We write on behalf of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) at St. Michael’s, Champlain and Middlebury Colleges regarding your recent decisions to eliminate more than two dozen academic programs. Although you have heard from a variety of people about the importance of the humanities to the central mission of academic institutions, we write with a different set of concerns: academic freedom and faculty governance.

As you know, nearly all U.S. academic institutions commit themselves to these core values and we believe the way in which these decisions were made was in potential violation of both and are asking the national AAUP to look into this.

We believe faculty governance was violated because there was no consultation with the representative faculty body, the Faculty Senate, nor with the faculty union, United Academics. This is particularly dangerous because it both creates an entirely new curricular landscape without faculty input and it potentially violates the principle of academic freedom.

As you know, these core principles to the AAUP mission have been in place for seventy years and they have protected academic disciplines from ideological attacks during the McCarthy years and also, more recently, during the Trump administration’s attack on critical race theory. When an administration decides to shut down academic programs without faculty consultation, they create space for such ideological attacks, attacks that are a threat to the very mission of knowledge production.

We urge you to consider staying your decision, returning to representative faculty bodies, and following the principles of faculty governance and academic freedom that are so very central to maintaining the truly unique tradition of higher education in the United States.

Signed,

Laurie Essig, President, Middlebury AAUP

Genie Giaimo Secretary/Treasurer, Middlebury AAUP

Jamie McCallum, Vice President, Middlebury AAUP

M.J. Bosia, President, St. Michael’s College AAUP

Gary Scudder, President, Champlain College AAUP

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To Dean Falls, President Garimella, Dr. Prelock, and the general public:

We, the faculty of the Department of Modern & Classical Languages & Literatures of Virginia Tech,

write to express our opposition to the announced extensive program cuts in the College of Arts

and Sciences (CAS) at the University of Vermont, a sister public land-grant institution, and to

support our colleagues who now risk losing their careers while striving to uphold the very idea of

a liberal arts education.

The plan to reduce a structural deficit in the college (CAS) is to expeditiously terminate 12 majors,

11 minors, and 4 MAs, and to closely monitor other low enrollment programs (as narrowly defined

by a mere 3-year trend) for potential extra cuts. Our support especially goes to our immediate

colleagues in Classics, German, Italian, and area studies, whose programs are facing imminent

termination.

The Morrill Land-Grant Acts of 1862 and 1890 defines land-grant institutions as explicitly designed

“to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and

professions in life,” that is, to offer practical courses of study such as military, agricultural, and

engineering training “without excluding other scientific and classical studies” – yesterday and

today.

By targeting language and culture programs on the basis of hard data on major/minor choice and

short-term trends, seemingly without consulting the faculty members or students most directly

affected, UVM radically undermines its mission as a land-grant university.

The new generation is to address global economic insecurity, cultural hegemony, disinformation,

divided societies, and a new geopolitical order, as well as global pandemics. This requires critical

and analytical skills, open-mindedness, intercultural communication, and the knowledge of how

languages shape worldviews – competencies learned through programs such as those identified

for termination. How is our society to face tomorrow’s challenges with a shortage of citizens with

knowledge of long-standing and diverse cultural heritages? How are we to protect the earth and

advance the human condition, with fewer and fewer of us equipped to understand them both?

While we understand budgetary pressures, we believe the proposed action is short-sighted and

betrays the very mission of a land-grant university. Instead, we ask that you implement creative

restructuring so as to preserve the important contributions of these programs, and continue to

shape your graduates as informed, well-rounded citizens of the world.

Respectfully,

The Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures at Virginia Tech

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Rutgers AAUP-AFT stands in support and solidarity with United Academics, our sibling AAUP-AFT union at the University of Vermont, as you confront wholesale cuts in the College of Arts and Sciences that will undermine UVM’s academic mission.

It is both shortsighted and cruel that the administration would plan such drastic cuts to a core part of UVM, eliminating three departments altogether, along with over 20 majors, minors, and graduate programs. But to do so on the eve of finals at the end of the most trying of semesters and with no input whatsoever from faculty—as the dean publicly acknowledges—displays an outrageous new level of recklessness that cannot go unchallenged.

Our unions and workers across higher education are witnessing a new phase in disaster capitalism. In this phase the pandemic has become the pretext for highly paid, unaccountable managers in higher ed to push through every ill-advised plan to cull and discipline the workforce that they were unable to prior to the crisis.

At Rutgers, we know this style of management well. Your administration manufactures an artificial budget crisis to justify the cuts, hiding behind a system called Incentive-Based Budgeting. At Rutgers, they call it Responsibility Center Management, but it smells as foul by any name. Your president describes the university’s financial situation as “sound” yet still carries out these cuts. At Rutgers, the Board of Governors stated the university was “on perhaps its strongest footing in recent history,” yet management has still laid off more than 1,000 union members since the spring.

What this moment illustrates is that the people leading our universities are not fit to lead. Faculty, students, and staff should run our universities, as they will prioritize the core mission: research, teaching, and service to the community.

The UVM administration’s plan to gut the College of Arts and Sciences is a travesty. The actions you take to challenge this callous attack will not only be for your own sake but for all of public higher ed. You have our complete support and solidarity as we fight a common struggle to stop management from jeopardizing the future of the public university.

-Rutgers AAUP-AFT

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The Value of Italian Studies

Letter from UVM Faculty of German and Russian, Romance Languages and Cultures

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls, and the Members of the Board of Trustees,

We, the faculty and staff of Theatre, Dance & Speech and Debate, strongly reject the decision to cut 12 majors, 11 minors, and four master’s courses from the College of Arts and Sciences; we reject the decision to close the Departments of Classics, Geology and Religion; and we reject the thinking, and the math, that make these cuts appear necessary and inevitable.

As a department whose arts comprise some of the oldest in the Western world – theatre, dance, and rhetoric – we know something about world-building projects. It is with this in mind, that we are alarmed to see the university administration recommend decisions that make our university – and the world it is bringing into existence – less safe for our current and future students.

The College of Arts and Sciences has served the ecology of this university system since 1791. A university is not – and never has been – composed of silos where people work in isolation. Ideas travel not like tree roots, but like grassroots – ideas seeded in theatre take root in geography, ideas seeded in religion take root in environmental studies, ideas seeded in geology take root in sculpture, and ideas seeded in critical race and ethnic studies are taught by many of the colleagues whose disciplines and departments are now recommended for termination. The list goes on and goes in many directions at once because that is what an ecology is all about – cross fertilization, the production of new ideas that are protected until they can flourish into the thing that helps us to heal what needs healing, the clarification of concepts, and the honing of critical thinking. When a part of an ecological system dies, it makes the rest of the system prone to further illness, to dying, and possibly to death.

