FARMINGTON – On this past rainy Friday afternoon when most of the Farmington community was keeping dry in their homes, Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives and U.S. Senate candidate Sara Gideon took a tour of the University of Maine at Farmington campus. This was the latest tour that Gideon has made as part of her campaign to a Maine campuses. Before the pandemic she visited Bowdoin, the University of Maine Flagship campus, Colby College, Bates, University of Maine at Fort Kent and University of Maine at Presque Isle.
“We try to be really sensitive to the public health and safety protocols of everyone else. So, it just depends on what is happening out in the Maine COVID world,” said Gideon when asked if she would visit any other colleges after UMF.
Gideon, a Democrat, is running for the seat occupied by Republican candidate and incumbent Senator Susan Collins.
Gideon was accompanied by her press secretary Will Simons and fellow state Representative Scott Landry. During the tour, she showed particular interest in hearing about the day-to-day life of some of her youngest possible voters. She asked about the social climate on campus, how this year is different from other years, and was empathetic towards current students who are being faced with challenges throughout this tumultuous year. At the end of the tour, when the guide informed her of the legend of Lady Nordica haunting the auditorium in Merrill Hall, she said that she was delighted to hear of such folklore on the campus and declared that she wanted to join the Nightmare club in an attempt to stay overnight and face the ghost.
After the tour, Sara Gideon met with current UMF President Edward Serna to gauge his view of campus life so far and get his input on the current state of education in times of the pandemic. They discussed the testing rates in Maine and the optimistic position that UMF occupies right now in comparison to some other regions of the state. Gideon was most interested in hearing about the students. Aware of the permanent impacts that the pandemic has had on students and the community, Gideon showed concern for the high population of Pell-grant recipients and first-generation students at UMF. Finally, she asked President Serna what he thought was the prominent priority for the students right now.
“What can I do for you?” Gideon asked.
For Serna, the area that needs the most assistance is easing the financial impacts that universities have felt in order to keep their students and faculty safe.
Following this interview with Serna, Gideon allowed other members of the press to ask her questions pertaining to her current campaign and future goals should she get elected.
When asked how COVID has shaped her priorities and approach to education in Maine, Gideon answered: “Thinking about education, specifically higher education, this is one of those issues where we knew even through Covid that there was so much that we needed to improve on, in terms of people’s access to education and also their financial situation coming out of higher education. I think that’s still true today. The difference, from what I learned from President Serna today, is that now we have, particularly public regional universities in this situation where already they were stretched and trying to do things on the leanest budget and are now having to output so much in financial terms. Ultimately that has to be paid back somewhere in order for these institutions to continue, and so the help that is needed from the federal government can’t be understated in this case.”
Gideon also discussed COVID relief in the context of supporting the state.
“There are some short term and some long term things that we really need in this state in terms of focusing on COVID relief. First of all, we’ve seen some CARES Act funding and we’ve seen that funding has been hampered by restrictions on how the state can use it and going forward we have seen the House pass multiple next versions of CARES Act funding which would include help for everything from the postal service, to additional funding to help education and nutrition services and additional pay for first responders and essential workers. I think those are all priorities, I would add the priority of what Serna was talking about. Help for all of the burdens that our public schools have taken on to make sure they’re keeping students safe and able to keep their doors open. Those are the short term things we’ve got to do. In the long term, this is the opportunity for us to think about how we invest in rural Maine and rural American,” said Gideon.
