Download pdf - Burlington Free Press entry

7/29/2019 Burlington Free Press entry

1/22

BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2012 1B

E R M O N T B

For Bill and Lou, two oxen that pliedthe fields at the Green Mountain Collegefarm in Poultney for more than a decade,the daysare numbered.

Unable to continue working as a teambecauseof injury, they will leave thefarmby months end, the college has an-nounced, to be processed for meat. Theresulting hamburger and beef will beserved in the college dining hall and willlast a couple of months, according to col-lege spokesman Kevin Coburn.

Theanimalshavebeen aniconicimageof the college and are regarded with af-fection, Coburn said, so the decision toslaughter them was a difficult one. Thatdecision was made by the farm staff, hesaid, with support from the college ad-ministration.

Its a very emotional issue for every-one here, Coburn said. He said the col-lege community was consulted, that apublic forum was held to get input fromfaculty and students, and that a broadmajority supported the decision.

Headdedthatthedecisionwasinkeep-

ing with the farms past practices andwith the commitment to agricultural sus-tainability. The oxen cost about $300 amonth to maintain, he said.

This has been a difficult decision allaround, farm manager Kenneth Muldersaidinawrittenstatement.Itisthetradi-tional understanding with working cattlethat when they reach the end of theirworkingcareersthey are still productiveas meat animals.Butthatdoes notmakeiteasy.

The decision has aroused oppositionfrom animal rights activists. MiriamJones, co-founder of an animalsanctuaryin Springfield, said the college rejectedan offer to move the oxen there.

This is an especially cruel decisiongiventhat a reputable organization,VINESanctuary, has offeredto provide sanctu-ary to both of them, for the rest of theirlives,at ourown expense, Jones wrote inan email.

An online petition to save Bill and Louhad gathered nearly 3,000 signatures by5:45p.m. Tuesday from across theUnitedStates and overseas. Provost WilliamThroop said he has received a fair num-ber ofemailsaskinghim tospare the ox-en.

Asked why the college declined the

sanctuarys offer, Throop said: We run amodel, sustainable farm that integratesanimal and vegetable production for thedininghall and community-supported ag-riculture. He said this model of sustain-ability has ecological, economic and so-cial dimensions that are served by con-suming the farms own animals that havebeen well-cared-for and have lived goodlives.

He said that in 2009, when studentsquestioned whether the farms pigsshould be slaughtered, the college heldtwo public forums and conducted a sur-

vey of faculty and students, with the re-sult that about 96 percent supported get-ting locally-sourced meat even thoughmore than 30 percent of students werevegetarians.

They recognized that if an education-al institution is going to serve meat, thenits better to know the animals have beenwell-cared-for and have livedgood lives,Throop said, as distinct from supportingfactory agriculture. He noted that itwould not make economic sense for a

Colleges oxen soon to be on the menuSanctuary offered,but Green Mountainanimals destinedfor meat processor

Ben Dube (right) prepares the oxen at Green Mountain College for an oxen steering class in November 2011. The ox in the foreground,named Lou, and his fellow ox, Bill (back left) could become hamburger under the schools plan. EMILY MCMANAMY/FREE PRESS FILE

TIM JOHNSONFree Press Staff Writer

See OXEN, Page6B

Amongthe issues that will face whoev-er iselected attorney generalnextmonth,the question of whether deputy states at-torneys should be able to join the stateemployee union is unlikely to rank high.Still, the three major-party candidatesstance on the matter is a pretty good ba-rometer of who they are and wheretheyre coming from.

In a debate Tuesday at the Burlington

Free Press,the candidatesdefined differ-ences on a variety of topics,from nuclearpower to drugs to qualifications for thejob of attorney general.

On the issue of whether deputy statesattorneys should be able unionize to bar-gain for wages, the threespanned the po-litical spectrum withtheir responses. Theissue arose after the Vermont State Em-ployees Association cited it as its reasonfor endorsing Progressive Ed Stanakscampaign.

IncumbentDemocrat Bill Sorrell: Idont take a position on the deputy statesattorneysbeingable to organize. ...I dontpersonallyhave a problemwith thedepu-ty states attorneysbeing able to organizeand bargain on the issue of salaries andbenefits.

Progressive Stanak: I dont even

know whywere havingthis discussioninthe 21st century, whether or not working

Three attorney general candidates define differencesTERRI HALLENBECKFree Press Staff Writer

From left: Republican Jack McMullen; Attorney General Bill Sorrell, Democrat; andProgressive Ed Stanak answer questions at Tuesdays debate. RYAN MERCER/FREE PRESSSeeDEBATE,Page 6B


2/22

said he favors straight decriminalization of smallamounts. Stanak wants to legalize the drug, along withagricultural hemp.

Bothchallengerssaid theythink Sorrell haslittle hopeof prevailingin hisappeal of theVermont Yankeecase, inwhicha federal judgerejected the stateLegislaturesef-fortsto deny thenuclear powerplantpermission to keepoperating.

McMullen accused both Sorrell and Stanak of beingactivistsin theirapproachto thejob,whichshouldbe thejobof theLegislature, notthe attorney general. Theresplentyto do,as Bill hasjustoutlined, in theattorneygen-eral shop without forging completely newpolicy groundthrough creative interpretationsand surprising lawsuitsthat catch people off guard, McMullen said. He didntspecify examples of Sorrell doing so,but has previouslycriticized Sorrell for his offices action against compa-nies such asCabotCreamery fortheirmisuse ofthe termVermont made.

He said Sorrell wasa moderate activistand Stanakmore so. Neither denied it.

Sorrell said he is an activist on issues such as estab-lishing hazing policies, bias-free policing and obesity,where he has advocated for a tax on soda.

Stanaksaid theattorneygeneral shouldbe more of anactivist, standing up for economic equality, defendingVermonters pensions against the actions of Wall Street

banks and protecting personal privacy of Vermonters.

Contact Terri Hallenbeck at 651-4887 [email protected]. Follower her onTwitter at www.twitter.com/terrivt

people have a right to organize and collectively bargainfor working conditions, salaries and benefits. Allworkers have the right to organize. Bottom line. Republican Jack McMullen: I havent thought the

problem through. My first impression is its a bad idea.Just over a month after Sorrell escaped a primary

race challenge by the skin of his teeth, the general elec-tion campaign has a whole differentfeelto it. Gone wasthe edge-of-the-seat defense that Sorrell put on when hewas being challenged by Chittenden County States At-torney T.J. Donovan.

In Tuesdaysdebate, Sorrell lookedand sounded likeacandidatewhos feeling a lotless pressure in thegeneralelection than he did in the primary. He came out of thebox noting that what makes him more qualified than hisopponents is that he is admitted to the Vermont bar topractice law.

Bystatelaw, theattorney general doesnothaveto beapracticing lawyer.

McMullen,of Burlington,is a lawyerlicensedto prac-tice elsewhere, but has not taken the bar exam in Ver-mont. He runs a business strategy consulting company

andhas saidhesworkingon hisVermontlicense,but thatthe job ofattorneygeneral ismoreof a managementpo-sition.

Stanak, ofBarre, said threedecades agohe completedthefour-yearprocessofreadingforthelawthatVermontallows, butdidnttakethe barexambecausehis wife waspregnant with twins and he needed a job with benefits.Hewentontoandwasheadofthestateemployeesunion.Beforethat,he workedas a researcher forthe DefenderGenerals Office, whichhe saidincludedpreparingcrim-inal defense cases.

Candidates priorities

McMullensaid drug-related crimeis thebiggest issuefacing the attorney general.

Thats the chief basis of my candidacy, McMullensaid.

He argued that Sorrell has focused on consumer pro-tection issuesat theexpense of fighting drug crime. Be-

causeof Sorrellslackof leadershipon theissue, thestatehas 14 different standards one for each county fortackling drug crime instead of a statewide approach,McMullen said.

McMullen pointed out that several Vermont mayorshadcomplainedto Donovan during theprimarythat theyneverheard from Sorrell about drug crime in theircom-munities. Hehasnt reallystressed his criminal activityuntil T.J. and I started pointing out his weaknesses,McMullen said.

Sorrell counteredthathe workednot with mayorsbutpoliceand prosecutorsto coordinateprosecution of drugcrimes. Hesaidthemayorsalsoneverreachedout tohimwith their concerns.

Sorrell indicated, however, that Donovans campaignhad animpacton him.I willmakeit a point onoccasion,as I get around the state, to talk to mayors, he said.

Stanaksaidthe emphasison drugsis misguided. Thewar on drugs, I think, has been a total misallocation ofresources, he said.

More importantto him, he said, is to fight issuessuchas eroding personal privacyand hiddencredit card fees.While McMullen and Sorrell both said they favor al-

lowing police access without a warrant to Vermonters

prescription druginformationso theycan crackdown onthosewith multiple prescriptions for the samedrug, Sta-

nak opposed it. He said it makes more sense to go to thesource of thoseprescriptions doctors and pharmaceu-tical companies.

On marijuana, McMullen said he favors decriminal-ization forthe first fewtimesa personis caught.Sorrell

DebateContinued from Page1B

Attorney GeneralBill Sorrell. PHOTOSBY RYAN MERCER/FREE

PRESS

Republicancandidate JackMcMullen.

Progressivecandidate EdStanak.

AGDEBATES

To watch Tuesdays debate online, visit www.burlington-freepress.com.The candidates will debate again at noon on Oct. 19 onVermont Public Radios Vermont Edition.

6B BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2012

John Doyle &

Oisin McAuley

AFTER

DARKMUSIC SERIES

Tickets now on sale at:Main Street Stationery or by mail.

P.O. Box 684 Middlebury, VTe-mail: [email protected]

www.afterdarkmusicseries.com

(802) 388-0216

John Doyle is one of themost influential and impor-tant musicians in Irish musictoday. Oisin McAuley isrenowned as having one ofthe finest fiddle traditionsof the 21st century.

Intermediate guitar workshopat 2:00 p.m. See website.

