VERMONT COMMUNITY REQUESTS LEGISLATIVE REVIEW OF MISMANAGEMENT OF VERMONT STATE UNIVERSITY

“Vermont State University does not belong to a board or a chancellor, a president or a campus, it belongs to Vermont. It belongs to everyone who is in the process of becoming. It belongs to everyone who imagines, discovers, and is curious about themselves and about the world. It serves no one in particular and everyone all at once. It is the best of us and we have a charge and an obligation to work in transparency, offer access and support, and to put our students first for the benefit of Vermont.”?

????????????????????????????????– Cathy Collins Printon, Johnson State College. Class of 1985

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December 22, 2023

Dear Members of the Vermont Legislature:

We are a volunteer group of concerned citizens who have met numerous times since 2020 and are asking that you engage with the VSCS Board of Trustees to find answers to our concerns and the issues we’ve raised in regard to the ongoing mismanagement of Vermont State University. The Vermont State Colleges system Board of Trustees is in complete control of the management and direction of the Vermont State College system – without review, input, or interference from the very educational institutions they are appointed to serve.?

§ 2174. Board of Trustees; power The Board of Trustees may confer such honors and degrees as are usually given in colleges and universities and any other appropriate degrees, and shall appoint a chancellor of the Corporation and a president for each institution under its control and prescribe their duties, salaries, and terms of office. The Board shall make bylaws and regulations for the government of its meetings and each institution under its control prescribing among other things, the terms of admission, courses of instruction, educational standards, rates of tuition, scholarships, and other student aids. (Added 1961, No. 247, § 1,eff. July 28, 1961; amended 2015, No. 19, § 1, eff. July 15, 2015.

We support Senator Collamore’s Bill dr req 24-0248 – draft 3.1

Vermont’s public post-secondary education is at risk. We must work together, with members of the legislature, including the input and advisement of Vermonters. We know Vermont, these institutions, and their communities, and endeavor to ensure the success of every student, all programs, and each campus, and to restore economic and educational vitality throughout the system and for the State of Vermont. We need to attract, engage, and retain Vermonters. VTSU is the economic driver in each of the five regions where it is housed. Vermont cannot afford to lose its citizens to out-of-state public postsecondary institutions or jobs. The loss of students will further the loss of jobs and have a negative economic impact in these regions.?

Since the announcement to shutter NVU and VTC in 2020, our efforts at reaching out to the VSCS Board of Trustees have been met with disinterest, exclusion, hostility, avoidance, and lack of transparency in decision-making. No clear strategic plan or objective has been provided to the legislature, students, faculty/staff, or the greater community.?

We ask that you consider these concerns:?

1.????? The staff, faculty, students, and alumni have voted no confidence in the leadership of the VSCS Board of Trustees, the Office of the Chancellor, and the inaugural President of VTSU. These declarations have been ignored. How will the Board address these very real grievances??

2.????? Where is the transparency and an accounting of how the $200 million of transformation and other funds have been spent? The Legislature and the taxpayers of Vermont deserve to know. There has been little transparency. Laying off staff to only offer them their position back at a lesser salary, while the Chancellor’s Office continues to hire highly paid staff - what is the expectation for ongoing campus-based support and confidence in one’s employment within the VTSU system??

3.????? What is the Board of Trustees, Chancellor, and Interim President’s 10-year plan to ensure that VTSU thrives now and into the future? What are the performance objectives? How will success be measured??

4.????? How will the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, and the current Interim President involve all stakeholders in putting VTSU on a path to success? Faculty, staff, students, community and business leaders, and alumni all have ideas and potential solutions that could and should be requested and implemented. These experienced stakeholders know what has made the state college system successful in the past, and how to make the system successful in the future. Why are these voices not considered?

?5.????? How will the Board of Trustees ensure the suitability of members of any future advisory or consulting group? For example, the Select Committee on the Future of Higher Education in Vermont, formed in 2020, and disbanded in 2021, included only one representative from the five residential campuses – who was largely ignored. The lack of knowledge about and experience in the VSC system, and the clear conflict of interest among some of the Select Committee members, led to the creation of a set of general guidelines for “transforming” the system that has proven to be destructive to the very system that it was supposed to reimagine.?

6.????? Enrollment has been hurt by press coverage of Board proposals to close the libraries, change athletics, cut staff and faculty positions, and cut academic programs. What is the Board of Trustees plan to attract new students to VTSU and retain those already enrolled?

?7.????? Where is the research showing what VTSU students truly want in their educational experience? Surveys conducted on the campuses have shown that most students want the majority of their classes to be in-person and that retention is greatly enhanced by the personal relationships students develop with faculty, staff, and their peers. How are students assured of in-person engagement, particularly for those who are also paying room and board??