We are a department comprised of disciplines whose modus operandi is public gathering, liveness. In other words: people. We value people over budget numbers made to appear neutral, as budgets are also world-building exercises and account only for the ideological beliefs of those who create them. Our colleagues across the humanities and social sciences value diversity, equity and inclusion, and teach trans, queer, BIPOC students on this campus who would otherwise find little safety, little room to understand their place in the world, nor the languages to develop that place and to invent the world that we co-create with them. We teach students to think critically, to expand their creative minds, and to be resilient. Cutting these majors and departments creates a death spiral for the College of Arts and Sciences where the future of young Vermonters, out-of-state, and international students who do not wish to enter STEM-fields will have no language to understand just how much the world needs them, and no framework to understand their place in the world.

The University’s decision to cut from the College of Arts and Sciences in this way, at this time, is unconscionable. It works against everything the university claims for its ethos. In light of recent decisions, it is an ethos that is about risking the future of humanity for the quick fix of seeing the university’s place in the world as a vocational-technical institute.

History will show that what is happening at this moment, in this place, is the beginning of the end of progressive liberal arts higher education in Vermont. History will also show that we, the faculty and staff of the Department of Theatre, Dance & Speech and Debate, reject these decisions.

Sincerely,

John Forbes, Professor, Theatre and Dance

Martin Thaler, Professor, Theatre and Dance

Sarah Carleton, Associate Professor, Theatre and Dance

Katie Gough, Associate Professor, Theatre and Dance

Helen Morgan Parmett, Edwin W. Lawrence Professor of Forensics, Associate Professor,

Theatre and Dance

Julian Barnett, Lecturer, Theatre and Dance

Lawrence Connolly, Lecturer, Theatre and Dance

Paula Higa, Lecturer, Theatre and Dance

Justin Morgan Parmett, Lecturer, Theatre and Dance

Sara Nelson, Lecturer, Theatre and Dance

Sarah Bush, Costume Shop Supervisor, Theatre and Dance

Bert Crosby, Production Manager, Lighting Designer & Master Electrician, Theatre & Dance,

Music

Kellie Fleury, Administrative Coordinator

Wayne Tetrick, Marketing and Outreach Coordinator, Theatre and Dance

Patricia Mardeusz, Library Associate Professor, Liaison to: Classics, English, Film & Television

Studies, Religion, Theatre & Dance, Honors College

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The UVM Humanities Center decries, in the strongest possible terms, the proposal

to eliminate humanities departments and programs in the College of Arts and

Sciences. This proposal does not reflect a “comprehensive commitment to a liberal arts

education” (UVM Vision statement), and it undermines the value of the Humanities for our

students, faculty, state, and status as Vermont's flagship land grant university.

As Vermont Congressman Justin Morrill—architect of the land-grant university system—

once expressed, humanities are not marginal to the land grant university but lie at its very

heart: “The fundamental idea was to offer an opportunity in every state for a liberal and larger

education to larger numbers, not merely those destined to enter the sedentary professions, but to

those needing higher instruction for the world’s business, for the industrial pursuits and

professions of life.” For Morrill, the purpose of the university is not merely technical education;

rather it is to create better citizens and strengthen the nation by enriching the human experience.

Through their teaching, research, and public engagement, the faculty of three humanities

programs targeted for elimination—Religion, Classics, and Historic Preservation—as well

as majors in various foreign languages targeted for elimination, have demonstrated that

the Humanities help all students from across the University to:

• Understand human experience across language, place, and time

• Empathize with others

• Think creatively and critically

• Examine social problems related to race, gender, sex, sexuality, religion, ethnicity, class,

and caste

• Prioritize social justice and equality

• Build skills in inquiry, writing and critical analysis, the so-called “soft-skills” that are

in high demand in diverse careers

The proposal to eliminate these programs and majors based on an arbitrary measure like

the number of majors is short-sighted and ignores the importance of these programs for the

fulfilment of general education requirements for all students from across the university. Given

that this proposal is patently about opening the door to cutting faculty positions, it

egregiously ignores the contributions faculty in these programs make to Vermont through their

public humanities work, consulting, and leadership in areas such as cultural heritage

management, secondary education, teacher training, and humanities and arts programming

throughout the state. UVM’s latest attempt to “engage” with Vermont would do well to

recognize Humanities faculty are already deeply engaged in Vermont’s communities through a

multitude of humanistic and artistic pursuits. Especially galling is the assault it represents on the

accomplishments, productivity, and stature of the faculty who teach in these programs, whose

contributions to UVM’s national and international reputation are substantial. We have been

proud in the Humanities Center to provide direct support and awards to faculty in each of these

programs.

Budgets are not apolitical, they are values statements. It is clear from the proposed

budgetary cuts that the humanities are not valued at UVM. This is in spite of their inherent merit

to our land grant institution, high enrollment courses that serve university mission, and excellent

faculty. We question why we cannot invest university resources in academic programs and not

bloated administrator salaries, or reform a budget model that systematically produces regular

structural deficits to the academic unit that serves the greatest number and variety of students.

The UVM Humanities Center

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls, and Members of the Board of Trustees,

We, the faculty of Department of Social Work, strongly reject the decision to cut 12 majors, 11 minors, and four master’s courses from the College of Arts and Sciences; we reject the decision to close the Departments of Classics, Geology and Religion; and we reject the thinking, and the math, that make these cuts appear necessary and inevitable.

As a department whose profession is values-based, with ethics, international human rights and cultural diversity primary to our work, we are appalled at the plan to cut the many programs in CAS. As noted by others who have written to you on this matter, our Department needs our colleagues across the humanities and social sciences, who also “value diversity, equity and inclusion, and teach trans, queer, BIPOC students on this campus, many of whom would otherwise find little safety, little room to understand their place in the world, nor the languages to develop that place and to invent the world that we co-create with them” (letter to President Garimella et al from the Department of Theatre & Dance).

A social work program cannot exist without the liberal arts; we need majors in geology, religion, Latin American & Caribbean studies, and more. Our accrediting body requires evidence of a liberal arts background as a foundation for all undergraduate social work programs. Our students need the knowledge, values and skills offered across the humanities to become good social workers. We are alarmed to see the university administration recommend decisions that make our university and the world a less diverse and safe place for our students and our communities.