Saturday, October 20at 7:30 p.m.

Town Hall Theater

dairy farm to continue maintaining non-producing cows until their natural death.

Throop, whose academic specialty isecological ethics, said he respects animalrights activists views, and hopes they

will respect thecolleges stance. Hesaidapublicforum heldat the collegeon Oct.4,like the earlier poll,favored consumptionof the animals, although he acknowledgedthe decision is morally vexed.

Bill andLou hadbeen mainstaysof thecolleges research and education pro-gram in draft animal farming. Their pho-to is on thecollege farms Facebook page,and theyre profiled in a 51-second videoon thecollegeswebsite: Theyweigh 3,500

pounds between them, eat 100 pounds aday, and can be seen towing farm ma-chines or loaders that weigh up to 400pounds.

Lous left rear hock was injured in thepast year. It didnt heal; he wasnt able toreturn to work, and his longtime partner,Bill, wasbelieved to be unwilling to workwith any other animal, Coburn said. Thecollege acquired a replacement team

over the summer.Whilemany of our students arevege-tarians, they still support the decision toprocess Bill and Lou for meat when bal-anced against the cost of feeding, water-ing,sheltering andprovidingmedicalser-vice forthe animals,Coburn wrote in anemail. For students on campus who doeat meat, they value meat that comesfrom outside the industrial factory proc-essand meat that is locally sourced.

The sanctuarys blog launched a callfor action to save the oxen, and accord-ing Jones, we have been inundated withpositive responses including frommany Vermonters as well as alumni ofGreen Mountain College. No one thinksthis is a good idea, and many individualsare very clear that the reputation of thecollegewillsuffer ifthey go through withthis.

We urge theprovostto decidein favorofallowingBill andLou virtual mascotsof Green Mountain College to live outthe rest of their natural lives at VINESanctuary. It's the right thing to do.

Throop said he isnt about to reconsid-er. He said the oxen would be taken forslaughterat theendof themonth toa localfacility that works very humanely.

Weve thought about this a lot overmultipleyears,he said.Beingbombard-

ed with petitions is not the way to dealwith ethical issues. Theway is to sitdownat the table and have a discussion, andweve done that.

Contact Tim Johnson at 660-1808 [email protected].

OxenContinued from Page1B

Students mow a field with oxen Bill andLou. FILEPHOTO COURTESY KEVINCOBURN/GMC

C O V E R S T O R I E S


3/22

PRIDE IS BACK How team plans to rebound.

7 questions about the 2012-13 season.

Meet 9 new players.

Season schedule.

UVM captainH.T. Lenz RYANMERCER/FREE PRESS

INSIDE: 4-page mens hockey season previewUVM

F R I D A Y , O C T O B E R 5 , 2 0 1 2

$1.00 Volume 185, No. 279

0 24 0 9 0 1 0 1 00 1

P R I N T E D I N V E R M O N T

CLOUDY

64/48

T O D A Y

74/52PARTLY CLOUDY

Vermont Technical College awarded a local environmental consult-

ant two no-bid contracts over two years totaling $140,000, despite aninstitutional policy that requires competitive bidding for purchases ofmore than $50,000.

The same consultant received seven smaller contracts spanning2007-10and totaling $153,000.Those contracts were apparently not sub-ject to competitive bidding either, although the policy recommends itfor purchases over $5,000.

Theconsultant is Frank Reed, whodoes business at CatamountCon-sulting in Randolph, where Vermont Technical Colleges main campusis located. Reed has served on the Randolph Development Review

Discussing recent issues at Vermont Technical College (VTC), members of the leadership at VTC and Vermont State Colleges gather for a meeting on Monday. From left: Geoff Lindemer,dean of administration at VTC; Tim Donovan, chancellor of VSC; Dr. Philip Conroy, president of VTC; and Tom Robbins, CFO of VSC. Not pictured: Dan Smith, executive assistant to Donovan.EMILY MCMANAMY/FREE PRESS

Vermont Tech didnt follow itsown policy in awarding $140,000in contracts to a consultant who

is also Randolph Selectboardchairman

TIM JOHNSONFree Press Staff Writer

SeeTECH, Page14A

2011 Toyota Tundra Platinum

FP-0000315579

We have over 300 new and pre owned units to choose from!! See them all live onhandycarscom

NADA Retail $45,600HANDY Discount $5,612H AN DY Price $39,988

OVER 300 NEW AND PREOWNED UNITS TO CHOOSE FROM!

See them all live on WWW.HANDYCARS.COM!!

1 owner new car trade in!

5.7 V8

Leather and all the toys!

Only 26000 miles

PLATIUM PACKAGE!!

Try to find one!

WATCH FOR OUR NEW TOYOTA STORE RELOCATION (COMING SOON)

Stock # 23111A

No bid, no problem?

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: BFA-St. Albans builds formidable offense line, 20A.


4/22

14A BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2012

Board and, since 2011,on theSelectboard,which he now chairs.

Two of his recent contracts $60,000,for 2011-12, and $80,000, covering 15months in 2010-11 were to assist withplans for an anaerobic digester on cam-pus and for development of the collegesCenter for Sustainable Practices, amongother tasks.

Vermont State Colleges purchasingpolicy, which applies to goods, servicesand equipment, states: Purchases ex-ceeding $50,000 per transaction requirecompetitive bidding in the form of a Re-questfor Proposal process. A competitivebid process, or simplified competitive

bidding process, is encouraged and ex-pected for all purchases between $5,000and $50,000.

The Reed contracts were obtained un-der a documents request from the FreePress that also sought any Requests forProposals issued in connectionwith thoseagreements. No RFPs were supplied bythe college.

Asked why none of the contracts wasput out to bid, college President PhilipConroy said he could only speak aboutwhathad happened under hispresidency,which began April 1, 2011. The $80,000contract had three months to run and thedigester project, which he inherited, wasnear a critical point, he said.

Thatwasoneofthethingsthat,whenIarrived, needed to have some attention,because it wasnt moving forward very

well, Conroy said. We have since cor-rected most of those issues, and the pro-ject is moving forward.

Asked why he awarded a no-bid con-

tract of $60,000 to Reed in June 2011, hesaid hemadea judgmentcallto keeptheproject on track. Conroy added that re-sponsibility for the digester has sincebeen moved in-house, to the Center forSustainable Practices.

Conroysaidthathe expects hisadmini-stration to abideby the purchasing policy.

The known practice of this admini-stration at Vermont Tech, Conroy said,isto seekmultiple requests forquotationon projects that are over $5,000.

Dan Smith, director of community re-lations and public policy for VermontStateColleges,elaboratedabout the ratio-nale for the $60,000 contract in a writtenstatement:

Given the time pressures and chal-lenges of the biodigester project, therewas a consensus that continuing to work

with this consultant would avoid unac-ceptable delays to the project, along withan understanding that responsibilitywould be shifted in-house over time. ...

Thealternative would have been likely to

cause delays that would threaten thewhole project.

Smith also noted that the bidding of$5,000-$50,000 projects is discretionaryunder the purchasing policy.

The $80,000 contract and seven othercontracts with Reed were issued duringthe administration of Ty Handy, whoserved as president of the college fromJune 2006 to May 2010. Handy assumedthe presidency of Northwest FloridaState College in June 2010.

I just dont recall what happened,Handysaid,whencontactedby phoneandasked why the contracts werent bid out.

The $4 million digester will produceelectricity from food andfarmwaste. Thecollege expects to seek a certificate ofpublic good from the Public ServiceBoard and to break ground in the spring.

The Vermont Tech biodigester pro-ject is a vital part of thecolleges commit-ment to sustainability andthe delivery ofan applied educational experience thatgives students the skills and knowledgenecessary to play a leadership role in thegreen economy, Smith said.

Reed did not respond to two phonemessages or to an email asking about hisconsulting work. He has also worked atthecollege since 2007as a part-timetutorand as a weatherization instructor.

Asked if Reeds consultancy work forthecollege andhis roles as a town officialamounted to a conflict of interest, Ver-montState Colleges chancellorTim Dono-vansaid hehad no concernaboutany con-flict affecting the college. Smith and Do-novan also said Reed has been conscien-tious about publicly disclosing his

relationship to the college and about re-cusing himself from Selectboard and de-velopment review board deliberationsthat involve the college.

Areviewofdevelopmentreviewboard

decisions showed that Reed recused him-self from several college-related casesbut participated in two a college re-quest to expanda residential building anda request to construct an office building.Reed disclosed his relationship to thecol-lege, according to meeting minutes, andneither caseappearedto relate to hiscon-sulting work.

Smith, the community relations direc-tor, said the college had hired Reed as aconsultant becausehe was a local special-ist who hadthe necessary expertise,witha Ph.D. in soil science.

Most of Reeds consulting contractsfrom 2007 through 2011calledforwork ondeveloping the colleges Center for Sus-tainable Practices, in addition to the di-gester and other projects. The center islocated inAllenHouse,a historicbuilding

that was renovated at a cost of $1.2 mil-lion, according to President Conroy. (Afederal grant, college money and fund-raising covered the cost, Conroy said.)

Conroy said the purpose of the center,which has a staff of two (a director and afellow), is toassistthe college in itscom-mitment to sustainablepractices,a func-tion that alsoincludes oversight of thedi-gester project.

At one timeit was set upas a separaterevenue center, Conroy said. Frankly,when I arrived, it did not make too muchsense. There were some grants it wasmanaging that were better managed inthe Office of Continuing Education, so Imade that change.

The Center for Sustainable Practiceswas probably an idea in its origins thatwasdifferentthanhowitplayedout,said

Donovan, whobecame chancellorin 2009....thepurpose of that center has been re-thought in a way that scales to what theresources are.

Discussing recent issues at Vermont Technical College (VTC), members of the leadership at VTC and Vermont State Colleges gather for a meeting on Monday. EMILY MCMANAMY/FREE PRESS

Dr. Philip Conroy, president of VermontTechnical College, meets with the BurlingtonFree Press to discuss recent concerns raisedregarding no-bid contracts at the school.

