WASHINGTON, D.C. – Calling it “one of the most ridiculous actions of any government at any level” that he had ever encountered, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) today called on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to reverse her Department’s decision not to review the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s Upward Bound application over a minor, unintentional line-spacing issue.

“This is preposterous. This isn’t a game. This isn’t gotcha. This is about real people at the University of Maine in Presque Isle. It is about their access to an education, their access to a better life, their ability to achieve success,” Senator King said. “This is the kind of thing that makes people hate government.”

The Upward Bound Program at the University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI) serves 129 high school students across Aroostook County, Maine, and has a strong and long record of success in sending local low-income, first-generation students to college. Since 1980, it has helped students with great needs access the promise of higher education.

UMPI had applied for two Upward Bound Program grants through the Department of Education. However, both of UMPI’s applications were deemed ineligible because of a line-spacing error, which appeared within two infographics on two of the application’s otherwise perfectly formatted 65 pages and which did not comply with the double-spacing requirement. To view line-spacing error, click HERE.

“These are 129 young people who won’t be able to take part in this program and very likely their entire lives can be compromised by this,” Senator King later continued. “This is a big deal for them. Maybe a little deal for the Department of Education, but it’s a big deal for the University of Maine at Presque Isle and their students.”

“All I’m asking is for the Department of Education and the Secretary of Education to look at this obvious, ridiculous bureaucratic mistake, correct it, and correct it for all those who have been prejudiced by it,” he said.

Prior to his remarks on the Senate floor, Senator King had joined with the rest of Maine’s Congressional Delegation last month in sending a letter to Secretary DeVos expressing strong concern that the Department has refused to review UMPI’s application. Senator King also signed onto a letter led by Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Senator Jon Tester (D-Mont.) reverse course and review dozens of applications for grant funding for first generation college students.

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