I write to provide a necessary correction of a statement expressed by us, here at the University of Southern Maine, in the Portland Press Herald on Dec. 23 (“USM students protesting racism present president with list of demands”).
The article described the efforts of several USM students to address issues of diversity on campus. In the article, Jeannine Uzzi, acting provost at USM, was quoted as saying that minority faculty members were lost in the retrenchment process.
We, at USM, apologize for this inaccuracy. Faculty retrenchments, in the context of USM, refer exclusively to the 2014-2015 school year layoffs, as executed by then-President David Flanagan and then-Provost Joseph McDonnell.
The record should clearly indicate that no minority faculty members were eliminated during this period. In fact, both administrators worked carefully to follow the collective bargaining contract to avoid any unfair impact on minorities. Their personal efforts to avoid these impacts on behalf of the university need to be acknowledged.
Glenn Cummings, Ed.D.
president, University of Southern Maine
Portland
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