birdable

birdable t1_j9zzt66 wrote

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 :(

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birdable t1_j9zp4aw wrote

I have yet to see a proposal from either side of the political spectrum that would save VSC from failing. Truth is they need money… a shit load of money. If it wasn’t libraries and sports it would be janitors and cafeteria staff - and people would be just as riled up.

I don’t want to sound rude but I just think there’s larger issues at play here. I’m all for doing whatever it takes to keep the libraries and staff but what will it be next?

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birdable t1_iti9cey wrote

I grew up just outside of campus (my family sold a big portion of our land to the college decades ago). It is its own little bubble. Rarely do you see college kids walking around town other than to get coffee at powers market. Students who were in the know would take the shortcut through our yard on their way into town. But I can’t really say anything bad about the college or the people that attend.

That being said the town of N. Benn has changed a bit since the college stopped housing facility and staff on campus. It would normally be ok but these profs and staff who ended up buying homes in town have started to show up to town meetings and started to make their opinions know about how the town should be ran. Long story short the town is on verge of becoming a Williamstown, MA like town where people who grew up there and may not have high paying jobs can’t afford to buy. My sister looked at a small house before Covid and was shocked to find out it went for more than 500k and needed to be completely gutted and redone.

The same thing is happening across vermont but it’s sad to see it happen to the town of less than 1,200 people that I grew up in….

Sad….

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