by Mary L. Collins

Three months ago I was invited to have dinner with Vermont’s new State College Chancellor, Elizabeth Mauch. I accepted the invitation and was happy to share my experience as a first-generation student who has continued to be involved as a volunteer, donor, speaker, and contributor to the alumni magazine.

Since February, I’ve written to the Governor and to the Chancellor and President Bergh three times to follow up on her promise of setting up “feedback sessions” in which interested persons would be invited to share our thoughts, concerns, and recommendations about the future of Vermont’s state colleges.

Three times: Feb. 19, March 10, and April 23.

I did not get a response to my message of Feb. 19, which, was a generous summary of my recommendations and feelings about the future of the colleges and the “transformation” plans that had been prepared by then interim president Mike Smith and endorsed by the Board of Trustees.

So, I kindly wrote back on March 10th to remind Chancellor Mauch and President Bergh that I’d not received an answer to my message or questions.

The Chancellor wrote on March 11th that plans for “feedback sessions” were underway. Nothing from President Bergh.

I waited.

Nothing.

April 23rd I wrote a third time – asking what, if anything, had been set up to involve interested parties in a conversation.

The Chancellor wrote back telling me to refer to her message of March 11th.

I have become increasingly discouraged and demoralized by the Chancellor’s arrogance and saccharinely dismissive communication. And President Bergh has been completely AWOL. Truthfully, I am just sad. I feel belittled and defeated. These are not good stewards. Not kind. Not smart. Not possessing any of the imagination these institutions were founded on and that truly is our birthright. Vermont is fading. I don’t want to see our state colleges die at the hands of short-tenured administrators who have no roots in the soil here.

When I spend time on the campuses (Johnson mostly as it is closest to me) I see students without support and faculty who are truly anxious about losing their jobs. Efforts in place to undermine the colleges’ success are evident everywhere. CCV is being promoted heavily to establish a workforce development curriculum that can be cheaply delivered and sold as a needed and desired curriculum which poorer students are forced to accept. The benefits of a college degree aren’t always material. “College-as-job-training” only emerged after World War II. Before that, universities taught relatively few students for a narrow set of careers and mostly as a way for students to become better thinkers. College is an investment; not an expense. And while the state DOES have to budget for it, to NOT invest in our next generation in this way is, I think, much more costly.

So, while the Governor promotes consolidation, online learning, and degree programs that serve a corporate need, what of students whose interests and talents lie in history, literature, psychology, sociology, or music? Vermont has a billion-dollar economy based on the creative arts. We have more writers and poets per capita than ANY other state in the nation. But none of the suggestions I shared with the Chancellor or current president were even acknowledged, let alone invited to any kind of “feedback session”.

UVM boasts applications of more than 30,000 potential students in 2023. With just 28% of their incoming freshman class coming from Vermont where are Vermont students going to go? I don’t think the Chancellor wants to answer my questions or even consider them. They are too provocative and suggest that their agenda is not in the best interest of our state. If Governor Scott wishes to turn our state colleges into feeder systems for corporate benefit, let them pay for the privilege of securing an educated workforce – not taxpayers, and not the students themselves, whose choice has been stripped from them.

I am beyond patience and politeness with these people. I am not a quack. My concerns have been carefully researched, well-stated, and broadly shared among faculty, staff, students, alumni, and the greater community for a considerable amount of time and in many different settings. The Chancellor, President Bergh, and their Board of Trustees have an agenda. They have NO interest in including ANY voices other than their own and that of the Governor – who pays their salaries – to weigh in on how the Vermont State Colleges will survive, let alone thrive. And that, as a result of my considerate and long-standing observation, shows an interest in devaluing the colleges to the point of closure, elevating the status of Community College of Vermont, and selling Vermonters a curriculum that supports workforce development for corporate benefit while devaluing the liberal and fine arts.

There is no “plan for feedback sessions” that I have been apprised of or invited to. One would think there would be a) better communication; b) more inclusion of various voices; c) better public relations with alumni/donors; d) and a much more timely response to setting up engagement with community members who are genuinely interested in and who have demonstrated sincere and thoughtful support of the colleges and their healthy futures. This administration is not interested in that at all. And I am tired of being dismissed and disregarded.

Most people who have participated in this conversation have already left it. I understand why. But that still leaves current and future students, faculty, staff, and the greater community to grapple with the appallingly bad decisions that are being forced upon us and that are destroying the future of public higher education in Vermont.

Thank you for listening. I appreciate everyone who has voiced concern, particularly faculty, staff, students, alumni, and certain legislators who continue to support equity in higher education in Vermont.

It’s not coming from the Scott Administration. Not one bit.