TechContinued from Page1A

C O V E R S T O R Y


5/22

$2.00 Volume 185, No. 218

0 94 0 9 0 1 01 0 0 2


SHOWERSLIKELY

64/48

T O D A Y

88/67STORMY

388 Pine StreetBurlington, VT

Mon - Sat 10-6 Sun 12-5802-862-5056

To celebraTe our 28Th AnniVerSAry

Its wy f giving k t th nvinmnt f th tifwdn fnit w hv sd v th ys.

We Are PlAnTing 280 TreeSthgh Th Nt cnsvny www.nt.g

S U N D A Y , A U G . 5 , 2 0 1 2

THE LONDON GAMES:TEAM USA TESTEDIN BASKETBALL;VERMONTERS MEDALQUEST CONTINUES.SPORTS 18A-20A

ANTIQUE-LOVINGVERMONTBROTHERS ONHISTORY CHANNEL.ARTSBTV 10C

S P E C I A L R E P O R T

remiumprofessorsSenior UVM administrators highly paid when they assume faculty roles. INSIDE 4A

n Salary nNext highest salary in that department nDifference between between top earner and next highest salary

MELTING LANDSCAPE:FOLLOW ONE FAMILYSJOURNEY TO WITNESS THEARCTICS FADING GLORY.GREEN MOUNTAIN 1C

Rachel K.Johnson

Nutrition andfoodsciencedepartment

Jill TaruleCollegeof

education andsocial services

LarryForcierRubenstein

SchoolofEnvironmentandNaturalResources

BettyRambur

Collegeofnursingandhealthsciences

JohnEvans(half-time)

Molecularphysiologyandbiophysics

Dan FogelEnglish

EleanorMiller

Sociology

JohnM.Hughes

Geology

$195,0

00

$118,7

81

$172,6

51

$124,3

56

$148,5

30

$118,6

55

$159,8

63

$118,6

24

$159,7

40

$134,2

52

$146,1

84

$135,9

38

$141,2

13

$129,8

34

$151,2

46

$146,6

36

$76,219 $48,295 $29,875 $41,239 $25,488 $10,246 $11,379 $4,610


6/22

4A BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2012

1525 Shelburne Rd., So. Burlington (across from Heritage Toyota in the Jiffy Lube building)

NEW HOURS: Tuesday - Friday (10 AM - 5 PM); Saturday (10 AM - 4 PM)

We Also Buy Scrap Gold and Sterling Silver

N O W P A Y I N G

Bring us your Gold, Silver, Coins,

Currency, Diamonds, Fine Watches& Estate Jewelry and

Well Give You Top Dollar!

C O I N S & J E W E L R Y

Authorized Dealer

A+Rated

FOR COINS, CURRENCY& UNWANTED GOLD!

John K. Martin Jr.(A.N.A. Certified Numismatist)

FP-0000310871

Not only do we provide

the quality products

that make your bath or

kitchen beautiful and

functional, but we provide

the expertise to make your

project go smoothly.

Ofer Expires August 31, 2012

COME SEEOUR EXPANDED

VANITY DISPLAYS!

FP-0000311188

Formula for toppingthe pay charts

the college.) John N. Evans, who stepped down as

dean of the College of Medicine in 2007,has a salary of $302,492. According toUVM, he serves as senior advisor to thepresident (50 percent) and as full profes-

sor in molecular physiology and biophys-ics (50 percent). At half the total, Evansfaculty salary is about $4,600 more thanthe comparable, prorated salary of thehighest-paid faculty member in the Mo-lecular Physiology and Biophysics De-partment.

Thereare exceptions. Neither FrancesCarr, former vice president for researchandnowa professor ofpharmacology, norE. Lauck Parke, former vice provost andnow associate professor in the School ofBusiness Administration, is highest-paidamong their colleagues of the same rank.

Retreat salaries for sittingexecutives

Several current administrators whowere initially hired into executive posi-

tions have secondary faculty appoint-ments with base salaries already set salaries that are the highest in their re-

Jill Tarule, former dean and formerassociateprovost,earns $159,863as a pro-fessor in theCollege of Educationand So-cial Services, about $41,000more than thenext- highest-paid professor in the col-lege.

John M. Hughes, former provost,earns $148,530 as professor of geology,about $30,000more than hisnext-highest-paid colleague.

Betty Rambur, former dean of theCollege of Nursing and Health Sciences,earns $159,740, about $25,000 more thanthe next-highest-paid nursing facultymember.

Lawrence Forcier, former dean andformer special adviser to the president,earns$141,213as an associate professor inthe Rubenstein School of Environmentand Natural Resources, about $11,000more than the highest-paid professor inthe school.

Rachel K. Johnson, former dean ofthe College of Agriculture and Life Sci-ences andformer associate provost, hasasalaryof $146,184 asa professor inthe Nu-

trition and Food Science Department,about $10,000 more than her highest-paiddepartmentalcolleague. (In2011, JohnsonwasnamedBickfordGreenand Gold Pro-fessor, the firstendowed professorshipin

When Dan Fogel stepped down aspresident of the University ofVermont last summer, his transi-

tion package including 17 months ofprorated paidleave at hispresidentialsal-ary of $322,563 received plentyof pub-lic attention. So did UVMs disclosure ofthe salary he would receive as tenuredprofessor of English when he joins thefaculty in January2013 $195,000 a year.Thats about $76,000 more than the next-highest-paid professor in the EnglishDe-partment gets.

Fogel is notalone.A numberof formerUVM administrators who have assumedfaculty positionsare paid more insomecases, considerably more than any oftheir departmental colleagues. Other ex-amples:

Eleanor Miller, former dean of the

College of Arts and Sciences, now a pro-fessorof sociology, hasa faculty salary of$172,651, about $48,000 more than thenext-highest-paid professor in that de-partment.

Senior UVM administrators highly paid when they assume faculty roles

TIM JOHNSONFree Press staff writer

SeePROFESSORS, Page 5A

Dan Fogel is notalone. A number

of former UVMadministratorswho haveassumed facultypositions are paidmore in somecases,considerablymore than anyof their

departmentalcolleagues.

C O V E R S T O R Y


7/22

BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2012 5A

FP-0000311460

ADHDThe Clinical Neuroscience Research Unit

is seeking 13-18 year olds

for a research study investigatingADHD and the brain.

Study includes a brain scan!

Compensation up to

$50 gift certificate to the

University Mall

CALL beforesummerends!

For more informationCall Eva at 802-847-5444

$105,600 in 2002-03 about $27,000 morethan the next- highest-paid professorssalary in the English Department at thattime includeda 10percentpremiumforsignificant scholarly activity and an-other 10 percent for administrative ex-perience, according to his appointment

letter signed by then-interim provostJohn Bramley. This administrative con-versionof20percent,Bramleywrote, isthe same methodology that has been em-ployed to establish academic salaries foradministrators in recent years.

Nine years later, whenFogel preparedto stepdown andhis post-presidentialfac-ulty salarywas beingset bythe board,the20 percent guideline was invoked again,according to Enrique Corredera, univer-sity spokesman, who was asked how the$195,000 figure was arrived at.

Butthiswas nota strictformulaic cal-culation, he wrote of the 20 percent pre-mium. As is the case at peer institutionsthe Board arrived at a final figure thatalso recognizes the value of his contribu-tions to the institution during his 9-yeartenureas president,and inthe endthe sal-

ary was negotiated as part of Dans ar-rangements to step down as President.

and responsibility. The size of the in-crease varies by academic unit. A facultymembernamedassociate deanin theCol-lege ofArtsand Sciences might seea payincrease of 25 percent. For an associateprovost, the pay hike might be aboutone-third.

Whythedisparity?

The reasons for these faculty pay dis-parities vary. In some cases, executivesand former executives contend, theirhigher faculty pay reflects their scholar-ly credentials, achievements and market

value.UVM also has a longstanding policy of

rewarding executives-turned-professorsfor their administrative experience.

In Fogels case, a retreat salary of

be more than $17,000 above that of thehighest-paid professor in the school, whohappens to be the dean he succeeded.

Thesecomparativelyhigh retreatsala-ries echo the administrative salariesthese executives received when they be-gan work at UVM. As incoming dean,Grasso earned about 31 percent morethan his predecessor. Sullivan, as presi-dent, makes about 29 percentmore in sal-ary than Fogel received during his lastyear as chief executive. Sharmas salaryas dean is about 43 percent higher thanthat of the dean he succeeded.

UVMalso fillssome senioradministra-

tiveposts fromwithin.Most faculty mem-bers appointed to these jobs move fromnine-month to 12-month positions, andtheir pay as administrators increasescommensurately with the additional time

spective departments. Those salaries areknown as retreat salaries the basepay rates these executives are eligible toreceivewhentheystep down from thead-ministrationto assumefacultyduties. Re-treat salaries are pegged to a certain fis-cal year and rise in subsequent years atrates in keeping with the faculty unionscollective bargaining agreements.

Domenico Grasso, now vice presi-dent for research and dean of the gradu-ate college, arrived at UVM in 2005 asdean of the College of Engineering andMathematical Sciences at a salary of$200,000. His retreat salary as an engi-neering professor was set at $171,800,higher than other faculty salaries in thecollegeatthattimeandhigherthanthatofthe dean who preceded him. With collec-tive bargaining agreement adjustments,his retreat salary this year could amountto $222,176, nearly $32,000 above that ofthe highest-paid professor in the college.(Excluding contractually allowed per-formance raises that totaled 7 percentbetween 2005and 2013, UVMfaculty sala-

ries increased up to 13.25 percent from2005to 2008, upto12 percentfrom 2008 to2011, and 1 percent from 2011 to 2013.)