The central place of The College of Arts and Sciences is without question. The college has been an integral part of this university system since 1791. Yet the college has not existed without big decisions and important shifts over the years. Taking critical action to the betterment of the college and university has been and continues to be part and parcel of a college faculty’s work life. The knowledge and skills faculty bring to any issue at the university have been overwhelmingly insightful, meaningful, and with full concern for the life of this institution. Faculty have been relied on time and time again to shape, not only academic fields, but the college itself. We, in Social Work, trust the strong tradition of our university that rests on the steadfast and resolute stewardship of Arts and Sciences faculty (and faculty in general). We strongly oppose any action that overlooks or excludes faculty in decision making. This not only ignores our traditions, but it is a massive mistake. Faculty deliberation is the only way forward that insures a rich and sustainable future.

As a department, we value people and the importance of understanding how budgets can be used to support actions that impact people and their movements. As noted by our colleagues in the Department of Theatre & Dance, “numbers may appear neutral, but budgets are also world-building exercises and account for the ideological beliefs of those who create them” (letter to President Garimella et al). Cutting majors and departments is a hasty move, especially when you consider how it will narrow possibilities for the College of Arts and Sciences where our students learns about the themselves, the world and their relationship with each other and the world.

We agree with others who have written you that the University’s decision to cut from the College of Arts and Sciences in this way “is unconscionable. It works against everything the university claims for its ethos. In light of recent decisions, it is an ethos that is about risking the future of humanity and the honored traditions of higher education for the quick fix of seeing the university’s place in the world as a vocational-technical institute” (letter to President Garimella et al from Department of Theatre & Dance).

The Department of Social Work rejects the decisions and means used to gut progressive liberal arts higher education in Vermont. We cannot stand by and allow you to create an institution none of us can legitimately recommend to students who seek the holistic education necessary to become productive members of a diverse world.

Sincerely,

UVM Department of Social Work faculty

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, and the University of Vermont Board of Trustees,

We, the faculty in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Vermont, are writing to express our concerns about the proposed cuts to academic majors, minors, departments, and programs in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS). In so doing, we invite the administration to partner with faculty in an effort to strengthen and sustain the university.

First, we are concerned about the way in which these proposed cuts were determined and communicated: in a top-down manner and with language suggesting to the media a fait accompli immediately after faculty were informed. This lack of respect for faculty governance has devastated faculty morale as we close a semester in which we rose to meet unprecedented challenges. The timing of the decisions may well have impacted our ability to recruit strong students. The process further violated UVM’s mission, as stated in Our Common Ground, which calls upon us to value open information exchange, collaborative participation, integrity, transparency, mutual respect, and diverse perspectives.

Second, we are concerned about the hollowing-out of the curriculum imposed by these proposed cuts. In order to recruit high-quality students and to serve our land grant mission, it is essential that UVM offer a sufficiently broad range of courses and majors relative to our regional peers, as stipulated in the Vermont State Statutes (§ 1-5). Departments of Classics, Religion, and Geology and majors focusing on foreign languages and cultures are part of any outstanding or even adequate university ecosystem. The breadth of students served by these departments is not reflected solely in number of majors. The faculty in the targeted departments and programs serve the greater mission of a broad liberal arts education for all of our students by providing courses that fulfill university-wide requirements in the humanities and the environment and teach students how to live and lead in an increasingly diverse society. Many students—not just majors--need to progress to upper-level courses in the targeted areas, from which highly popular interdisciplinary majors (e.g., Global Studies, Environmental Studies) rely on course offerings at all levels.

Third, we are concerned that the decision to make these cuts is inconsistent with the university’s vision and mission. With cuts like this, UVM can no longer claim to provide a comprehensive liberal arts education or to prepare its students to work and communicate effectively in our complex global community. As anthropologists, we find it chilling that our administration would not fight to maintain programs that provide rich diversity-centered (D1 and D2) course offerings that will be vital to the new General Education framework. We find it hard to fathom how UVM can continue to claim to be a leading environmental university without Geology, which provides the foundational science for understanding the earth and our planetary health. We must invest in these departments and programs if we are to compete in a globalized world where geopolitical conflict and global warming are major existential threats.

We ask that the administration practice more transparency in its presentation of budgetary figures and the justifications for budgetary decisions. We have seen data indicating that the “budget shortfall” in CAS is in no small part due to the central administration’s longstanding practice of keeping a much larger percentage of CAS students’ tuition dollars relative to other colleges. This is also tied to the recent practice of allowing post-graduate colleges to teach undergraduate courses, collecting millions of dollars per year in revenue without offering academic rigor, when there are existing undergraduate units with specialization in those areas.

We call on you to consider the long-term health and vibrancy of the university. We can afford to weather this storm without gutting the CAS curriculum to save a mere $800,000. We know that times are hard, but we understand that the university has received $38 million in pandemic relief funds, with more expected, has a $34-million “rainy-day fund”, and has realized a net gain of $24 million in the endowment in the last year. Budgets are not just numbers, but rather reflections of what we choose to value and support in our role as a public land grant institution. UVM should open its books so that faculty can help to find ways to reduce costs that maintain the integrity of the university’s academic mission and enviable reputation.

Please partner with faculty to reconsider our options for a sustainable future. Provide us with the budgetary and enrollment data needed to support the university in its next moves and trust us to steward the university’s legacy. We fear that the current course could lead to a downward spiral for UVM, which would not be conducive to our R1 aspirations, our reputation, or our ability to attract new students. If we gut the basics, we risk not being able to keep attract heavy-hitting faculty able to garner the accolades and grant dollars to which we aspire. Faculty members who specialize in diversity and the environment are feeling betrayed by a university that used their work to tout itself, only to undermine their mission and their jobs. Empowering the faculty to help build and sustain excellence at UVM may well restore faith in university leadership.

Sincerely,

The Department of Anthropology, University of Vermont

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls, and UVM Board of Trustees:

My name is Anne Houston – I am a UVM alumna who came to the University on a Green & Gold Scholarship after finishing top of my class at Craftsbury Academy in the Northeast Kingdom. I double majored in Italian Studies and French, graduating cum laude and as a John Dewey Scholar in 2006. Three generations and over a dozen members of my family have received or are currently pursuing degrees from UVM in a variety of fields. I have always been proud of my Vermont public education from kindergarten through undergrad…always proud, that is, until recently, when a long shadow of doubt was cast on the undergraduate portion of my higher education.

