I think it is important to note that the faculty vacancies in nursing preceded the most recent crisis precipitated by the firing of two tenured faculty members. The nursing problem is the direct result of the reorganization which took away the College of Nursing's independent status. While the current crisis makes it difficult to recruit in any department, the faculty departures began a year ago when almost 100 faculty members left. Another year like that, and USM will be a fished out pond. Replacing experienced and proven faculty with instructors, temporary faculty and first year assistant professors puts a body in the classroom, but the drop off in educational quality is immense. Recovering from the Thames presidency could take a decade.