Lt. Governor David Zuckerman began a live press conference on Zoom, also streamed on his Facebook page, starting at 3:37 PM yesterday afternoon, with the main purpose of addressing his and other’s opinions on the Vermont State College System Chancellor Jeb Spaulding’s proposal to close down three campuses. He was accompanied int his press conference by many senators and representatives, as well as a student and faculty member affected by this proposal.
Lt. Gov. Zuckerman spoke first out of his alignment of guest speakers. The Lt. Governor brought forth the notion that everyone was struggling during this pandemic and that the impact of the VSC campuses at stake in their communities was real. He concluded that taking these known factors into consideration, Spaulding’s proposal to close three campuses was “against all we’re trying to achieve” and “will not bring young people to the state.” “This going to hurt businesses across the spectrum and the state,” Zuckerman said.
The Lt. Governor demanded that all the facts behind the Chancellor’s proposal be released so that others can work towards a solution. Later in his press conference, Lt. Gov. Zuckerman recognized that Vermont was a transparent state, and while he does not know enough about the situation to comment on votes of “No Confidence” in the Chancellor, he knows that the Chancellor’s actions are not “how we do it.”
Therefore, the Lt. Governor is asking Governor Phil Scott to appoint a task force to the issue to come up with a better solution.
Senator Jane Kitchel (D – Caledonia) spoke next. She admitted that legislative officials have been receiving hundreds of emails and that “a lot of work has to be done.” When asked if the VSC has officially requested money, Senator Ketchel said that there has not been a firm number requested of the government.
NVU-Lyndon sophomore Patrick Wickstrom represented the community fighting the proposal in the press conference. At the time, the petition he started Wednesday night had over 26,000 signatures. Wickstrom advertised the protests occurring in Johnson and Montpelier, as well as an emergency Vermont State College Student Association meeting being called to draft a statement. He even went as far as to quote Northern Vermont University President Elaine Collins in that NVU is the only VSCS institution to have not borrowed money from the system and has its own reserves.
Representative Daniel Knoyes (D-Lamoille) said that the legislature has not had the opportunity to look over the Chancellor’s proposal nor the impact on the surrounding communities. Knoyes is a Johnson State College graduate.
Senator Anthony Pollina (D-Washington) then spoke, saying that he specifically has fought and offered funding of higher education, but no one else wanted to move forward with it. With the possibility of losing over 500 jobs, Senator Pollina said that Spaulding’s proposal “undermine[d]” the efforts they were making for young people. “This proposal is clearly not the solution,” he said. Senator Pollina is also in support of an appointed task force and even went as far to suggest a reform of the tax system that was underfunding education.
The President of the VSC United Professionals, Kate Gold, brought into light that the removal of these institutions would leave “no real option for higher ed[ucation] beyond an Associate’s Degree.” As she herself lives in the Northeast Kingdom, Gold cautioned that these Associate’s programs were mostly online, and that many residents did not have access to a dependable internet connection.
Representative Lucy Rogers (D-Lamoille), VSCA President Sandy Noyes, Senator Robert Starr (D-Essex-Orleans), and Senator Joe Benning (R-Caledonia) all spoke in dissatisfaction of the proposal, calling it far worse than the problem itself.
Lt. Governor Zuckerman is asking that everyone takes “a day to breathe” since the vote has been delayed. Other questions that may have not been answered in his press conference can be sent to his Chief of Staff, Deb Wolf, at deb.wolf@vermont.gov.
The Lt. Governor’s full press conference stream can be watched here.