Last week, we looked at other universities’ attempts to become ‘metropolitan’ or engaged universities within their communities. But how would USM try to do this, especially considering that their recent history has involved disengaging from the community because of financial constraints?

USM’s idea involves sending students into the community as volunteers and interns, which may be paid or not paid, to put into practice some of the learning they are doing in the classroom.

But internships, especially as practiced, may not work well for USM’s commuter nontraditional students, many of whom are already working one or more jobs to make ends meet. Without parents helping support a student through an unpaid internship, the college will have to help if it hopes to make internships a regular part of a student experience. Barringer says that there are some federal funds that can be tapped to help support students undergoing internships, but the funds are limited. He believes that philanthropic support for that mission will be needed.

Essentially, Barringer says, the institution must change if it is going to grow and survive. Another term for a metropolitan university is an “engaged” university, he says. “The mission is one of an institution that is deeply engaged in the community.”

He says that the college already has a couple of majors that are fully engaged, including its music major and its environmental science major. Other parts of the campus also are open to the public, for instance, Hannaford Hall, which is rented out for public discourse and appearances on a regular basis.

To make the transition from ordinary four-year school to a metropolitan university, Barringer said that he believed the cost would be about $900,000 per year to the University System, on the low end of what other Universities have committed to the process, or about $150 per student, per year.

How those funds can be raised, especially as faculty and staff are being laid off and majors are being slashed, is an open question.

At Lewiston, there is a whole office dedicated to working with the community. Students work in the community for several specific community partners, put together open community events, and more. That sure sounds like a “metropolitan” university, and although the brochure for the program is filled with phrases like “community engagement programs” that don’t exactly say what it is these students are doing, the truth is they are out there in the community working in programs as diverse as the local public library and Big Brothers/Big Sisters.

Odd man out is the sleepy, remote Gorham campus, seat of the major part of the athletics and music programs. While the campus is home to youth music programs, it is too far away to be fully engaged in an urban area like Portland. Others have suggested that Gorham be spun off to be its own campus, focused on its strengths in music and the arts.