My initial reaction to the opinion expressed by Wick Johnson, former University of Maine System trustee, was disbelief.

First, his flippant remarks seemed to indicate the hiring practices of circumventing the process and paying six-figure salaries to unqualified or minimally qualified political appointees is “OK” and “done all the time.”

Second, his indignation with “where does the newspaper get off” investigating these unusual practices”? How dare the Fourth Estate expose possible corruption in state institutions?

Then it hit me….

This is the same guy who as a trustee ran point in central Maine, six years ago, telling anyone who would listen that central Maine should give up its university and have a branch of the University of Southern Maine replace it. Something about saving $16 million for the system, but he and his fellow trustees could never articulate where the $16 million would come from.

The citizenry fought tooth and nail against what he and the system office called a done deal, and today we have one of the best capitalized, most vibrant universities in the system.

As an aside, the year after this fiasco was put to bed, the public was notified that USM had been operating in a deficit mode for three years, and was in the red more than $5 million. It would have been just great for us to be part of the mess down there.

There’s more. As a reward for the stellar three-year performance at USM, Johnson and his colleagues appoint its president Rich Pattenaude to become chancellor.

The true underperformers in the University of Maine System are its trustees. There needs to be an overhaul of the system, starting in Bangor.

Frank Bean, associate professor

Finance and Management

University of Maine, Augusta

Scarborough

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