E. Thomas Sullivan, who took officeas UVM president this month at a salaryof $417,000, has a secondary appointmentin the Political Science Department.Sulli-van, a formerprovost at theUniversity ofMinnesota, was a tenured law professorthereat a faculty salaryof $340,000. UVMdoesnthavea lawschool. Sullivans UVMretreat salary was set at $170,000,morethan$44,000 abovewhat the next-highest-paid professor in the department re-ceives.That salary is based on the2010-11national mediansalary for fullprofessorsof legal professions and studies, accord-ingtoamemotoSullivanfromRobCioffi,chairman of the UVM Board of Trustees.

Sanjay Sharma was named dean of

the School of Business Administrationlast year at a salary of $320,000. His re-treat salary was then set at $199,875. His2012-13 retreat salary, after the minimalcollective bargaining adjustment, would SeePROFESSORS, Page 6A

ProfessorsContinued from Page 4A

E. Thomas Sullivan Eleanor Miller Larry Forcier John Evans Rachel Johnson Sanjay Sharma

Jill Tarule Betty Rambur Dan Fogel Domenico Grasso John Hughes

RETREATSALARIES

Several current administrators who were initially hired into executive positions have secondaryfaculty appointments with base salaries already set, called retreat salaries. Here are the salaries forsome current administrators with such contracts: Vice President for Research Domenico Grassos salary is $222,176. Grasso would teach in theCollege of Engineering and Math Sciences at a salary of $190,398; a difference of $31,778 to thenext highest department salary. President E. Thomas Sullivan, president, Political Science Department, current salary $170,000,

retreat salary $125,498, difference: $44,502. Dean Sanjay Sharma, School of Business Administration, current salary $201,874, retreat sala-ry$184,201, difference of $17,673.

C O V E R S T O R Y


8/22

6A BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2012

UVMs pastpractice

The practice of rewarding former ex-ecutives for their administrative experi-ence has rankled some UVM faculty

members over the years.I have publicly stated that prior ad-ministrative experience should not be aconsideration in determining the salaryfor a faculty job involving teaching andresearch, said David Shiman, presidentof UnitedAcademics, thefaculty union,inan email. He noted that in bargaining forthecurrent contract, theunion negotiatedremoval of language in the previousagreement that permitted the provost toraise the salary of an administrator re-turning to the faculty in recognition oftheindividuals experience as an adminis-trator.Thecontractgives theprovost lat-itude to raise thesalary for some factors,butnot explicitlyfor administrative expe-rience.

Therewasnoreferencetothiscontrac-tual change in a memo presented to trust-eesforreviewinMay.Thememowaspartof a presentation on executivecompensa-tion by then-interim President JohnBramley. It was titledStepsin Establish-ingaFacultySalaryforIndividualsInitia-lly Hired Into an Administrative Posi-tion, and it referred to two possible sup-plements of up to10 percent for adminis-trative experience first, when theretreatsalary is set,and second, when theadministratoractuallymovesintothefac-ulty position.

The executive compensation materi-als should have referenced this provisionin the new faculty contract, Correderasaid in an email. That was an oversight,and it will be corrected. However, not allfaculty members are covered by the con-tract so the language does apply to non-represented faculty.

Before he left his position as interimpresident, Bramley was asked the ratio-nale for basing a former executives fac-ultysalary partlyon administrative expe-rience. He said that such academics tendto be high achievers and positioned tomake significant contributions to theuni-versity.

These folks are high-flying people,he said.

Explaining the rationale on behalf oftheUVM administration (see boxon Page7A), Corredera said that recognizing ad-ministrativeexperiencehas notonly beenpart of UVMs compensation philoso-phy,itisawidelyused highereducationpractice.

What theemployees say

EachUVM employee mentionedin this

storywascontactedandofferedanoppor-tunity to comment about the pay dispar-ities and about UVMs compensation pol-icy.

On their comparatively high pay, Fo-gel, Grasso and Sharma all said that theirfaculty salaries were justified on the ba-sis of scholarly accomplishment.

Fogel supplied an annotated CV andcited books written and awards won overa career as full professor that hasspannednearly28years.Henotedthatre-treat salaries for presidents and chance-lors can be very substantial in the na-tionalmarket.Therefore,hesaid,hissala-ry resulted from a convergence of twofactors, academic attainmentsand the ad-ministrative market. My sense is thatthose elements are closely intertwinedwith the highly competitive nature of

higher education.Grasso, after acknowledging he wassomewhat uncomfortable discussing sal-ary, saidhebelieveshisretreatsalarywas

based not on his administrative experi-ence but on my capabilities as a scholarand teacher.

I have hadthe good fortuneof havinghad a very successful career as a facultymember, he wrote in an email. He notedthat many of his graduate student advis-ees have gone on to faculty positions atmajor universities (a common indicatorof quality).

Based on my expertise as a scholar, Iserved as vice chair of the EPA ScienceAdvisory Board advising the head of theEPA as well as many other advisory andreview boards, Grasso wrote.My workhas been cited over1,600 times.

Sharma,who wasdeanat theJohnMol-son School of Business at Concordia Uni-versity in Montreal before he came toUVM, suggested that his retreat salarywas on the low side.

MybasesalaryatWilfridLaurierUni-versity in Canada in 2006 was $170,000,he wrote in an email. I was the CanadaResearch Chair in Organizational Sus-tainability. This is 6 years later. If I wasnot to take on an administrative position,as one of the worlds leading scholars incorporate sustainability I would be an at-tractive candidate for a chaired positionin a leading business school. When I wasthe dean of the John Molson School ofBusiness, I hired a chaired professor insustainability at a salary of $250,000 ayear in 2009. Therefore, my faculty re-treat salary is lower than it would be

based on my scholarship and teachingcredentials.Forcier, of the Rubenstein School, said

he came to UVM from a tenured position

at another institution and is now in his43rdyearat UVM. Abouttwo-thirds ofhistime at UVM has been focused on aca-demicadministration,but he saidhe lovesteaching,andthathe teachesabout50 per-cent more credit hours than the averagefaculty member.

He saidhis administrative backgroundhelps with his teaching.

I still often draw upon academic andpractical knowledge gained from my ad-ministrativeexperience as wellas profes-sional contacts when designing courses,teaching, advising undergraduate andgraduate students, and writing grants,Forcier wrote in an email. That knowl-

edgeandexperiencehelpsmebeaneffec-tive teacher.

Fogel offered a robust argument forthe relevance of administrative experi-ence in setting a faculty salary.

When seriously engagedscholars andteachers takeon 24/7high-stressadminis-trative work for the commonweal, theyare giving up a great deal, professionallyand also personally, he wrote. And yethighly accomplished academics withleadership qualities are best suited forsenior administrative positions. Thesefacts naturally raise expectations forcompensation in lieu of the sacrificessuch individuals incur. They are in thebest position to negotiatein a competitivemarket that values their contribution. ...(E)verybody values that combination ofacademic distinction and leadership. And

you cant separate them. They are bothrelevant.Id also observe, with respect to ad-

ministrators resuming faculty appoint-

ments, that the work of the faculty is notall teaching and scholarship. Ask anyoneon the tenure-track, and Im sure theyllagree. A greatdeal offaculty workis ser-vice departmental, college, university,and public service and much of that isin essenceadministrative.A seasonedad-ministrator returning to the facultyshould have much to offer departmentalcolleagues, simply in savvy, know-how,and accruedwisdom.

No comment

John Evans, whose position is listed ashalf professor/half senior adviser to thepresident, did not reply to the Free Pressemail query, which asked what teachingand research he does in his capacity asprofessor of physiology. Asof lateJuly,hewasnotlistedamongthefacultyintheDe-partment of Molecular Physiology andBiophysics.

Thequeryalso asked Evans to providea brief justification of his salary. Accord-ing to UVM, his current salary of$302,492, unchanged since October 2010.Half is paid by the College of Medicineand half by the UVM administration, re-flecting Evans dual role. Most of his du-ties are administrative, a UVM spokes-man said.

AnApril 17, 2006, letter to Evans fromthen-provost John Bramley set the termsofEvanspost-dean employment at UVM.As full professor in the College of Medi-cine, he would receive a total salary of$265,508. The letter stipulates that Yoursalary will not be reduced during the bal-ance of your career at the University ex-cept under extraordinary circum-stances.

Reached by phone, Evans said he hadreceived theemailqueryand hadno com-ment.

Im not interested in having a discus-sion about it, he said.

Carole L. Whitaker, assistant dean forcommunications in the College of Medi-cine, was then asked byemail todescribewhat teaching and research Evans hasdone since 2007 in his capacity as profes-sor. A day later she provided a responsethat was prepared, she said, after confer-ring with Evans and Tom Gustafson,UVMsvice president foruniversityrela-

tions and campus life.The response included an unsolicited

summary of Evans career at the Collegeof Medicine ( 36 years at theCollege thatincluded 14 years as Executive Dean, In-terimDeanand Dean) and a detailed de-scription of his role as senior advisor.

In that role, Whitaker wrote, Evanshasresponsibility forfosteringthe com-mercialization of intellectual propertyand building relationships with the pri-vate sector, both of which are criticallyimportant for the College of Medicine aswell as the University. Among his otherresponsibilities, she wrote,are servingaspresident of the Vermont TechnologyCouncil, leading an internship programthathecreatedunderthecouncilsauspic-es, and chairing the statewide board forthe Vermont EPsCOR program. She also

wrote that he

provides leadership forthe UVM Office of Technology Commer-

ProfessorsContinuedfrom Page 5A

University of Vermont students file out of Waterman Monday, April 12, 2010.FREE PRESS FILE

These folksare high-flyingpeople.JOHNBRAMLEY former interim

president of the University ofVermont

ContinuedonPage 7

C O V E R S T O R Y


9/22

BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 2012 7A

Activation/upgradefee/line:Upto $35.IMPORTANTCONSUMERINFORMATION:Subject to Cust. Agmt, Calling Plan, rebate form & credit approval. Up to $350 early termination fee/line. Unlimited calling for directly dialed, live calls between individuals. Offers & coverage, varying by svc, notavailable everywhere; see vzw.com. Limited-time offer. Restocking fee may apply. Rebate debit card takes up to 6 wks & e xpires in 12 months. LTE is a trademark of ETSI. 4G LTE is available in more than 300 markets in the U.S. DROID is a trademark of

Lucasfilm Ltd. and its related companies. Used under license. 2012 Verizon Wireless. F2437

1.800.256.4646 VERIZONWIRELESS.COM/SALE VZW.COM/STORELOCATOR

GET MORE 4G LTE COVERAGE THAN ALL OTHER NETWORKS COMBINED.