I am exceptionally dismayed to hear the University’s shortsighted plan of devastating cuts to the College of Arts & Sciences, and I urge you to reconsider. My reasons are many, but I will call out a few in this letter, and hope that my voice in addition to others will be heard.

I will start with the University’s own words. First, the mission, which is: “To create, evaluate, share, and apply knowledge and to prepare students to be accountable leaders who will bring to their work dedication to the global community, a grasp of complexity, effective problem-solving and communication skills, and an enduring commitment to learning and ethical conduct.”

The proposal compromises the University’s ability to meet its own mission. You aspire to imbue students with qualities that are much harder to master with cuts like these. The humanities are integral components to each of the mission’s characteristics of “accountable leaders”, and what deeply concerns me is the precedent this proposal sets. What other liberal arts programs will be axed the next time budgets are tight? What will be saved at such a cost? I encourage you, as stewards of a public university to really reflect on this. I work in finance. I have a master’s of science in non-profit administration. I understand the pressures of budgeting, restricted funding streams, and trying to make it all come together. But there has to be a conversation around the true value and objective of the university and its public service. Money talks, but it certainly doesn’t speak for everything.

Additionally, the proposal is hypocritical to the University’s vision: “To be among the nation’s premier research universities with a comprehensive commitment to a liberal arts education, environment, health, and public service.” The proposed cuts directly target the liberal arts education and delegitimize any attempt at a “comprehensive commitment”, which means despite its efforts, the University of Vermont will not be among the nation’s premier research universities. The direct focus to slash the College of Arts & Sciences is striking: it devalues the education I received at UVM, and it tarnishes the luster of being (or having once been) a “Public Ivy” institution. It is in your best interest to seek another way.

Lastly, your own Strategic Imperatives list first and foremost, “Provide an unparalleled educational experience for our students by continually enhancing course offerings through rigorous evaluation and evolution, and alignment with a liberal arts foundation and societal demands. Exposure to the humanities—and the critical thought this engenders—will position our graduates for success in the broadest range of pursuits.” How is it possible to put forward and defend this proposal in light of your own strategic plan?

My transcript displays a potpourri of courses that would no longer exist under the new plan. From a personal perspective, my studies, the focus of my studies, and the fact that they occurred at UVM, are inextricably linked to who I am today. I took Italian on a whim, and was swept up in the incredible dedication of my fellow classmates and professors. The Italian language faculty taught with zeal and cared so deeply about our engagement and success with the subject. I often pitied fellow UVMers who would talk about which professors were phoning it in – either not caring about teaching at all and overly engrossed in research, or teaching wholeheartedly but without the research projects to inspire students. My French and Italian professors were and still are so solidly at the center of the Venn Diagram: they have poured themselves into their careers at this university; they have given so much for the sake of their students and passion for teaching and research.

I know this first-hand because Cristina Mazzoni pushed me to truly test my mettle for my honor’s thesis by writing six original translations of Italian children’s literature from the late 19th and late 20th centuries, all written by women, with a history of the genre and a biography of each author. And, prior to that, I was allowed in other classes to work with students on film projects as opposed to traditional papers, the faculty readily understanding we would achieve just as much enrichment if not more from our cinematic pursuits. (It's true, UVM served as the set for Dante va all’università.)

My degree means the world to me, thus why I’m speaking out so strongly. It is the reason why I jumped on a plane to Rome the year after graduating, and how I have found so many beautiful friendships over the years. It is how I learned to make mistakes in the moment and not want to crawl in a hole and die, but rather recover, learn, and improve. It is why I was successful as an ESL teacher in Chelsea, MA, replicating many of my Italian professors' tactics with my own students. It is why I was able to go above and beyond in my grad school studies at Boston University, which earned me the department’s Excellence in Graduate Studies Award. It is why I returned to Waterman years later to speak with Italian major seniors and reassure, “Even if you don’t end up using the language every day, your education will be of value. I am proof of that.” And, even today, as I stare at and try to wrap my mind around what seems like an impossible chart of accounts used by the state for education accounting, it is how I am able to be patient and reassure myself, “Much like translation, these numbers are telling a story – find that story the way you did by conjugating verbs and figuring out the intent of that preposition.”

My family did not have a lot of money when I came to UVM – we’d recently sold our farm and were still economically recovering. The Green & Gold Scholarship was a lifeline to opportunities that only UVM could provide. I am heartbroken that other farm kids like me might not have their world open up the same way mine did by randomly taking that one liberal arts class that started an entire journey to defining oneself and being successful in life.

Please reconsider. And use your assets. Not the dollars and cents, but the human assets in your faculty and staff who face an adverse impact from these cuts. Leverage the sweat equity that has gone into the university for decades to find a way to make it work. I truly believe you can do it if you truly want to.

With regards,

Annie Houston, Class of '06

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls and UVM Board of Trustees,

My name is Katherine Fischer. I am a Burlingtonian and a current graduate student at UVM pursuing my Master's in English, with an expected graduation date of spring 2021. I am also an alumna of UVM, having completed my Bachelor's of Arts as a double major in English and Italian both within the CAS, as well as a minor in Community and International Development within CDAE and CALS. I graduated in the spring of 2017, the same year that I was inducted into the Italian National Honor's Society, and served as the Vice President of the Student Alumni Association.

You may be looking at the mix of things I studied in my undergraduate career with a bit of confusion. If you told me in my first days of UVM that those would be the subjects I would pursue, I would have been equally confused. But alas, the journey through college has many twists and turns. We make friends very different from ourselves, we take subjects we had never known existed. In short, we broaden our horizons and discover ourselves, which are the most basic and essential foundations for a humanities based college experience. While at UVM, I took courses ranging from classics, mythology, biology, math, poetry, linguistics, art history, gender studies, economics and more. Each one of these courses opened my eyes to something completely foreign and each was spiritually stirring and intellectually fulfilling. My path, like those of many students, may have seemed messy at the time, filled with indecision and trekking down paths that didn't seem linear nor did they have a clear destination. But in retrospect, that is the beauty of the college experience, and I wouldn't trade my experience for anything.

