Mad River Glen at it again 🤣

Isn't that person a capitalist or something?

Are they a brother and sister kidnapping team?

Do you have prove any moving expenses? Or is it just a flat payout to those who get in line in time?

Oh.

Not all advice on the internet is bad advice!

There is too much of this crap going on here now. this may not be a popular opinion but we need to make these sicko's pay dearly for crap like this. No more wrist-slaps or suspended sentences

Do not look at the history

We're doing the same thing we usually do; we're talking past each other. I hear what you're saying; what I'm trying to say in response here is that your point doesn't actually contradict mine.

They may or may not have tried meth before.

Yeah, pretty much.

Bernie usually has those stats on the top of his head. I worked at what used to be JSC several years ago, and Bernie spoke at a student rally there. He just rattled off the stats.

Plus, most texts aren’t even available in digital editions. The librarians that spoke on Vermont Edition explained this, as well as how expensive it would be to lease digital texts. Publishers don’t let you purchase them, they are leased. And 10x more expensive if purchased by an institution compared to the same text on amazon. I might not be saying it exactly right, but it was a really fascinating show.

VPR Vermont Edition did a segment on this issue earlier in the week. If you didn’t hear it, check it out. A really good perspective from several professional librarians. A college system without a library! Insane idea.

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u/SaveOurLibrariesVSU is a noble but fruitless cause (IMO)

I love libraries, stacks filled with books, the value of librarians to society writ-large. I loathe what's being perpetuated on them, by ignorance and mean-spirit, in school boards across the nation.

That said, and noting that library closings are unrelated to censorship, they don't serve the purpose they once used to. Yes, the price of digitizing is not cheap; yes, some rarer books will be harder to come by; yes, it's sad to see this sorry decline.

But all the sentiments aren't going to change the reality that most learning can be done in front of a screen or that the printed page is a yesterday phenom. Hopefully, this cuts down the price of 'textbooks' and overall cost of an education as well.

VT and ME are the 2 poorest and least populated States in NE.

Spouse is 20yrs in VSC (now VSU) academic support. It's heartbreaking to see the impact, on students and staff alike, happening in response to hard ground truths. The decline has been long and steady. VT has more 1st gen students than most anywhere in the north; State support for higher ed is paltry. K-12 is facing class shrinkage and higher costs, while depending on federal monies which is increasingly shifting to supporting/vouchering charter and privatized/religious education.

Meanwhile, since 2020 most students have gotten jiggy with the online world. Many/most will admit they don't go to libraries for the books. Newer genZ and beyond will be moreso.

To make matters worse, all the funding that goes into K-12 (including your edu taxes) does little more than make someplace else more literate; considering over 50% leave upon graduation.

And I doubt things will improve until such time as there are more jobs paying livable wages for new grads looking to make a life here; which flies in the face of rural VT being a mostly boring place to grow up or be single in (e.g. why they left in the 1st place). Specially under the mounting pressure of gentrification, high COL, sparse housing and rising wealth inequality.

I don't envy the Chancellors office or their board facing these tough calls, regardless of the politics or finances behind it.

The 'conjoining' of Johnson and Lyndonville into NVU tried to put a band-aid on a bullet wound. The 'new' president resulted in overworked over-commuted faculty and staff and shifted many of the the desirable majors from J to L; despite Lyndonville having a much poorer track record than Johnson.

To me, this is an indicator that the Johnson campus is on the chopping block; mostly by virtue of its campus being too far off the beaten track. That ultimately VSU will be VTC, Castleton and Lyndonville based, but virtualized throughout the State.

RE: internet - maybe starlink will help (but F EL just the same)

I completely understand where you all are coming from. I’m sorry students and staff are put into this position. As a former CCV student I want nothing more than to see VSC succeed. I have to think the lack of transparency is because the outlook behind closed doors is worse than the public knows right now. It’s a hard balance between being transparent and keeping the student applications rolling in.

As a shot in the dark, may I suggest using this “final straw” as a platform to advocate for a massive investment in the VSC endowment…. Like 500m or more. Would bring in steady income to stabilize current campuses and provide some money for future investment.

Pouring political clout into a big (well thought out) investment once seems better than running to tax payers every two years for stopgap funding every time they want to cut back on libraries, janitors, cafeteria staff or staff benefits.

Sadly with Phil Scott in office I don’t think any of it is possible :(

Vermont verde in Rochester is visible from the road and spectacular

I cannot agree more about how vital Vermont’s state university system is to it’s success and it’s prosperity. Like you said, we are currently seeing the harsh realities of not supporting it, and those consequences could take generations to fix if they collapse due to neglect. Vermont needs to prioritize this, along with affordable housing, if we are ever to see Vermont be what we all know it can be.

I hope it doesn't come to that. Particularly in a rural state notorious for its limited internet access. (Typing this from a house in the hills, where we only got actually working internet service a couple years ago. Before that, we relied on, y'know, libraries.)

Exactly so. Some of the people I've spoken to hate everything that's happening but are tied to VSU through financial aid or residency-based scholarships, or just can't afford the extra costs of attending school out of state.

Thank you. I wonder what the state's contribution to VSU schools was in comparison?

Watercolor? Great work, love the ravens, they flock over my house in huge numbers, it’s crazy how loud they get.

I agree, they say they have to consider how they attract future students (I mean, so much for us current students, but whatever). I won't pretend I know how money moves around at the state levels, but surely prioritizing funding public universities, and making improvements to draw in both local and out-of-state students, not to mention international, should be an obvious economical move? Whereas right now, current students are transferring, future students are looking elsewhere, and communities who benefit from college resources and income are facing serious economic consequences.