By Roy Newton, Publisher, Lakeside News

Let’s think about top tier power plays for a moment.

Studying Tier 1 -3, outgoing Rutland City mayor, members of the Rutland Regional Planning Commission and dear friends stopped out in front of my house for a local power play, when you should be talking day in and day out about the fate of Castleton University and other issues of top regional importance.

To begin with higher education, CCV is a junior college in the region and a small feeder for Castleton University, the star that once shined in Rutland County.  Many Vermonters are hoping that it does not go south like Green Mountain College or the College of St. Joseph, leaving an even greater void of public higher education in Rutland County and Vermont.

Castleton University has a long history of attracting students and families to the area, but no more. A new President was hired for “Vermont State University” from New Mexico who seems nothing more than an online processor.

Castleton appears to be on a spiral, go look at the parking lot that was full of vehicles for students living on campus a short time ago. Furthermore, the new parking lot built in the Dave Wolk era used to boast rows of vehicles, not anymore.

Speaking of Dave Wolk, the former university president had Castleton on the rise and moving toward a nationally recognizable brand. He even had to build new dormitory housing and reach a deal for students to live in downtown Rutland. Wolk’s leadership brought the institution into a true university status.

Well, that is a done deal, student housing in Rutland is dead.  So is the dormitory at Castleton, called Adams Hall, which sits in the center of campus, closed. Now another one is targeted for demolition, prominent Ellis Hall on the proposed hit list to be demolished.

How can the Board of Trustees allow all of this to happen?  Is this what we have come to at Castleton and the other Vermont campuses, due north, most of which should be shuttered and sold to towns, non profits, or developers to carve something useful and to grow local tax bases.

“Vermont State University,” you are no longer a university and starting to question the worthiness of the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) and its purpose, as well as the judgment of the board of trustees.

The Rutland Regional Planning Commission should not be drawing up local land use and maps for towns who can do it themselves, but about what is happening to higher education in the region and thus the economy.

Don’t stop out in front of my house where you know there’s a beloved newsdesk, unload from your bus, and talk about sidewalks.  Talk about the regional economic impacts of the loss of higher education, its future or for that matter its demise.

Talk about issues of greater regional importance, such as the safety and operability of Vermont Route 22A, like executive director or “CEO” Devon Neary, as Senator Collamore fondly calls him, has formally acknowledged it’s time to take action on a practical matter relating to the region.

Here is what you should do: Form a Steering Committee to restore Castleton University to its rightful name, composed of business leaders, faculty, staff, elected officials, alumni, community representation, so forth. First, make contact with the Governor and the Board of Trustees to explain what you are doing. Somewhat like I proposed for 22A in my testimony.

Hold press conferences and take a stand. If you don’t, it could be all over for a great institution founded over 200 years ago. Just do something, get the people behind you.  Do this for no other reason than to benefit young people and the next generation.

Look, it was not easy raising the issue of 22A to the point that it is now on the legislative agenda. It was not easy to do that. But we don’t do things because they are easy. Remember that.

The author is a longtime Rutland County newspaper publisher and editor.