8.????? Most of the proposed cuts have been to student-facing positions (that is, personnel who work directly with students on our campuses). This continues despite a significant decrease in these positions over the past 10 years. Since 2014, full-time faculty and staff positions have decreased by over 22% and over 26%, respectively, due to attrition and layoffs. At the same time, upper-level administrative positions (largely non-student-facing) have increased by over 10%. In addition, compensation for these new administrative positions far exceeds that of campus-based staff.

a.????? Why were student-facing positions in the staff and faculty targeted? Where are the data to support the need for so many upper-level, highly compensated, non-student-facing administrative positions??

9.????? Who will do the work of staff and faculty when there is a significant reduction of staff on campus? This chronic and worsening understaffing is devastating for the recruitment and retention of students. Examples include:

a.????? The Assistant Director of the Physical Plant at Castleton was laid off. Like the other campuses across the system, Castleton has an aging infrastructure. In the week of the layoffs, students had to be moved from one residence hall to another due to black mold. Another residence hall had no hot water. The largest academic building had no heat for nine days. One new student had no bed for three days.

b.????? Senior financial aid staff members at each campus have been laid off. To be compliant with Federal Financial Aid regulations, the loss of these experienced staff members is not only detrimental to students who navigate complicated federal forms but could also result in a violation of federal law and significant fines.

c.?????? Every campus-based associate dean of students has been laid off. Who will address student emergencies, develop and facilitate campus residential and commuter student programs, manage and supervise residence life and student activities staff, and programming? Who will be the on-campus contact person for parents, community, and law enforcement?

d.????? Former president Smith promised students currently attending VTSU that the cuts outlined in “Optimization 2.0” would not impact them. How is that possible when he accepted multiple buyouts from faculty, many from within the same departments? Who is left to teach the courses students need to graduate?

e.????? What is the plan for prospective students and parents to access consistent and accurate programmatic and other VTSU information online?

10.? Much of the reorganization to becoming VTSU has been assigned to out-of-state agencies. In Admissions, for example, campus staff have been replaced by out-of-state employees. Are out-of-state staffers invested in serving current and future students? Do they know how to articulate the personality of each campus, its dedicated staff/faculty, and programs to prospective students, their parents, and prospective employers? How does employing people in other states support Vermont’s attempt to grow our workforce? How are these policies achieving the mission “for the benefit of Vermont”?

?11.? The cost to Vermont of campus staffing reductions goes beyond the affected individuals. The state is losing entire families who are active members in their communities, whose children attend our schools, and who support Vermont with their contributions to the economy and culture. The reductions to each campus will impact the economic vitality of the most vulnerable regions of Vermont.

?12.? Cuts to programs and faculty have been based on a narrow and incomplete understanding of economic development and job opportunities in Vermont. For example, recommended cuts to VTSU arts programs disregard the facts. According to the National Endowment for the Arts, arts and cultural production in Vermont added 3.3% or $1.3 billion to the state’s economy. Vermont’s arts and cultural industries employed 11,379 workers. These workers earned wages and benefits totaling over $6 billion.? Why is the administration not encouraging sustained educational opportunities that lead to careers in the arts? According to the McClure Promising Jobs research (which has been a tool for many of the cuts and changes) three arts categories are identified as notable for the future of Vermont jobs.?

13.? VTSU claims partnerships with Vermont businesses. Who are they? How are they collaborating? What is the direct benefit to students and what investment has been made to support the sustainability of our state colleges by these business partnerships? Vermont has 78,883 small businesses; why isn’t the system partnering with more of them??

14.? Students, faculty, and staff are concerned that administrators and Board members are removed from experiencing campus life yet are responsible for understanding the system when they make critical decisions. What is the plan for true engagement of Board members, the Chancellor, the Interim President, and other administrators with our campuses??

15.? Our campuses are understaffed yet students are paying full room and board fees for a comprehensive college life experience. Is the University delivering on the expectations that students have been promised??

We look forward to hearing from you and working with you on behalf of Vermont’s public colleges and everyone they serve.

Respectfully,?

Concerned Alumni Faculty Staff & Students of the VSCS – CAFSS-VSCS

Mary L. Collins, BFA – Johnson State College, Class of 1981

Adriana Eldred, BFA and BA – Johnson State College 2020

Paul Langevin, BA Johnson State College 1979, MA Johnson State College, 1999

Blythe Leonard, BA – Johnson State College, Class of 1985

Cathy Printon, BA – Johnson State College, Class of 1985, Johnson State College/VTC former staff Susan Rand, BS – Johnson State College, Class of 1980

Jackie Stanton – attended Johnson State College, Johnson former staff member, Johnson resident

Beth Clay – Windsor, VT, Career and College Counselor

Helen Mango – VTSU Castleton Faculty, retired

David Mook – VTSU Castleton Part-time Faculty

Linda Olson – AFT-Vermont President, VTSU Castleton Faculty

Denise Rhodes – VTSU Castleton Staff

Julie Theoret – VTSU Johnson Faculty

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- Contact -

Mary L. Collins

PO Box 26

Lake Elmore, VT 05657-0026

[email protected]

802-730-0289

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