Allphonesrequirea new2-yr. activation.

UnlimitedTALKUnlimitedTEXT

ShareableDATA onup to10 devices

GIVE THEM THE DATATHEY NEED TO TACKLE

THE SCHOOL YEARWITHAVERIZONSMARTPHONE.

ShareableDatameans yourwholefamilycanshareall thedatathey need.

SamsungGalaxy Tab 7.7

Buyone4G LTE Samsungsmartphone,get

$50OFFANYnew4G LTE Samsung tablet

Galaxy Nexus by Samsung

$9999$149.992-yr. price $50mail-in rebatedebit card.

cialization and forthe UVM re-lationship with Sandia NationalLaboratories, and that heserveson theboardofthe Centerfor Energy Transformation andInnovationlab, partof theSandiacollaboration.

According to UVMs onlinecatalogue, Evans received a

Ph.D. at the University of Flori-da in 1976 and his initial facultyappointment at UVM that sameyear.

Asked why Evans was miss-ing from the department websi-te,Whitaker said the college isengaged in a major website mi-gration project and that thephysiology department had notyet beenupdated.This hasbeen

corrected, she wrote.As forteaching, shesaid:Dr.

Evans gives a series of lecturesin the VermontIntegrated Curri-culumduringthe firstyear med-ical course Human Structureand Function, which he hasdonesince1976.

As for research, Whitakerciteda distinguishedcareer asaresearcherprior to hisassuming

majorleadership rolesat UVM.His specialty was pulmonarydisease, she said, for which hiswork was internationally recog-nized. She acknowledged thatEvans has not had a funded re-search project in the last fiveyears.

Contact Tim Johnson at 660-1808

or [email protected].

UVMS RATIONALE

On the issue of compensating executives-turned-profes-sors for their administrative experience, the Free Pressput four questions to UVMs administration by email:1. A faculty members primary duties are teaching andresearch, right?2. Why should administrative experience count in thesetting of a faculty salary?3. What does administrative experience have to do withthe quality of teaching or research that a faculty mem-

ber does?4. Does the administration believe that some facultymembers are better scholars, teachers or researchers byvirtue of their administrative experience?In response, university spokesman Enrique Correderaprovided the following statement and asked that it bepublished in its entirety:Historically, academic experience and exceptionalscholarly accomplishments, standing in the academicdiscipline and senior administrative experience havebeen recognized as important elements of UVMs over-

all compensation philosophy with respect to individualswho return to the faculty following an administrativeposition. A recent review concluded that the univer-sitys executive compensation practices are sound andadequate and are legally compliant and in-line withbest and common practices both in higher educationand in the general labor industry. The Universityscompensation philosophy has historically reflected thewidely used higher education practice of recognizingadministrative experience, which has been seen byfaculty pursuing administrative posts as an important

element of overall compensation in a highly compet-itive environment that places additional value on theircontributions. The current represented faculty contractdoes not allow for the inclusion of experience gainedas an administrator when determining the salary forrepresented faculty members returning to facultypositions from administrative positions, but continuesto provide consideration for academic experience,scholarly accomplishments and standing in the academ-ic discipline.

Continued from Page 6A

C O V E R S T O R Y


10/22

Nought 101

Tim Johnson's Vermont Higher Education blog

Fogel on divestment & Israel, ex post facto

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Tim Johnson

Last year, before Dan Fogel announced he was stepping down as UVM president, and well

before the scandal broke that hastened his departure, another issue emerged on campus that he

realized could be enough if it developed in what he considered to be the wrong way to makehim resign in protest.

That issue was whether UVMs endowment fund should divest from companies contractually

involved in Israels occupation of the West Bank. A resolution supported by a group called UVMStudents for Justice in Palestine, and endorsed by more than 500 petition signatures, was

presented to the Socially Responsible Investment Work Group, a composite committee that the

UVM Board of Trustees has charged with screening all divestment initiatives. The work groupheld a two-hour hearing on the resolution on March 17, during which 38 speakers held forth, pro

and con.

Fogel was not one of them, but he had a strong opinion, we learn from an article published last

week in the Jewish Daily Forward. The article explores how Jewish university leaders balanceinstitutional free-speech requirements with their personal stances on the BDS (Boycott, Divest

and Sanctions) Movement that targets Israel. Fogel told the Forward he didnt speak out because

he didnt want to interfere with the process the university had in place for reviewingcontroversial topics such as this.

Two weeks after the hearing, the work group voted to take no position on the divestmentresolution, effectively killing it. But if the work group and the trustees had gone the other way,Fogel told the Forward, he wouldnt have stood for it:

I think divestment from Israel would have been a travesty. To me it would have been an

expression of anti-Semitism. Had the university gone in that direction, I dont think I would have

continued as president.

Ian Stokes, a professor emeritus who helped draft the divestment resolution, takes strongexception to that statement. He points out in an e-mail that the proposal was not to divest fromIsrael, but from companies that support the illegal occupation and the illegal settlements. He

adds:

The suggestion that the divestment proposal is anti-Semitic is absolutely repugnant. You may

remember, this claim was made at the SRIWG hearing last March, and I challenged it directly in

letters to those who made this accusation, asking them to withdraw it and asked the SRIWG to
http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/highered/2012/01/23/fogel-on-divestment-israel-ex-post-facto/http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/highered/author/tjohnson/http://www.forward.com/articles/149684/http://www.forward.com/articles/149684/http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/highered/author/tjohnson/http://blogs.burlingtonfreepress.com/highered/2012/01/23/fogel-on-divestment-israel-ex-post-facto/


11/22

delete this fabrication from the record. I also noted that the SRIWG would undoubtedly not have

advanced this proposal to a public hearing had they identified anything racist in it, so thisaccusation of antisemitism is also insulting to all the SRIWG members as well as proposers and

supporters of the (still tabled) divestment proposal.

We put two questions to Fogel by email, and he responded in kind.

Q: Before the SRIWG made its decision, did you tell anyone youd resign as president if

UVM went along with the divestment proposal?

A: It was a privately held view, unexpressed. I did not speak publicly on the issue.

Q: Why did you consider that proposal anti-Semitic?

A: While I personally deplore many Israeli policies with respect to settlements and the occupiedterritories, I am deeply troubled by those who hold the one Jewish state on the planet to higher

standards than other nation states throughout the world, and that is the basis of my feeling that

there is something very odd about singling Israel and Israeli actions and policies out when many

regimes also do deeply troubling things.

That doesnt placate Stokes, who points out that The UVM SRIWG process can (or at leastcould) accommodate proposals relating to other injustices. Abuses by other regimes, he said,

would be an argument for expanding the scope of the proposal, not for abandoning it.

The main point here is that the UN (repeatedly) and the International Court of Justice have

made their position clear on Israel and the occupied territories, wall, etc., Stokes writes, so the

case for divestment is well-established in this case, based on international law and the GenevaConventions.

About Tim JohnsonI cover higher ed, mostly, but I have a standing interest in other cultures/lingos, with a serviceable

knowledge of Chinese and dormant facility in several other languages. I'm well-traveled and occasionally

well-versed, partial to contrarians and nomads.


12/22

C O U P O N V A L U E I N S I D E $ 4 7

FROM FINANCE TO

PEOPLE FROM WALL

STREET AND THE FINE

ARTS AMONG UVM

FARM TRAINEES.

GREEN MOUNTAIN 1C

CREATIVECOMMUNITIES:

SEEDS PLANTEDBY FOLK

RTISTWARRENKIMBLE

REBLOOMING

INBRANDON.

RTSBTV 9C

PATRIOTS 2012:

TOMBRADY&CO.

BEGINTHEIRQUEST

ANEW TODAY.

SEASON PREVIEW 18A

The University of Ver-mont has a backlog ofmore than 2,000 deferred-maintenance projects forits aging buildings and in-frastructure. The estimat-ed total cost: $250 million.

How much is UVMspending explicitly on de-ferred maintenance thisyear? About $4 million.Last year the figuredropped to less than $2million, after UVM decid-ed to forgoits annual statecapital appropriation normally reserved for de-ferred maintenance so

Michael Tortorella works onelectrical upgrades in one ofthe bedrooms of EnglesbyHouse, the University ofVermont president's privateresidence, in Burlington onFriday. EMILYMCMANAMY/FREEPRESS

Death, taxes anddeferred maintenanceThe University of Vermont has nearly 300buildings and a backlog of deferred maintenanceprojects that together would cost $250 million

TIM JOHNSONFree Press staff writer

See UVM,Page8A

S U N D A Y , S E P T E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 2

$2.00 Volume 185, No. 253

0 94 0 9 0 1 01 0 0 2


CLOUDY

64/48

T O D A Y

72/56PARTLY SUNNY

388 Pine StreetBurlington, VT

Mon - Sat 10-6 Sun 12-5802-862-5056

To celebraTe our 28Th AnniVerSAry

Its wy f giving k t th nvinmnt f th tifwdn fnit w hv sd v th ys.

We Are PlAnTing 280 TreeSthgh Th Nt cnsvny www.nt.g


13/22

8A BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2012

FP-0000310243

Essex Burlington

South Burlington

Jericho Bristol Underhill

Middlebury Cambridge

Bridport Richmond

Grand Isle

Pay Off Your Bills!CALL 651-4829 TODAY

CARRIERS

NEEDED!

FP-0000313159

655-1366www.windowworldvermont.com

The Nations Largest WindowReplacement Company

Set up fees and minimums vary upon location.

Also offering wood/clad windowsEgress windows

We dont just standbehind our windows,

we stand on them!

Maine-ia!

