Dear UMA Community,
I'm writing to let you know of a serious incident that occurred on our Bangor Campus late Saturday evening.
Around midnight Saturday night Feb 10, a shooting occurred in an unused parking lot adjacent to UMA's Bangor campus. The parking lot was the former parking lot of the Dow Chapel which was taken down roughly 10 years ago. Rob Marden, Director of Campus Operations, alerted the senior leadership team shortly after the incident to let them know that no UMA staff, faculty or students were on campus at the time of the incident.
Bangor PD responded and one individual was taken to the hospital with gunshot wounds to their leg. News reports indicate this was an incidence of violence between two unhoused individuals.
Again, no one was on campus when the incident occurred and no UMA students and staff were ever in any danger from this event. It occurred in an unused parking lot that UMA only uses for snow storage, and although the parking lot is clearly marked indicating no overnight parking, that is not patrolled or enforced on the weekends. We will be installing jersey barriers to eliminate vehicular access to that parking lot.
Rob spoke with Bangor PD, and learned the subjects are known, knew each other, and are known to Bangor PD. There is not an ongoing risk to the area or the community from this incident. If the incident was an ongoing event with a continuing risk to our community we would have communicated with others immediately.
Like many cities, Bangor has a significant challenge with the unhoused. For more than two years, an encampment of unhoused individuals has existed on Bangor city property overlooking the UMA Bangor campus.
For the most part, residents of the camp keep to themselves. No student, staff, or faculty on the Bangor campus has ever been harmed. However, last fall, our campus experienced a growing number of minor incidents associated with the encampment.
To ensure the safety and well-being of the campus community and consistent with the actions of other neighbors, UMA installed a freestanding privacy barrier between our university property and the City land where the encampment is located.
We had long resisted this step because we are a public institution and pride ourselves on being accessible to the community. However our students, faculty, and staff deserve to be and feel safe on our campus, and we must be able to deliver on our academic and public service mission.
UMA will continue to monitor the area, and is currently planning on installing additional security cameras on the UMA Bangor campus, adding more secure building access, and doing whatever is necessary to keep you, our students, faculty, and staff safe.
Joined by Jeff Sychterz and Rob Marden, I plan to hold an open session with the Bangor UMA community (and others who wish to participate) so we present what we have done and what we are planning, as well as a place to answer your questions.
That date and time will be announced as soon as possible. Meanwhile, please know that I share your concerns and frustrations, and remain steadfastly committed to the safety and well-being of our UMA community.
Thank you.
