Castleton University faculty call for a 'pause' on Vermont State University merger

Fifty-five faculty members at Castleton University are calling for the consolidation of the Vermont State Colleges system to be put on hold, saying the process is happening too quickly and risks damaging the schools.

In a letter sent Oct. 26 to Sophie Zdatny, chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges, faculty expressed concern that the speed of the three-college merger put academic programs at risk.

“We are greatly concerned that the haste with which the transformation process is proceeding, with decisions being made in advance of data being collected and analyzed, will result in a system that will collapse,” faculty wrote. “It is a building being constructed before the blueprints are finished.”

The letter is the latest backlash to a controversial plan to rescue the troubled colleges.

After enduring years of dwindling enrollment and a dearth of state funding, the Covid-19 pandemic left the Vermont State Colleges system — which includes Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College — on the brink of shutting down. It also includes the Community College of Vermont, which is not part of the merger plan.

Read more: https://vtdigger.org/2021/11/03/castleton-university-faculty-call-for-a-pause-on-vermont-state-university-merger/