181 Battery St., Burlington802-864-0238ShantyOnTheShore.com

On the

Waterfront!

ALSO

FEATURING:

Lobster BLT

Lobster Stew

1LB Maine Lobster

Twin Maine Lobster Dinner

Traditional Maine Lobster Roll

New England Lobster Clambake

that the money could be used instead forstatewide Irene relief.

Annual spending of that magnitudehasnt made much of a dent in the profileof all the pending fixes on campus. De-

ferred maintenance is defined as nones-sential repairs that are postponed untilfunds become available.

Back in 2001, UVM retained a consult-ant to detailall the deferred-maintenanceneeds on university property. The resultwas a report identifying 2,245 projects,eachcostingmore than $15,000, fora totalcost of $250 million.

Some of theprojects that hadbig pricetags Ira Allen Chapel, for example, a1920 building that needed a new roof aswell as brick, window and other workamounting to about $3 million havebeen done. Many have not, however, andthe university confronts the same totalcostestimatetoday. Thecurrent backlog:2,184 projects.

So, UVM is essentially treading water.What would it take to start bringing thattotal cost down? About $15 million to $18million a year, according to the consult-ants report, far more than the universityhas been spending.

UVMs new president, Tom Sullivan,has said he wants to focus capital spend-ing on updating and improving structuresthat exist; and Richard Cate, vice presi-dent for finance, saidin an interview thatone of his goals is to raise the annual ex-penditure for deferred maintenance sub-stantially.

Fornow, however, UVMfacilitiesman-agers apply their limited resources to thetoppriorities they identify every year. Sofar, as director of physical plantSalvatoreChiarelli put it in an interview, theyvemanaged to stay ahead of the game.

Were pretty proud of what weve ac-complished, he said.

One achievement is evident in what

has not happened.Some schools have had to shut down

buildingsbecause theyhaventhad there-sources, said Bill Ballard, associate vicepresident for administrative and facili-ties services. Weve never done that.

Nevertheless, deferred maintenanceremains a chronic concern at UVM, as atmost universities for trustees, for ad-ministrators, and for the Faculty Senate,

grades and deferred maintenance. Theirexpectation was to make this an annualexpenditure and they carried throughwith that for two years, 2007 and 2008.Then the recession hit, they put a freezeon newcapitalborrowing, andit wasbackto square one for deferred maintenance:about $1million to $2 millionset aside an-nually in the universitys general fund,plus whatever the state kicks in for cap-ital projects.

To be sure, some additional deferred-maintenance work is folded into buildingupgrades andrehabs. Abouthalfthe workthat went into one of the universitys lat-estbig project thegreening ofAiken,a $13 million jobthatincluded gutting andrefittingthe the1982 building that housesthe Rubenstein School for EnvironmentandNatural Resources qualifiedas de-ferred maintenance.

which has a committee that discusses itregularly.

Wedothinkitisaseriousissueandwehave advocatedformakingit a higherpri-ority,saidDonRoss,chairmanofthesen-ates Financial and Physical PlanningCommittee.

Raising more private money is proba-bly not the answer. Donors tendto bepar-tial to new construction, or projects withnamingrights.Whowantstoputhisorher

name on a new boiler or ventilation sys-tem?

Like death andtaxes,deferredmainte-nance is one of those unavoidable bur-dens, and it comes with the inevitableanxiety that its not getting enough atten-tion, or enough money.

That was the perception that led trust-ees several years ago to approve an $11.5million bond issue to address campus up-

UVMContinued from Page1A

The front steps at Pearl House onColchester Avenue showdeterioration. Pearl House, which wasowned for 20 years by a privatedeveloper and then returned to UVMspossession in 2008, is the oldestbuilding on campus. It was built in the1790s and has exterior maintenanceissues, but remains relatively low onUVMs deferred-maintenance prioritylist.

DEFININGDEFERRED

MAINTENANCE

Deferred maintenance, as defined by anational association of higher educationfacilities officers cited by UVM managers,is a practice of allowing machinery orinfrastructure to deteriorate by post-poning prudent but nonessential repairsto a future cycle ... until funds are avail-able.

C O V E R S T O R Y


14/22

BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2012 9A

FP-0000311757

$45 per personfor 3 course dinner

Reservationsmandatory

Visit Our New Website!www.LakeViewHouseRestaurant.com

1710Shelburne RdSo. Burlington802.865.3900. .

Reserve your space for our VT

Fresh Network farmers dinner

Friday September 28th

Starting 7:30 pm

EXCITING FALL SALE: IN STOCK!

Open 6 Days879-299851 Center Rd. Rte 15Essex (Closed Tuesday)

Open 7 Days985-8776

3910 Shelburne Rd.Shelburne

Affordable furnishingsfor todays lifestyle.

FP-0000311837

Most SALE items throughout both stores are available immediately. First come,first served! Don't miss out!

Scarlet O'HaraAll leather sofawith luxurious seat

comfort!Sale was $1599Last few piecesonly $1297!!!

97" BelmontAttractive fabriccombination ona large scalesofa. Matchingpieces by order.Sale was $999By order $799Display sofa

$888

82" Sofa $1297

shelburne bay plaza2989 shelburne rd 985.9909 A Little Something (Gifts)

Next to Shelburne Meat Market

According to Cate, about 40 percent ofUVMsrenovation costs over thelast dec-ade addressed deferred maintenance,which would amount to about $92.4 mil-lion of deferred-maintenance projectsretired in that period. Yet he states thatthetotalhasbeenmaintainedat$250mil-lion, as we have simply reduced anygrowth in the total.

UVM has spent about $450 million oncapital projects over the last decade.

Asked if new construction has been ac-corded higher priority than deferredmaintenance, Cate replied:

Over the last 10 years, the new con-struction (Davis Center, UniversityHeights Residential Comlex, JeffordsHall,Gutterson Parking Structure, GivenCourt Yard and the Medical EducationCenter)wereonlysix of the 55 large cap-ital projects undertaken since 2003.

low on the remodeling priority list, but inthemeantime, if theroof springs a leak, itwill have to be repaired with slate.

Just next door is Englesby House, an-other costly example. Unoccupied fornearly a decade and used then only forceremonial functions, this presidentialmansion got minimal attention annualspending on repairs and maintenance av-eraged about $50,000 from 2002 through2011. Then as trustees prepared to hire a

new president and insist that he livethere, they ran up against a substantialamountof workneeded to make theplacesuitable. The current projected cost is$1.3 million, including a new slate roof.

A walk across the UVM campus rou-tinely turns up signs of maintenancework. The paved sidewalks on the UVM

sion) so thefoundation hadto be water-proofed. Access had to be provided fordisabled people under updated regula-tions of the Americans with DisabilitiesAct,so a liftwas installedand a patio waslaid with slate.Not allthis qualifiedas de-ferred maintenance, but the reconstruc-tion of the west porch did, at a cost ofabout $70,000.

Emblematicof the limitationsimposedby historic preservation requirements,

the overall project included preservationof an obsolete appendage.Duringa quicktour of the grounds, Luce Hillman, assis-tant director of physical plant, pointed atan unused door overlooking the parkinglot.

Its the outhouse, Hillman said. Wecouldnt get rid of the outhouse.

Then theres the old barn just west ofWheelerHouse, nowused forstorage. Its

That new construction amounted to$219 million, and the balance mostlyrenovations and upgrades, including de-ferred maintenance totaled $231 mil-lion.

Anaging portfolio

Nearlyhalfof UVMs293 buildingsarehistoricmorethan50yearsoldandsubject to preservation restrictions that

often raise repaircosts.Aboutone-fourth 53 buildings were built before1901.

An example of the latter is WheelerHouse, 133 S. Prospect St., built in 1842andhometo theHistoryDepartment. TheWheeler renovation, like many projects,has been phased over several years. Thebasement hadwater problems like oth-er buildings on the same block (includingEnglesby House, the presidential man-

BY THENUMBERS

Number of buildings on theUniversity of Vermont campus:

293Number of buildings built before 1901:

53Number of projects on this yearsdeferred maintenance list:

2,184Estimated cost to fix all deferred projects:

$250

millionAdam Wheeler works on the airconditioning ducts in the basement ofEnglesby House, the University of Vermontpresident's private residence, in Burlingtonon Friday. EMILY MCMANAMY/FREE PRESS

Continuedon Page10

C O V E R S T O R Y


15/22

10A BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 9, 2012

If youre thinking ofbuying or selling a home,

call me today.

802-846-8800 | CarolAudette.com

[email protected]

Carol Audette, CRS, CBR, GRI

- - |

FP-000

0312740

2012 PrimeLending,A PlainsCapital Company.Trade/servicemarks are the property of PlainsCapital Corporation, PlainsCapitalBank,or their respective affiliates and/or subsidiaries.Someproducts may not be available in all states.This is not a commit-ment to lend.Restrictions apply.All rights reserved. PrimeLending,

A PlainsCapital Company (NMLS no:13649) is a wholly-ownedsubsidiary of a state-chartered bank. VT Dept. of Banking,Insurance,Securities and Health Care Administration- lender lic no.6127 and broker lic no.0964MB.

TIRED OF WAITING IN

LINE AT YOUR CURRENT

MORTGAGE COMPANY?

CALLBARB NOW

ANDBECOME

A VIP!

a locally owned

kitchen & gift market

www.KissTheCook.net72 Church Street, Burlington

863-4226 Wedding Registry

MonSat 9am9pm, Sun 10am6pm

Mktfst

ForTune

CooKie

Sale

10%40%oFF

your entirepurchase!

Fri, Sat, SunThe whole store is on salewith your fortune cookie

discount.

Made inAmerica!

SEPTEMBER 20, 21 & 22THURS. 10am-5pm | FRI. 9am-6pm | SAT. 9am-3pm

MENTION THIS AD AND RECEIVE A 5% BONUS TAKEA STORE CREDITAND RECEIVE A 25% BONUS

Green have been redone with cement(overabasethatwillmakethemlastlong-er). Parts of Williams Hall (1896) havebeen overhauled new windows on thewestern facade, roof, brick repairs andmore, totaling $1.6 million with addi-tional repairs and updates, totaling threetimes that, still to come.

