Well, as you probably know I am rather a fan of specific schools. The ones I particularly like require quite a bit of math for a regular economics BA, and basically tell people who want to pursue graduate work in economics to major in math and take some economics courses. It is not the case that all of their economics graduates are math geniuses, but an economics degree implies at the very least calculus-based statistics and exposure to analysis.
I think that one can understand basic principles of economics fine without being able to do the math. At least I think I can. But I can’t imagine what it is, exactly, the students at those colleges with no calculus requirement study in their upper-level economics courses.
Maine, by the way, does have a BS program that requires calculus. You didn’t read far enough down the page. I suspect that’s part of the answer: If you are going to UDelaware, UMaine, or places like that, and you want your economics degree to imply math competency, you need to do the BS program.