My journey through college led me to the Italian department, which ended up being the single most important piece of my college experience. The Italian Department felt like home in a way that the other bigger departments with bigger classes did not. Everyone knew each other well and we would all go to department events, as well as a Professor's art shows, and even a peer's Honors College thesis defense. We were a family. A family of completely random students from all backgrounds who would have never crossed paths if it weren't for our deep passion for the Italian language and culture, and language and culture more broadly. Through my studies in the Italian Department, I not only was encouraged to study abroad in an unknown city in Italy which completely changed my life, but I found something that I was really good at. Everyone should be able to find the thing that they are really good at. Limiting areas of study at UVM diminishes the potential for students to find their calling.

To get rid of majors and minors such as Italian is to get rid of those communities, those families. I don't know what my experience would have been like if it weren't for those four professors and twenty-odd students. Who knows if I would have stayed at UVM not having found that community? I wouldn't have felt at home on campus. To get rid of Italian is to destroy the home for those students to whom Italian is the thing that they are truly good at. Through my recent conversations with students from all of the affected departments, I can tell you that they feel the same way about their programs of study.

Today, I wear my liberal arts education like a badge of honor. It has served me well in my four years since graduating. And it has even brought me back for more, in my decision to return to graduate school. But know this, if you continue to diminish the value of the liberal arts education at UVM, and the beautifully diverse group of subjects offered, people will choose other schools. Because what you will be offering will no longer lead students down that beautifully messy path that I mentioned. The path will be flat, limited, predetermined, and focused on things that don't stir the soul in the ways that the humanities do.

Because of these cuts you are considering, I cannot in good conscience support UVM. Therefore, until the protection and preservation of the liberal arts at UVM is guaranteed, including but not limited to the newly affected programs, I will not be giving any financial donations to the University, nor will I endorse or recommend the University to potential students. It is sad for me to do this, as I have been a long term cheerleader for UVM and have spoken its praises to many for being forward thinking and academically diverse. I have recommended the school to many students over the years who have indeed decided to come here, but I do not believe incoming students would have access to the education I received if you move forward with these cuts.

You are making a mistake for short term financial gain that will come back to haunt UVM. History will not look kindly upon this decision to destroy these academic communities that many have called home for generations. Be careful what you do, for the academic world is watching, including all the students like me who look back on their rich and diverse paths through college so affectionately.

Sincerely,

Katherine Fischer

M.A. Candidate, English, University of Vermont

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls, and UVM Board of Trustees,

My name is Laura Felone. I graduated from UVM in 2017 with a BA in Political Science and minors in English, African Studies, and Music. I am a proud Vermonter, Green and Gold Scholar, and Catamount, but I am ashamed to learn of the proposed cuts to the humanities at UVM.

I am currently finishing the first semester of my second year in my Political Science PhD at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am studying international relations and psychology. I have no doubts that I would not be where I am today and on this path without the broad, supportive, liberal arts education I received at UVM.

I found connectivity and fabulous mentorship, primarily in my home department. My first reaction to the news about cuts was, "thank goodness; political science is safe." It is heartbreaking that other social sciences and humanities are not deemed as worthy, especially given that the sense of community I developed was not limited to this department.

Close relationships and support surrounded me at UVM. One example of this is Vicki Brennan, who I met when I took her course on women and African religions through the Religion Department. She was on my thesis committee and made me wish I'd taken more religion courses during my time.

My African Studies minor was essential to helping broaden my worldview and keeping me open-minded, empathetic, and curious about all corners of life and the world. It also helped determine what I did/didn't want to pursue in my graduate degree and future career.

Please do not take away regional studies. It is far too important in our Western-dominated, globalized world.

Religion is not the only affected department I found instrumental to my education: I also took Mythology in the Classics Department and Earth Hazards for a non-lab science credit in the Geology Department. These courses were wonderful, accessible ways to fulfill distribution requirements and enjoy the process of doing so.

Between my time at UVM and UW, I worked for Mansfield Hall in Burlington, a local college support program for students with diverse learning needs. I recommended both of those courses (Mythology and Earth Hazards) to many students. These students need distribution options that are taught by accepting, open faculty, like Professors Chiu and Bierman. They need courses that expose them to new areas and ways of thinking without being overwhelming. I am saddened that these options will no longer be available to them.

I respect the tough financial position UVM is facing and recognize it is not unique to CAS. Indeed, it makes sense to cut programs that are not graduating enough students. That said, if UVM wants to maintain its distinction as a public ivy, it needs to continue to provide a quality liberal arts education. Offering a diverse array of areas of study in the humanities and social sciences is crucial to accomplishing this goal. These areas teach different skills than STEM does, and the world requires all types of thinkers trained in these different ways.

Perhaps further consolidation is an option? Merge Greek, Latin, and classics. Include geology with another science option - geology, arguably, is the most integrated of the sciences, using all other scientific areas in its studies. And yes, given financial realities and enrollment, perhaps there are certain majors that can feasibly be cut, so long as the content remains available to students. I am skeptical that this is the case, however.

My pride in UVM is wavering. I loved my experience there, but I now struggle to promote the University knowing that future students will not have the same opportunities for a thoughtful, well-rounded liberal arts education.

Thank you for hearing this alum's thoughts.

Sincerely,

Laura Felone, UVM Alum Class of 2017

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Dear Dean Falls, Provost Prelock, and President Garimella,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am writing to express my extreme disappointment with the College of Arts and Sciences administration’s recent proposal to eliminate programs vital to this University's essence. I love this university and truly value the knowledge and experiences I have gained here, but these proposed cuts threaten the integrity of the University of Vermont and everything I love about it.

I am a fourth-year Environmental Studies and German double-major in CAS. Although Environmental Studies is my primary major, my major in German is what has shaped my UVM experience. It is by far and without a doubt the best part of my time at UVM. Though Dean Falls may classify the German major and the other programs under consideration as 'underenrolled,' the truth goes beyond major and minor declarations. My German courses have been full and lively, even during the pandemic. In fact, any 'underenrollment' in the major, and the other programs listed on the list of proposed cuts, is more likely a result of CAS' demonstrated intent to underfund German and similar programs.

As a prospective student, I was in part enticed by UVM's promise that CAS would be a 'small liberal arts college experience' within a larger university. At the continued efforts of the incredible faculty in CAS and the communities they have created within, it has been. The administration, on the other hand, has continually undermined this with cuts to the Classics department and total elimination of Arabic – a crucial world language that promotes cultural literacy – to name a few recent changes. If these past and proposed cuts are the administration’s idea of a liberal arts college experience, I strongly question the future and integrity of this great university. If UVM wants to uphold its reputation as a 'Public Ivy' and continue to claim a liberal arts experience, specifically in CAS, the administration needs to drastically reconsider these proposed cuts which would gut CAS – and UVM – of its heart and soul. Anything else would be false advertising.