The Waterman Building (1941), one ofthe universitys architectural gems andhome to centraladministration, seems bein a perpetual state of refurbishment.Last year, exterior painting cost $486,393,according to a list of Fiscal 2012 projectssupplied by UVM. This year, work is un-der way on the eastern side, facing SouthProspect Street. Roofs haveto be redone,andthecoppermetalworkonthedormersreplaced,andtheinteriormechanicalsys-tems updated at a cost in the millions,spread over several years.

Waterman and the Given Health Sci-encesComplex (1963)are thetwo biggest-ticket items for deferred maintenance,Ballard said. He said buildings datingfrom the 1960s and 70s tend to be of low-er-quality materials. Chiarelli said usinghigher-quality materials in the historicrenovations may cost more in the shortrun, but not over the buildings life.

A terra cotta floor might last 100years, he said. A tile floor? You mightreplaceit three or four times ina hundredyears.

Turning the corner?

There are signs that UVM is poised toturn the corner on deferred maintenance to accord it more importance and, per-haps, to start spending enough to begindigging the university out of the hole.

The Strategic Initiatives Project, aneffort the administration began spear-heading last year to define the institu-tions key priorities, identified two keyspending areas: academic initiatives anddeferred maintenance.

From our past discussions with the

administration, said Ross, of theFacultySenate, weunderstand that they arealsoquiteconcernedbutwere,atthetime,lim-

said, is an indication that more should bespent on deferred maintenance. Accord-ing to the 2001consultants report (whichcost about $300,000), an annual expendi-ture of up to $18 million would be neces-sary to start bringing the overall costdown.

It ismy goalto get tothat number,hesaid. We should be doing it.

Nevertheless, hesaid, When youwalkthrough our buildings... students are see-ing pretty well-maintained buildings.

Headded: Whena buildingdatesfrom180 years ago, theres always a lot moreyou can do. Our people are constantlymonitoring the conditions.

Were not in a situation where I cantsleep atnightbecause Imworried part ofa buildings going to fall down becauseofthe good work thesepeople are doing,

Cate said. Theyre on a dead run to stayahead of things so they dont get worse.

maximize,optimizethe useof ourpresentfacilities. ...Im going to work on thecam-pus wehave now and makesure itisup todate, first-rate, and everything we needfor those students and their educationalexperience. ...

Weve gota ways to go, hecontinued.We cantbe thetalent magnetthatwe areifwe dont have first-ratefacilitiesand in-frastructure. And those cost. Those areinvestments.

Richard Cate, UVMs vice presidentfor finance, said in an interview that vir-tuallyeverylargeinstitution with a large,old-building portfolio falls short on de-ferred maintenance spending, so UVM isby no means alone. He cited a compara-tive report indicating that UVM is ad-dressing its maintenance needs at lowercost than its peers.

Yet he also acknowledged that the uni-versitys balance sheet shows an annualdepreciationof $24million.Thatalone,he

ited by budget constraints associatedwith the recession. I get the sense that itwill be coming to the forefront.

Thenew president,TomSullivan,hasmade clear that new buildings are nothigh on his agenda unless theres privatemoney to pay for them. In a recent inter-view with the Free Press editorial board,he wasquestionedabout hiscapital priori-tiesin the wakeof a decadeof major newconstruction on campus. Sullivan men-tioned the deferred-maintenance issuewithout even being asked.

We have enormous deferred-mainte-nance problems,Sullivan said. We needto take a beautifulcampus andmake surethat ourlabs andour sciencecenters,par-ticularly, are absolutelyfirst-rate.And so,newinvestments in my priority aregoingto be restoration of what we have now,

particularly in the area of engineeringand science labs, and medical labs, ofcourse.We have the facilities. We needto

Continued from Page 9

Wheeler House, home of theHistory Department, datesfrom1842. Its west porchwas repaired last year at acost of $69,911.TIMJOHNSON/FREE PRESS

The old outhouse (in white)was preserved as part of theWheeler House restoration.TIM JOHNSON/FREE PRESS

C O V E R S T O R Y


16/22

BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012 1B

E R M O N T B

The most influential

Vermonter youvenever heard of

STRAFFORD Theres an obvious irony in the factthat Justin S. Morrill, the man whoscommonly credit-ed with opening up American higher education to themasses, never finished secondary school.

Thesonof a blacksmith inthislittletownon thewestbranch of the Ompompanoosuc River, he made itthrough thelocal grammar school, attended tworegion-alacademiesforone term each, then left schoolforeveratage15 fora mercantile career. Morrill wantedto gotocollege, buthis fathertold himthat he andhis brothersdeserved an equal chance and that the family couldntafford to send them all with the result that none ofthem went.

A photo of Justin S. Morrill (1810-1898) who was the chiefsponsor of the 1862 and 1890 Land-Grant Acts and built hisGothic Revival home in Strafford where it remains today asa preserved historic landmark.EMILY MCMANAMY, FREE PRESS

Justin S. Morrill neverrecovered from the

disappointment of not going

to college, but his actionspaved a way to highereducation for countless

students ever since

BY TIM JOHNSONFree Press Staff Writer

SeeMORRILL, Page 8B


17/22

8B BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012

Morrill did all right, though. He edu-cated himself. And he had a mentor androlemodel Jedediah Harris,a well-readmanwitha grade-schooleducation whotaught him the ways of business and be-came hispartner. Morrill didsowell,as anowner of general stores in Strafford andothervillages,thathe wasableto retireat

age 38 to pursue a life as a gentlemanfarmer and as a man of public affairs.He never entirely recovered from the

disappointmentof notgoing tocollege, ac-cording to one of his biographers.

To obtain the little education I havehas cost me many evenings, Sundays af-ter church and scraps of time that couldbe devoted to it, he wrote at age 80, in-volving farmore labor than it would havenecessitated if I could have been sent toproperinstitutions of learning to have ac-quired a liberal education.

It was in 1857, during his second termin Congress as representative of Ver-monts second district, that he sponsoredlegislation he hoped would make collegeeducation possible for the industrialclasses.The bill came to be knownas theland grant college act, and Morrill stuckwithit for five years before itwas signedintolaw July2, 1862, by PresidentLincoln.

Morrill went onto serveas a Vermontssenator for more than 30 years, and toplay a leadingnationalrolein tradepolicyand in the beautification of Washington,D.C., including construction of the Li-braryof Congress.Buthesbestknownasfather of the land-grant colleges, andcampuses across the country have build-ings named after him.

The University of Vermontsown Mor-rillHall wascompletedin 1907, nineyearsafter his death. It was intended to be thecenterfor an agricultural educational en-terprise Morrills legacy thatthe uni-versity and the states farm interestsstruggled for half a century to define.

Self-mademan

Witha life that bookendedthe19thcen-tury (1810-1898), Morrill mightjust be themost nationally influential figure pro-duced by Vermont whom most Vermon-ters have never heard of.

Not a great deal is known about hisyouth or even, apparently, about his ca-reeras a general-storeproprietor. Histwobiographers move briskly through hisearly life and the business affairs thatconcluded with early retirement, thendwell on his lengthy service in Congress.

Portrayals of his upbringing relyheavily on Morrills own writings. At age7, dressed ina newsuit, he watched Presi-dent James Monroe pass through SouthStraffordin a carriage.On hisfirst dayinthe towns new brick schoolhouse, he fellthrough the ice ina nearbypondandgotascolding from his mother. One of hischores at home was to churn butter.

Iwasbroughtup ona farmuntilI was15, and know something about how toplant corn, to pull flax and to dig pota-toes, hewrote in1890. Ido not think theeducation of boys should be hampered

with these practical labors at the timethey are gaining their education.

As a teenager he was offered a teach-ingjob, buthe took mentorJedediahHar-ris advice and went to work in a generalstore. He learned bookkeeping, readwidely, worked fortwo years in Portland,Maine, then returned to Strafford and ul-timately went into partnership with Har-ris. Together they operated four stores.

In those days, general storesserved asbanks and community centers, and pre-sumably the political discussions Morrillengaged in there fed his active member-ship in theWhig Party. (Hejoined theRe-publicans after he went to Congress.) He

and Harris sold goods on credit, and theyeach invested in banks,railroads, real es-tate.

In a journal he kept during a debt-col-lecting trip that took himas faras Illinois,

he expressedviewsthat reflectedhis bi-as against Africans and African-Ameri-cans,accordingto biographerCoy CrossII. Morrill admitted to being squea-mish, forexample,about eatingfoodpre-pared by slaves, and he made other com-ments that wouldbe clearly racistby to-days standards, Cross writes. ButMor-rills views were similar to those held bynearly all antislavery men of his day, in-cluding Abraham Lincoln: blacks wereequal legally, but not socially.

Like most Vermonters, Morrill wasstaunchly against slavery. His 1862 landgrantactledtothecreationofcollegesforAfrican Americans,and his follow-up act,

in1890, deniedfundingto institutions thatrefused admission to students based onrace.

Aboutayearbeforeheretiredfromhiscareer as a merchant, Morrill started

John Hemenway stands outside of Justin S. Morrill's (1810-1898) mausoleum during a recent visit to his grave site. EMILY MCMANAMY, FREE PRESS

MorrillContinued from Page1B

7:30 am - 4:30 pm M-F, 9-12 Sat.

802-864-9831

802-775-3342

S U P P L Y

ON SELECTED KITCHEN AND BATH ITEMS.

Showroom

RemodelingSale!

FP-0000305545


18/22

building a house of his own design on 50acres just off Straffords main road. Hewas inspired by Andrew Jackson Down-ing,aprominentdesignerandhorticultur-alist and author of The Architecture ofCountry Houses. The 17-room gothic re-vival house with a pink color meant tosimulate sandstone features turrets,bargeboards,enameledwindowsandwin-dow screens, painted with landscapes ontheoutside,that obscurethe view into thehouse.

