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University of Maine address highlights Franco history
09.16.2009
By Dawn Gagnon
BDN Staff
ORONO, Maine — Though it isn't unusual today to see Mainers of French descent holding prominent positions in such arenas as politics, education, the law and the arts, that hasn't always been the case.
For centuries, Maine's residents of Acadian and Quebecois descent were treated as second-class citizens, ridiculed for their speech and locked out of educational, political and employment opportunities.
That, however, began to change in the early 1970s, thanks in part to a movement born on the University of Maine campus.
At that time, a group of Franco students, community members and others lobbied UM administrators on behalf of the state's Franco-American population, whose experience, history and contributions had been ignored, despite the fact Mainers of French descent comprise about a third of the state's population.
Over the years, Franco-Americans persisted, continuing to make their presence known. As a result, the campus now has a Franco-American Center and a Franco-American studies program. Today, many professors — as well as the dean of the modern languages department and the University of Maine System chancellor — are of Franco stock.
Another sign of the changing times came Tuesday, when Rumford native and Portland lawyer Severin Beliveau, one of Maine's most influential Francos, delivered the second annual Distinguished Presidential Lecture at the invitation of President Robert Kennedy.
Kennedy also named Beliveau UM's Distinguished Professor of Franco-American Studies, making him among fewer than half a dozen Mainers to achieve distinguished professor status.
"Our Franco culture and our Franco heritage are integral to what our state is, what it has been and what it will be in the future," Kennedy said in his welcome remarks.
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