Although there is much more to the Maine athletic department
situation than the gaffes with the hockey program, I thought
some of you would be interested in what students here at
Maine think. After all, there's been a lot of words snapping
amongst administators, but nothing from the students. Here,
now, is my story about the University of Maine Student Gov-
ernment General Student Senate. It appeared in Wednesday's
edition of The Maine Campus, UMaine's student newspaper, and
is (C) Copyrighted 1994 by The Maine Campus.
 
Ryan Robbins
GSS
03-01-94
 
     In last night's meeting the General Student Senate voted
23-3-1 to send a letter to University of Maine President
Frederick Hutchinson, urging him to ask for Athletic Director
Michael Ploszek's resignation.
     "Mr. Ploszek has failed to fulfill his responsibilities as
the overseer of the entire athletic department," the letter
states. "We feel that a one-week suspension is inadequate
considering the significant impact that will be felt due to his
recent actions. We are requesting his forced resignation."
     The resolution's sponsor, Oxford Hall Senator David Gagne,
said, "Mike Ploszek hasn't taken responsibility for the actions
of his department, which he is responsible for."
     Former Student Government President Brian Pike expressed
concern that Ploszek hasn't been called on to answer questions
about why the athletic department has fallen into bad shape since
he came to UMaine two-and-a-half years ago.
     "I just think that it's absolutely ridiculous that Mike
Ploszek not be held accountable for all the problems that have
taken place under his administration," Pike said.
     Off campus senator Jennifer Nietsche, the resolution's co-
sponsor, said the athletic department's problems are equal to a
university facing a loss of accreditation.
     Students have to take the initiative and fight for their
reputations, Nietsche said. "We don't deserve this."
     Off campus senator Todd Alley, a member of the Athletic
Advisory Board, said senators should wait until after spring
break before voting for Ploszek's resignation.
     Alley said the AAB was never notified of the latest
violations. He said he thought it was necessary for Ploszek and
Hutchinson to answer to the committee about their involvement.
     Off campus senator Blake Fryer disagreed with Pike and
Nietsche. He said to ask for Ploszek's resignation would be too
drastic because there are a lot of unanswered questions.
     "It really wasn't Ploszek's fault," Fryer said. He said
Ploszek's checks and balances system worked in catching the
violations. Fryer urged the GSS to be cautious about jumping the
gun. "There's a lot here we really don't know about."
     Off campus senator Nicole Austin agreed with Fryer and said
her father worked for the university with Linwood Carville and
the stories her father told about Carville were "outrageous." She
said it was great Carville was fired.
     Austin said that instead of asking for Ploszek's
resignation, perhaps the GSS should ask for him to be demoted.
     Off campus senator Todd Glasson said that even if Ploszek
were fired, the athletic department's problems would still linger
because it doesn't have the resources to ensure compliance. He
said UMaine is trying to maintain a Division 1 athletic program
on a second division budget.
     Senator Lance Heaton blamed President Hutchinson's
downsizing plan for cutting into compliance resources.
     Board of Trustees student representative Bill Reed told the
senate he didn't think it would be out of line to ask for
Ploszek's resignation.
     "Woody (Carville) made a mistake," Reed said. "He told Mike
he made a mistake. Mike ignored it. Yet two grad students played
on that weekend, after he was told they were ineligible. And I
think that that's irresponsible."
     Despite Ploszek's allegation it was Carville's
responsibility to inform ice hockey coach Shawn Walsh and indoor
track and field coach Jim Ballinger they had ineligible players,
Ploszek absolved Carville of the responsibility when he said he
would take care of things, Reed said.
     If the GSS waits before taking action, Reed said, then the
university will take action during spring break without student
input.
     Reed said that during his involvement with an organization
that dealt with Ploszek last summer he didn't think too highly of
him.
     "My general opinion of Mike Ploszek is that he really
doesn't deal with people in a straightforward manner. And that's
from personal experience.
     "At times he didn't tell us what honestly what was going on
in his dealings with us. He jerked us around for almost a year on
something that was very important to the organization that I
belonged to," Reed said.
     In other business, the GSS voted to have the chairperson of
the Academic Affairs Committee and the Student Government Faculty
Senate representative ask the Faculty Senate to allow students
not to attend classes on federal holidays. Currently students are
allowed to take only religious holidays off.
     Off campus senator Andrew Weymouth said professors should
consider incorporating the ideals behind holidays their classes
fall on into that day's lesson.
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