There is a reason why Humanities are called what they are; they teach us how to be human, and now, more than ever, this should be a priority. Many of the programs you are looking to eliminate, especially Religion, also fulfill Diversity and other University requirements that UVM is so proud of, so this decision by the administration undermines its own core values.

As a senior and soon-to-be alumna of UVM, I urge you – the administration – to reconsider your plan to gut the proposed majors, minors, and graduate programs particularly the language and cultural programs, Religion, and Geology. I understand that this is a difficult time for the college, but so is it for everyone else – and many of your students, faculty, and staff, the heartbeat of any institute of higher education, have just had their worlds turned upside down by this declaration – just in time for finals and the conclusion of an incredibly difficult and depressing year. That the students currently enrolled in these programs will be able to finish out their degrees comes as little comfort, as the rest of their, and my, time will be tainted with the knowledge that no future students will be afforded the same opportunities at life-changing experiences, should this proposal be accepted.

I may be less infuriated if these decisions had been transparent and come in culmination of many months' or years' open discussions with faculty, staff, and students, but this announcement was a shock even to the heads of the departments and programs you have proposed to slash. As a member of the newly formed Student Language Advisory Committee (SLAC), this also came to a shock to me and my fellow committee-members – although the UVM administration has shown for years how little they value our programs. SLAC has had a number of promising meetings with Associate Dean Abby McGowan on how to increase interest and enrollment in the different languages offered at UVM, all of which contribute to a vibrant and multicultural community at this university. To remove these majors, minors, and graduate programs, without exhausting all other possible options first, would be a grave mistake. If the end goal is to simply come up with the $600,000 that cutting these programs would result in, perhaps a better course of action would be to engage in some self-examination and reduce – not just freeze growth in – top administration salaries and invest this directly in the academic programs – particularly the ones you propose to eliminate – that make UVM such a wonderful university.

Humanities are the backbone of higher education. Without them, there would be no university. Without students and faculty, there would be no university. A university that continually undermines its academics has no right to call itself an institution of higher institution; instead, it demonstrates a transformation into a self-interested corporation only concerned with numbers. To counteract what I, and many others at this university, see as a worrying trend toward the latter at UVM, it is imperative for you to listen to your student body and incredible faculty and staff and act accordingly – not just pay lip service.

The focus of any university should be providing a well-rounded academic experience. In my four years at UVM, the administration has continuously proven that academics – which is so much more than STEM – are at the bottom of their priorities. I, and many others, are losing faith in the direction the current administration is leading us. Prove us wrong. Rethink your misguided proposal to cut these priceless programs.

Sincerely,

Maggie Hirschberg

Environmental Studies and German, CAS, UVM ‘21

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Dear Governor Scott and esteemed members of the House and Senate Committees on Education,

I am writing to express my dismay at the sweeping proposed cuts to the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Vermont. As a land-grant institution, a public Ivy, and the flagship of higher education in Vermont, UVM occupies a singular, central place in the intellectual and cultural life of the state. It also plays an immediately visible role in Vermont's wider reputation on the national and even international stage. These proposed cuts affect two dozen majors and minors, four master's programs, and three entire departments (Classics, Religion, and Geology). The cuts represent not only the decimation of UVM's offerings in liberal arts and humanities but also the abandonment of UVM's educational responsibility to Vermont, the repudiation of its founding mission and traditions of excellence, and the worst kind of short-sighted administrative decision-making during a time of unprecedented uncertainty. The result is a wrenching crisis of values almost more than it is a crisis of leadership and finances. It is also a gross failure of imagination and creative problem solving to argue that UVM cannot bridge a $8.6 million budget gap in any other way than by destroying programs that comprise its liberal arts core and enable it to make real differences in the lives of its students.

Also under threat is the precious idea that higher education is a public good. UVM as a public flagship has a particular duty to its students, beginning with its Vermont constituency. Indeed, in terms of that obligation, let me direct your attention to the testimony of native Vermonter and current UVM Classics instructor Penny Evans: https://evansje.medium.com/a-person-not-a-number-870b5c0b0f45

Furthermore, let me encourage you to look at the petitions on behalf of the three departments marked for termination. Please consider not only the number of signatures but also the many personal testimonials offered in comments by students and alumni among others. The enduring impact that a broad liberal arts education has, with its ability to open doors and change lives, is best measured by the experiences of the students.

~ https://www.change.org/p/uvm-students-save-the-university-of-vermont-s-classics-department

~ https://www.change.org/p/university-of-vermont-college-of-arts-and-sciences-stop-uvm-geology-cuts

~ https://www.change.org/p/bill-falls-dean-of-uvm-cas-stop-the-university-of-vermont-from-cutting-religion-major

My interest in UVM is personal as well as professional: I am an alumna, and I credit the excellent education I received in the Department of Classics' MA program with my subsequent acceptance to Princeton for my doctorate. After completing the PhD, I was delighted to return to UVM and give back to the department and the university that had so enriched my own life. Over my decade and more at UVM, I have seen my Classics students pursue successful, fruitful careers in a kaleidoscope of fields from business to education to law to medicine to research science and beyond. Our graduates teach at all levels all over Vermont, New England, and indeed the country; they have labored in the Peace Corps and Doctors without Borders; still others have gone on to graduate work in a variety of disciplines and taken the UVM imprimatur to Berkeley, Chicago, Dartmouth, Harvard, Johns Hopkins, King's College London, Michigan, Oxford, and Yale, to name but a few. How many stories like theirs would be possible in the future if UVM eliminates now the options and opportunities that they had? UVM would be destroying its own legacy and creating a poorer future for all. Even in purely mercenary terms, no marketing PR firm can compete long-term with the name of UVM as it is illuminated, embodied, and lived out by its alumni.

I fear that, if allowed to be implemented, the proposed cuts to UVM's academic offerings will do irreparable damage to its standing and that this will inevitably ripple out into the quality of education in the community and the state. At the very least UVM will certainly cease to deserve the proud title of public Ivy, for the education it will offer will in no way be comparable to that of the Ivies. What may be far worse and more lasting will be the destruction of the soul of UVM if it abandons the beloved Vermont values of community, cooperation, and compassion, the desire to care not only for the physical world but also the needs of the fellow human beings who inhabit it. The stated vision of UVM is "To be among the nation’s premier research universities with a comprehensive commitment to a liberal arts education, environment, health, and public service." I encourage you to call on UVM to remember its own mission and support the liberal arts and humanities that have always been the bedrock of its greatness and its place as the jewel in the crown of Vermont education.

