Arielle Bailey and Taylor M.

Dear SMCC students and faculty,

We are writing this article to help bring the two school communities together. “Why?” you may ask. Maybe it’s because we are all one school at the end of the day, and we shouldn’t be insulting each other — South Portland students or Midcoast students.

We, as students who have lived and studied at both campuses, feel that it’s time for this issue to be resolved. Students address each other as the “South Portland Campus” and the “Midcoast Campus.” This is a way of segregating ourselves. How does this help our community? If we become divided, how can we still call ourself Southern Maine Community College?

Since we have lived at both campuses, we see that there is a large difference between the two. As students who started at the South Portland Campus straight out of high school, lived there for a year, and transitioned to the Midcoast Campus, we hear both viewpoints frequently.

The main campus in South Portland has been established since 1946, and has evolved and changed over many years to what it is now. The Midcoast Campus was established five years ago in 2011. Can we really judge a campus that is just starting out?
Recently there was an article written by The Beacon’s managing editor, Alex Serrano. It criticized and alienated the Midcoast Campus with clear bias, not to mention a lack of knowledge and information. It’s difficult to compare campuses when one has been established for many years and the other is still in its infancy.

Serrano is causing more of a rift than what already exists with his negative article “What’s Up With Midcoast.” Saying that students from the Midcoast Campus have to use a “dinky Skyping laptop” to be able to hear Student Senate meetings is very out of line. The Brunswick Campus has very limited resources, and it is very difficult for students to travel 45 minutes to come to these meetings in person — just like if the situation were reversed.

Every student at this institution pays an activity fee of $25. This means both campuses have the right to Senate money. That is why students at Midcoast are allowed to Skype into Senate meetings and ask for funds for their clubs.

The reason the Brunswick Campus does not have its own senate is because we are one school, and are supposed to be sharing the service provided by our school. We realize now that sharing the senate that has been established in South Portland is not working out. Something needs to be done. A petition has been started for the Midcoast Campus to have its own senate or representatives.

Serrano doesn’t realize that clubs are just starting out at Midcoast, and since the Senate started in South Portland, it would be hard to get students to go in either direction. For him to call Midcoast students “lazy, uninvolved students” is basically saying that all SMCC students are this way — including himself. We are one big community. We all here for the same thing: to get an education.

We realize this article was a childish maneuver to get a rise out of the students at Midcoast so they’d write for the paper, but we feel that there are better solutions to bridge the gap between campuses. We are all part of the same SMCC family. If you are truly interested in learning “What’s Up With Midcoast,” the commute goes both ways. You are more than welcome to come take a tour of our campus and learn the true beauty of the Midcoast campus firsthand.

Sincerely,

Arielle Bailey and Taylor M.