Search for Board of Trustees rep delayed
Outgoing representative doubtful that 'a valid search is possible at this date'
Daniel MacLeod
Issue date: 4/27/09 Section: News
It all began with an art exhibit.
In 2006, Marie Follayttar participated in a controversial art show called "Can't Jail the Spirit," that was shut down by the university. She went to a Student Senate meeting to get approval to be a student voice on a subsequent panel called "Controversy in the public university: who decides?"
"I saw a senate poster, walked in. That ended up being my first meeting. And three meetings later, I became a student senator," she remembers.
At the urging of then Student Body President, Andy Bossie, Follayttar attended a Board of Trustees meeting in Machias. At the dinner afterwards, she talked with several board members and administrators until the dining hall closed.
"I was na've about the system, and the possibility even, of being a student voice," she says.
But her first meeting with the board made her realize that she had the capability of speaking on behalf of USM students.
"I realized that what I had to say was of interest to people," she says.
In January of 2007, Follayttar became the USM Student Representative to the Board of Trustees (BOT rep), a position that serves as an advocate for USM students at University of Maine Board of Trustee meetings.
By all accounts, Follayttar's tenure as BOT rep has transformed the position. The job never stipulated communicating as much as she has with Lewiston-Auburn students. It never called for lobbying before the Maine Legislature. Both of which she has done, and views as integral to the position.
"I try to talk to every student I possibly can about an issue. A lot," she says.
"Most people who know me know that I am always trying to understand their struggle or story. I don't know if I always do as good a job as I could. I know sometimes I worry about how one person can really represent the diversity that is USM."
But now, with less than two months left in her term as BOT rep, Follayttar is concerned by the fact that the search for her replacement is just getting underway.
In 2006, Marie Follayttar participated in a controversial art show called "Can't Jail the Spirit," that was shut down by the university. She went to a Student Senate meeting to get approval to be a student voice on a subsequent panel called "Controversy in the public university: who decides?"
"I saw a senate poster, walked in. That ended up being my first meeting. And three meetings later, I became a student senator," she remembers.
At the urging of then Student Body President, Andy Bossie, Follayttar attended a Board of Trustees meeting in Machias. At the dinner afterwards, she talked with several board members and administrators until the dining hall closed.
"I was na've about the system, and the possibility even, of being a student voice," she says.
But her first meeting with the board made her realize that she had the capability of speaking on behalf of USM students.
"I realized that what I had to say was of interest to people," she says.
In January of 2007, Follayttar became the USM Student Representative to the Board of Trustees (BOT rep), a position that serves as an advocate for USM students at University of Maine Board of Trustee meetings.
By all accounts, Follayttar's tenure as BOT rep has transformed the position. The job never stipulated communicating as much as she has with Lewiston-Auburn students. It never called for lobbying before the Maine Legislature. Both of which she has done, and views as integral to the position.
"I try to talk to every student I possibly can about an issue. A lot," she says.
"Most people who know me know that I am always trying to understand their struggle or story. I don't know if I always do as good a job as I could. I know sometimes I worry about how one person can really represent the diversity that is USM."
But now, with less than two months left in her term as BOT rep, Follayttar is concerned by the fact that the search for her replacement is just getting underway.
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