Sincerely yours,

Angeline Chiu

Associate Professor
Department of Classics
University of Vermont

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, and Dean Falls,

I write out of genuine sincerity and concern about the recommendations recently put forward to terminate a number of small humanities programs within the school.

My concern stems from first-hand knowledge of and experience with these programs.
I know that these programs are very much alive and flourishing with vitality and enthusiasm. The Classics Goodrich Club has no small number of students who participate in weekly activities and extracurriculars associated with the club, so to hear Provost Prelock's remarks that they do not "foster the vitality necessary to achieve a high-quality academic experience" came as a shock. I know the email list alone is some 100 or more regular attendees strong. The culture of the club is such a positive, safe space for many that reminds me very much of my own undergraduate experience in the Classics club at Baylor, where I made many of my friends and had my most memorable college experiences.

I teach an introductory Latin class, and I have been able to find not only strong interest in Classical studies, but languages modern and ancient more generally. I have received encouraging feedback from my students themselves that expresses this. Many of these students have told me of their deep dismay and frustration with these changes. Some came to UVM purely because of its robust and diverse humanities offerings. Indeed, I had considered it one of the reasons for UVM's reputation as a "Public Ivy." These recommendations are altering that reputation, both for me and my students.

To represent these programs, especially Classics, as dwindling is a gross representation of the vitality and strength of these communities as experienced in reality. These programs have always been small, so their purported small size is no reflection of a "dwindling" effect, but merely a reflection of how they have always been. Further, UVM's Classics program is larger and healthier than most others' across the country, so we should recognize its role in making UVM a national leader in education, rather than suffocating it.

Classics courses, from my anecdotal interviews with others, often have a profound impact on the people who take them. While I know that the administration has said these courses will not be phased out entirely, its recommendations will hamstring the departments' ability to thrive and foster those promising individuals who have a strong desire to become professionals in these fields. They also deeply undermine the integrity of our disciplines as legitimate and valuable areas of study.

I strongly encourage, on my behalf and the behalf of others, that the administration reconsider these cutbacks, and either assume responsibility for a temporary deficit, or find other ways to cutback on spending that will not detract from the educational opportunities of its students.

All very best,

Anna H. Lam

University of Vermont, Department of Classics

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls and UVM Board of Trustees,

My name is Sophia Cirignano and I graduated from UVM in 2019 with a major in philosophy and a minor in religion, a department that risks elimination. During my time in these departments, which offered me so much, I won the John Dewey prize for the most outstanding student in philosophy. My experiences in religion classes, guided by skilled and passionate professors, were so inspiring that I now am in a masters program in religious studies at Concordia University. I owe so much to my liberal arts education at UVM--a broader awareness of issues and the world around me, writing skills, critical thinking, to name just a few things--that at the very least I owe the religion department, among other humanities programs, my support in urging you not to eliminate it.

Until the protection and preservation of the liberal arts at UVM is guaranteed, including but not limited to the newly affected programs, I will not be giving any financial donations to the University, nor will I endorse or recommend the University to potential students. Please consider the positive, life-changing experiences that I and my peers have had in our liberal arts educations at UVM and please put a stop to this shortsighted proposal for elimination.

Thank you for your consideration.

-Sophia Cirignano, Class of 2019

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, and Dean Falls,

I'm writing as Associate Library Professor Emeritus to ask you to reconsider the wrong-headed move to cut the Classics, Religion, and Geology departments, along with Area Studies and Romance and Germanic languages. I gave 20 years of my career to UVM before retiring this past spring.

I attended a small, four-year college in the 1970s, majoring in Liberal Arts and Sciences (it was a self-designed major, which truly altered the trajectory of my life for the better.) During my undergraduate years, I took several courses in Classics and Religion, and kicked myself for not having taken a geology course. The classics courses I took looked primarily at Greek myth, and I was opened to the ideas of the uses of ancient myth, and how it pertains to today's world; it led to my understanding the role of archetypes and the unconscious, learning much about Jung and the power of symbols in human history and the human psyche. I took many religion classes, which taught me critical thinking skills, and which deconstructed the religion I grew up within that shed light on how I think about religions of the world to this day.

It is simply impossible to imagine a reputable university--particularly the flagship, land-grant university of our state--that lacks the departments that you seem so intent on cancelling. Your reliance on numbers of majors and minors is precisely the wrong approach when looking at higher education. Yes, budgets are real, and money is tight within the demands of the pandemic. But getting rid of key programs that virtually define what a liberal arts education is imagines education as a business, which is a fatal error. University education is a public good, not a program to generate profit. You have been starving Humanities programs for years now, and then you blame those very programs for having low numbers of majors and minors.

If I had children nearing college age, even with my tuition benefit as a retired faculty member, I would not counsel them to go to UVM if you cut these programs as you intend. I seriously doubt that I am alone in this. Do you imagine that parents around the country would not notice the closure of key departments from the university?

I urge you to do the right thing, and drop this plan to gut the Humanities and languages, as well as geology. Otherwise, UVM will descend still further into the morass of neoliberal strategies that appeal to absolutely no one except yourselves.

Sincerely,

Peter Spitzform

Associate Professor Emeritus

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To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Dr. Shannon Kostin. I am a 2011 graduate of the University of Vermont College of Arts and Sciences and a current PGY-2 Categorical Pediatrics Resident at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York. I am writing to you today to express my concerns over the current changes being proposed at the University. To me the University of Vermont has been a place that enabled me to flourish academically. It was the place that enabled me to focus on all of my academic passions, which include the classics, history, biology, and scientific research. When I graduated from CALS in 2011 my academic record shows me excelling in each of these entities. In fact, I chose to attend UVM for its strong liberal arts education, and 5 years later my younger sister chose UVM for those same reasons. She too will be a physician, and like me, spent her time at UVM taking Latin and other humanities classes in addition to science classes.

