionary tale in the “Tobacco Industry Research Committee” (TIRC) founded by tobacco companies in 1953 to combat the scientific research that was beginning to expose the carcinogenic effects of tobacco use. For more than a decade, the TIRC characterized scientific research on tobacco use as propaganda against the industry, sowing doubt about this research for profit, at the expense of public health. Without the independence afforded college and university researchers, what would have become of this research?
At the time I signed the AAC&U letter, I could not have known that we would soon see a proposal to cut 80% of funding for federal work study, 100% of funding for the Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (SEOG) program, and 100% of funding for TRIO and GEAR UP. These federal programs all support the promising Maine students who are least able to pay for college, and the support they provide begins in middle school. This spring, the GEAR UP program will bring more than 60 middle school students to Thomas College for hands-on learning about careers in robotics, economics, business, and lab science. Federal work study is a brilliant partnership in which the federal government and institutions of higher education share the cost of employing students on campus so that those students can help pay for their own education while campuses benefit from their work: It’s an educational hat trick. TRIO provides direct service to help first generation college students graduate on time, and SEOG, like the Pell Grant program, provides loan-free financial assistance to our lowest-income students.
The federal government has suggested that states and local communities should take responsibility for funding these efforts, but in a state like Maine, our tax dollars are already stretched thin. If these cuts stand, the only outcome will be less opportunity for Maine people, less fuel for the Maine economy, and students at every college and university in Maine will lose out.
Each spring, the excitement of graduation season demonstrates the collective value we place on earning a college degree. If you see the value of higher education for Maine’s future, now is the time to start talking about that value. Now is the time to let your Congresspeople know why higher education matters for Maine. Our strength comes from speaking in one voice for Maine students. Thomas College students–73% of which stay in Maine after graduation and students at every Maine college and university–deserve our support.
Sending my best to you,
Jeannine Diddle Uzzi, Ph.D.
President