On August 28th, 2024, the Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees announced that Interim President Dr. David Bergh’s contract has been extended to June of 2026. The Critic reached out to some of Lyndon’s most active students to see how they felt about this extension.
Interim President Bergh started in his role in November of 2023 and was originally expected to stay in this role for about a year and a half, allowing the Board of Trustees to complete a search for the next President of Vermont State University. The decision to extend his contract to 2026 was made in confidence by the Board of Trustees with consultation from VSCS Chancellor Elizabeth Mauch.
The Critic asked several returning students if they had any comments on the extension of Interim President David Bergh’s contract, but out of the 15 students that were asked to comment, every single one of them felt they did not feel like he has been very connected to the Lyndon campus. They all echoed the same opinion, that they only saw him once or twice and that he seemed nice, but they have no idea what he has done for our university in his time as Interim President.
One student said, “I don’t have much of an opinion, but I like him because of his response to the flag petition.” The petition mentioned was an attempt to take the Black Lives Matter and Pride flag down from the flagpole outside of the Library Academic Center that was installed for the purpose of flying those flags.
When students were asked what they thought President David Bergh could do to have a better presence on campus, they all echoed the same feelings once again. Most students said that they want him to be on our campus talking to students, being a face, and just having a full business day interacting with students and seeing what our everyday life is like at Lyndon. Some students also said that knowing when he is at Lyndon would be helpful so if they want to discuss concerns, they know that he would be able to be reached instead of him being just a face that emails us now and again.
None of the students that The Critic reached out to for comments had anything negative to say about President David Bergh, they just feel like they haven’t seen him enough or know what he has done for the university.
Peggy Lipscomb
It’s too soon to tell. He’s still getting his legs under him. I wrote to him about the “ghost town” campus effect, and he DOES answer his e-mail.