In recent weeks, the University of Maine System’s Board of Trustees has discussed possible changes to the academic year calendars of the seven campuses. There has long been a desire among most trustees to have the same starting and ending dates for both fall and spring semesters.
For some trustees, the principal reason is to have students taking courses on more than one campus manage their schedules more easily — even if most of those students are taking such courses online and so need not be physically present at any one campus, much less at more than one; and even if the number of such “cross-campus” students is relatively small at this point.
For other trustees, however, the principal motivation is an obsession with uniformity among the seven campuses, regardless of academic and non-academic issues that might require calendar differences.
To those persons, being in a university “system” means, or should mean, complete similarities, nothing less.
Ever since the Jimmy Carter Administration and the gas crisis, the University of Maine has had a two-week break in early March. Initially justified by saving expensive fuel with residence halls closed for that entire time, the continuation of the two-week break has subsequently been justified for other reasons. One reason is the opportunity for the Black Bear varsity baseball and softball teams to play many games in warm climates during the same road trips.
Another reason is the opportunity for faculty and students to conduct more sustained research in any number of fields than would otherwise be possible.
Whether Orono’s two-week spring semester break will be allowed to continue by the trustees remains to be seen. But the deeper issue is the conceptualization of the entire University of Maine System.
In the United Kingdom, the term “system” commonly refers to all of higher education. In American public higher education, however, “system” is the new black — but the term is used in a different way. Here, states have for decades been consolidating formerly separate colleges into university configurations frequently called “systems.”
Sometimes a single system comprises all of a state’s four-year institutions, plus those with graduate and professional programs. The University of Maine System of seven campuses is among these. In other cases, different states have two or more wholly separate university systems.
For example, Alabama has two: the University of Alabama and Auburn University systems. Texas, with six, has the most: Texas A&M, University of Texas, Texas Tech, University of Houston, Texas State University and University of North Texas systems. Each system, moreover, often includes at least two distinct campuses. For instance, Texas A&M has 11 campuses.
The common purpose of university systems is always the same: consolidation for greater efficiency, greater savings, and greater student access to various programs and schools. Duplication, especially in hard economic times, can be wasteful.
But in practice, there are mixed blessings. What usually began as small administrative offices for the entire system invariably grew larger because of new laws, new metrics and new academic and non-academic initiatives that required ever more staff.
When the University of Maine System began in 1968, the common vision was of a chancellor with a small staff. In retrospect, what a joke.
The issue of whether or not to abolish the Orono two-week break reflects the far larger dilemma of implementing “systematisation” at all costs. Must every campus be the same as much as possible, or might there remain differences for legitimate reasons, whether academic or athletic or both?
If homogeneity is to reign, why the differential tuitions among the seven campuses, with Orono being the most expensive?
No one simple answer suits every system, but it is useful to put “system” in historical perspective in order to recognize the concept’s own complex past.
“System” was initially applied to technological networks in transportation (canals, roads, railway lines) and communications (telegraphs and telephones). Ordinary citizens who daily witnessed and experienced these systems knew the term.
Before the Civil War, however, the parts of those relatively small transportation and communications systems were deemed equally important. If one part failed, they might all fail.
After the Civil War, as machines and tools became ever larger and more complex, systems were increasingly seen as unequal, and if one part failed, it might not necessarily doom the rest of the machine, depending on its importance.
It would be instructive for University of Maine System administrators, trustees and state officials to appreciate that the same system can still include both equal and unequal parts. Even the ever more centralized administrative configurations like ours can still allow for greater autonomy of the individual components and remain true to the rich historical tradition of system in America.
Howard P. Segal is Adelaide and Alan Bird Professor of History at the University of Maine and the author of “Utopias: A Brief History from Ancient Writings to Virtual Communities.”
Contrasting academic calendars:
University of Maine, Orono
Fall semester classes begin: Sept. 2
Fall break: Oct. 13 to Oct. 14
Classes end: Dec. 12
Spring semester classes begin: Jan. 12
No winter break
Spring break: March 2 to March 16
Classes end: May 1
University of Maine, Augusta
Fall semester classes begin: Sept. 2
Fall break: Oct. 13 to Oct. 14
Classes end: Dec. 20
Spring semester classes begin: Jan. 12
No winter break
Spring break: March 30 to April 4
Classes end: May 9
University of Maine, Farmington
Fall semester classes begin: Sept. 3
Fall break: Oct. 13 to Oct. 14
Classes end: Dec. 12
Spring semester classes begin: Jan. 20
Winter break: Feb. 16 to Feb. 20
Spring break: March 30 to April 3
Classes end: May 1
University of Maine, Fort Kent
Fall semester classes begin: Sept. 2
Fall break: Oct. 13 to Oct. 14
Classes end: Dec. 19
Spring semester classes begin: Jan. 12
Winter break: Feb. 16 to Feb. 20
Spring break: March 30 to April 3
Classes end: May 1
University of Maine, Machias
Fall semester classes begin: Sept. 2
Fall break: Oct. 13 to Oct. 14
Classes end: Dec. 13
Spring semester classes begin: Jan. 21
Winter break: Feb. 16 to Feb. 20
Spring break: March 30 to April 3
Classes end: May 9
University of Maine, Presque Isle
Fall semester classes begin: Sept. 2
Fall break: Oct. 13 to Oct. 14
Classes end: Dec. 12
Spring semester classes begin: Jan. 20
Winter break: Feb. 16 to Feb. 20
Spring break: March 30 to April 3
Classes end: May 8
University of Southern Maine
Fall semester classes begin: Sept. 2
Fall break: Oct. 13 to Oct. 14
Classes end: Dec. 12
Spring semester classes begin: Jan. 12
Winter break: Feb. 16 to Feb. 20
Spring break: March 30 to April 3
Classes end: May 1
University of Maine Law School
Fall semester classes begin: Sept. 2
Fall break: Oct. 13
Classes end: Dec. 5
Spring semester classes begin: Jan. 12
No winter break
Spring break: March 2 to March 16
Classes end: April 21
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