For the grounds, Morrills elaborate

schemes for orchards for 15 varietiesof pears, for example, and nine of cher-ries are detailed in punctilious, hand-written lists and diagrams on display atthehomestead, which is open fortours onsummer weekends.

Howthehomesteadbecameastatehis-toric site is a story in itself.

Morrills son, James, died in 1910, butthe property remained in family handsuntil 1938. The estate ultimately was ac-quired, in 1961, by the newly formed Jus-tin Smith Morrill Foundation, whichraised most of the$16,000 purchase priceby soliciting nearly $10,000 in contribu-tions from 20 land-grant colleges acrossthe country including UVM.

Political life

As a politician, Morrill was known forhis independence, which might have fol-lowed in part from his financial security.

He was absolutely incorruptible,said Sen. George L. Hoar, a fellowRepub-lican from Massachusetts, in a eulogy.(H)e was not to be swayed by ambition,by party influence, by desire to pleasefriends or by fear of displeasing enemies,or by currents of popular passion.

His ethical standards were exempli-fied by his rejection in 1865 of four casesof wine from an importer. Morrill was aleading protectionist, renowned for theMorrill Tariff, andhe thought itimprop-er to accept the gift, returning it with anote:

Now, I want some California wine,Morrill wrote, but I amquite ableto payfor all that I need. I cannot accept anywine from you in view of your interests

and the position I hold.He was an accommodater. He seldom

faced any serious electoral opposition.Morrill served in Congress for 44 years,12 in the House and 31 in the Senate, end-

ing with his death.Like George Aiken, Vermonts best-

known and longest-serving senatorof the20thcentury,Morrillhadastronginterestin horticulture. The two men shared an-otherqualitythatfedtheirsuccessasVer-mont politicians, according to historian

PaulSearls:anabilitytoappealtobothag-ricultural and business interests.

Morrill, Searls said, was able to walkthe line between urban and rural. Farm-ers regarded him as a farmer, and busi-nessmen saw him as a businessman.

Everybody who looked at him sawthemselves, Searls said.

Liberal educationfor theworking class

The 1862 act provided each state with

30,000acresof publiclandfor eachrepre-sentative and senator, the sale of whichwouldcreateafundthatwouldserveasanendowment to pay for colleges designat-ed by the states. Those colleges were toprovide education that was practical (ag-riculture) and scientific (mechanicarts, or engineering) but not limited tothose fields. Some colleges were createdfrom scratch; others, as in UVMs case,were integrated with existing institu-tions. Most of the northern schools wereco-educational and multi-racial from thebeginning, according to Cross. The 1890Morrill act provided annual stipends foreachstate,someofwhichwereusedintheSouth to establish predominantly AfricanAmerican colleges.

Traditionally, American colleges hadcatered to what Morrill called the pro-fessional classeswith instructionin clas-sics, law, medicine andtheology. His ideawas to offer a liberal education to peo-ple inclined to choose industrial voca-tions where the wealth of nations is pro-duced. That education would includenot only sound literary instruction butsomething more applicable to the produc-tive employments of life.

The idea of selling public lands to fi-nance higher education wasnt originallyhis. Alden Partridge, founder of NorwichUniversity, had proposed that in the1840s. Presumably Morrill knew of thisproposal Jedediah Harris,afterall,wasa Norwichtrustee buthe andPartridgewere at odds politically.

Early in the 1850s, a professor in Illi-nois,Jonathan Baldwin Turner, had calledfor selling public lands to fund a univer-sity that would provide liberal education

to farmers and workers. Morrill alsoknew about government-supportedschools of agriculture in Europe.

Under the 1862 act, Vermont receivedscrip for 150,000 acres in other states (in

those days, the state had three repre-sentatives), which were sold at about 90cents an acre to create an endowment offund of about $135,000. Vermonters en-gaged in a protracted debate over whichinstitution would become the land-grantbeneficiary as a state agricultural col-lege. Middlebury, Norwich and UVM allwereconsidered, andall subjectto objec-tions. At one point Morrill proposed put-ting the college in Strafford if enoughmoney could be raised which itcouldnt.

Finally, the University of Vermont andState Agricultural Collegewas createdin1865 as the land-grant institution, andMorrill became one of UVMs legislativetrustees.

Another quarter century went by be-foreUVM appointed any agriculturalfac-ulty or graduated any agricultural stu-dents.The delay, formerdean RobertSin-clair wrote in his history of agriculturaleducation at UVM, resulted partly fromthe difficulty of bridging the gap be-tween rural Vermonters suspicious ofbookfarming and the University of Ver-monts tradition of classical learning.

Morrill carriedon a regular correspon-dence with UVM President MatthewBuckham, and as late as1888 he wrote: Ishould be very glad to have a professor-ship of agriculture established. I verymuch doubt whether any appropriationcould be obtained from the Legislature tomeet it, judging by the past, as they havenot hitherto treated the college with anygenerosity.

Itwasonlyafterthe creationof the ex-tension service in 1914, according to Sin-clair, that Vermonts land-grant collegebegan to come into its own, with a coor-dinated system of research, on-campusinstruction, and off-campus educationand service.

Morrillsnational reputation beliesthefaltering beginnings of the land-grantsystem in his home state. He has widelybeen given credit for democratizing anddiversifying American higher education.

For me there is no greater name inAmerican education than that of SenatorJustinSmith Morrill, RobertFrost wrotein 1961.

Contact Tim Johnson at 660-1808 or [email protected]. Follow Tim on Twitter at www.twit-ter.com/flyonthe.

JUSTINS.MORRILL STATE

HISTORICSITE

WHERE: 214 Justin Morrill MemorialHighway in Strafford, Vt. HOURS: 11a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday andSunday, mid-May through mid-October.ADMISSION:Adults, $5; children 14 andunder, free. SYMPOSIUM: A two-day symposiumcelebrating the 150th anniversary of thesigning of the Land Grant College Act willbe held Aug.11 and12 in Strafford, home ofthe legislations sponsor, Justin Morrill. Theact helped create state universities through-out the country and made higher educationaccessible to millions of working class andminority Americans.The symposium, sponsored by the Friends ofthe Morrill Homestead, will explore whatled Morrill to conceive the legislation andwhat challenges education faces in the 21stcentury.Advance registration is $100 per person.

To register, go to: http://bit.ly/KE5c4C.

The parlor of Justin S. Morrills(1810-1898) Gothic Revival home inStrafford. EMILY MCMANAMY, FREE PRESS

BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SUNDAY, JUNE 10, 2012 9B

Friday, June 8th

11:30am Ribb-cig Ceremy wih Mayor Miro Weinberger.

Saturday, June 9th - Author Discussions & Book Signings

2pm Madeleine Kunin, ahr f The New Feminist Agenda.

4pm Hinda Miller, ahr f Pearls of a Sultana.

Sunday, June 10th - Grand Opening Open House!

All day lg, sample delecable edibles as well as lierary

giveaways ad dr prizes fr all ages!

24pm Andrea Chesman will discss her ckbk

The Pickled Pantryad give free samples!

191 BAn StRt BuRnton

PHonXBooS.BZ/RAnoPnn

RAn oPnn Jun 810


19/22

C R O U N D H E R E

BURLINGTONFREEPRESS.COM SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2012 1C

V

isionary presidents areremembered for their leg-

acies. Once in a while, thesame can be said for their secre-taries.

Royce S. Tim Pitkin founded Goddard Col-lege asa modelof educationalinnovation andpre-sided over the enterprise in Plainfield for threedecades. EvalynBates, oneof thefirst graduates,became his devoted assistant and remained sothroughout his tenure.

Butwhen financial pressuresmounted and thecollege finally faced thechoiceof succumbing orretooling, it wound up reinventing itselfaroundavision that came mostly from her, rather thanfromher celebrated boss.It wasa visionfora low-residency adult-degreeprogram, an idea that hassince been adopted by colleges across the coun-try.

It was also something of an unsung idea. TimPitkinwas known forhaving puthis stampon one

of the more distinctive American colleges of the20thcentury. Butfew outside of Goddardsdimin-utive inner-circle hadever heard of EvalynBates

untilthis past fall, abouta year-and-a-halfafter

her death at age 93.Thats when Goddard awarded her a posthu-mous honorary degree in recognition of her con-tributionto thecollege and, by extension, to high-

er education generally. The degreewas bestowedduring a commencement ceremony for under-graduates whohad completed a distance learningprogram very much like the one she designed 50years ago.

In an address, Goddard presidentBarbara Va-carrcreditedBates withdefininga newlearningmodel, one that changed the landscape of Amer-ican education.

She isthe reasonwe arestandingheretoday,

Vacarr said, and her story defines the Goddardstory in its fulness.

HowBates would have felt about theadulationisunclear. Byall accounts shewasa humblewom-an not given to tooting her own horn.

She was a very quiet person, said her niece,Nancy Walton, whoattended Goddard in the 60s.Walton recalls that in group discussions, Bateswould quietly interjectan idea ...and then some-one would seize it and it would become someoneelses idea.

She wasntthe sort ofperson to say, Hey, thatwas my idea! Walton said.

WhenBates wasinterviewed in1988for a shortvideo about the creation of the adult-degree pro-gram, she was asked pointedly where she got theinspirationfor the influentialtemplate she devel-oped youridea ...yourbaby,as theinterview-er admiringly called it. Bates heaved a sigh.

It took a long time to come to pass, she said

before recounting the story. This is going to bequite a lot of I, and I dont like that.

Evalyn Bates, seen here in a photo from 1960, was instrumental in creating a model for low-residency adult-education programs at Goddard College now used by institutions around the

country. Bates spent much of 1959 in Australia on a Fulbright fellowship studying an adult-education system there. COURTESY PHOTO

An unsung pioneerTIM JOHNSONFree Press Staff Writer

SeePIONEER, Page 2C

Evalyn Bates, seen here in 1937, was one of the firsttwo bachelors