Looking back on my formative years at UVM and my time in medical school and now in residency, I realize that the broad-based education I received at UVM gave me the stepping stone to pursue and excel in a career in medicine. From critical thinking skills to writing to a general knowledge of ethics, psychology, and sociologic theories, my humanities education has been able to be applied every step of the way. In fact, my medical school placed such a strong focus on the medical humanities that there are required courses and additional certifications that were offered to medical students. As esteemed physician and medical educator Dr. William Osler once said: “The humanities are the hormones…to infect with the spirit of the Humanities is the greatest single gift in education.” My medical school and many others believe that a humanities education helps to train doctors who can be better observers, ones that can understand perspectives other than their own, and ones that can challenge and expose their preconceived notions.

When I traveled around the United States interviewing for my residency position, I was asked about my humanities background on countless interviews, as it is an important part of who I am as a person and an applicant. As many program directors stated in those interviews, it is not just medicine and the sciences that make you an excellent doctor, it is the knowledge of humanities combined that enable you to excel. Now, as a practicing physician I couldn’t agree more with their sentiments. Two years ago, when I walked across the stage of Lincoln Center to receive my hood, and achieve my childhood goal, I recited the Hippocratic Oath, a pledge from an ancient Greek philosopher and forefather of medicine as we know it today. That Oath had even more meaning because of my humanities education.

As someone with significant earning potential who had every intention of donating to the University, the proposed cuts make me question that future financial goal that I had made for myself. At this time, I am not even sure that I would recommend UVM to applying high school students. A university that does not value its faculty or the humanities is not one deserving of educating tomorrow’s future leaders.

I hope that UVM and CALS will not become a shell of its former self and will continue to challenge its current and future students with an education in the humanities AND the sciences. That it will continue to enable students and graduates to be leaders with a full breadth of knowledge, not just focused technical skills. After all, how can we call our University one of the public ivies if we do not offer a broad-based education to our students. I for one am glad that my education at the Universitas Viridis Montis included classes that enabled me to learn to translate the very motto of our University.

Sincerely,

Dr. Shannon Kostin, MD, UVM ‘11

Department of Pediatrics PGY-2

Maimonides Infants and Children's Hospital

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To President Garimella and the University of Vermont Board of Trustees:

My name is Daniel Morgan and I am a 2018 graduate of UVM’s esteemed Political Science Department, History Department, and Business School. I had the pleasure of completing my foreign language requirements in the course of my Senior year as a Catamount. The Department of German and Russian holds the highest honor in my heart – and will continue to hold the utmost importance in my decisions regarding financial support of my alma mater as an alumnus.

In short, the Department of German and Russian supplied a sense of community, of scholarship, and of initiative that is so vital in the formative years that constitute higher education. Professors Bridget Swanson, Wolfgang Mieder, Dennis Mahoney, and Kate Kenny remain close connections as a young professional and graduate. I have such admiration for Professor Kathleen Scollins, I personally purchased a textbook she authored that I had not had the opportunity to study during my time at University, and had her autograph it – all post-graduation. Professor Kenny authored the most sincere and substantial letter of recommendation I have ever received that secured my place in Officer Candidate School with the US Army. Professor Bridget Swanson has been, and remains, my closest mentor through the most troubling and turbulent of times. I assure you of this: I would not be here today without each and every one of the faculty and staff that make the Department of German and Russian such an invaluable asset to the University. As I transitioned from my time studying in Europe back to Burlington, the entire department was instrumental in helping me secure a sense of purpose and place. The Department of German and Russian is my greatest source of pride for having studied and graduated from the University of Vermont.

I will not argue here the immeasurable importance a Liberal Arts Degree offers to the generations of future Vermonters, Americans, and Citizens of the world. Instead, as a true Political Science Major, I will quote President Kennedy:

“Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. Our requirements for world leadership, our hopes for economic growth, and the demands of citizenship itself in an era such as this all require the maximum development of every young American's capacity. The human mind is our fundamental resource.”

In the final analysis, it is this progress, the progress of an entire generation, that constitutes the great burden and responsibility we all grant our University’s Administration. We entrust you, collectively, to maintain, improve, and protect this progress. The work you do now is unparalleled in continuing UVM’s mission dating from 1791. I have never been more confident in our University to do the right thing, and that is what I am asking of you to do now. I speak only for myself in this correspondence, but I have no doubt I speak for a far great more alumnus when I say that until the protection, preservation, and continual improvement of the liberal arts at UVM is guaranteed, I will halt all financial contributions to the University.

I look forward to your prompt attention to this matter.

Very Truly Yours,

Daniel O. Morgan, Class of 2018
Town of Charlotte Zoning Administrator/Sewage Control Officer/Public Health Officer/E-911 Coordinator

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Hello All,

My name is Sophie Aronson and I am a first year student, double majoring in Spanish and Latin American and Caribbean Studies. I'm contacting you again regarding Dean Falls' harmful proposal to cut 12 majors, 11 minors, and 4 master's degree programs in the College of Arts and Sciences.

I'll begin with the Latin American and Caribbean Studies Department, as I am directly affected by its dismantlement. This department only costs the university $1,400 per year, which is low enough that even though there are currently 5 students enrolled, it is not a financial strain. In fact, since the courses for this major are all parts of other departments, it seems that the only thing this cut would achieve is limiting the options available for students.

It is also crucial to mention that some of the majors and minors proposed to be cut, Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Asian Studies, and Religion, are homes to large proportions of BIPOC and religious minority students and faculty. They are some of the few areas of study within UVM that aren't Western-centric and provide much needed diversification of education at UVM. If anything, these programs should be expanded. UVM has a majority White student body which is in great need of a diversified education. Religious literacy and solid knowledge of non-Western cultures is of the utmost importance, as we are living in a society that is seeing spikes of religion- and race-based hate crimes. It is hypocritical and exploitative for UVM to be advertised as a progressive and diverse environment while it simultaneously underfunds and devalues programs centric to non-hegemonic groups.

Another significant point to consider is how these changes would affect low-income students from Vermont. UVM is the state's university with the most complete and broad range of topics of study, however, if the humanities are stripped away, Vermonters who are financially limited to enrolling in in-state colleges will lose the opportunity to receive a high quality liberal arts education. It is imperative that the administration remembers that UVM is a public institution, a public good. This is a school, not a corporation, and the IBB model which it is run on is exploitative. Your job is to serve the public, not to make money.

While you keep telling us that courses won't be eliminated and professors won't be fired, know that we see right through your performative reassurance and sympathy. We are not foolish. We know that while teachers without tenure might not lose their jobs this spring, a few years away they will be in vulnerable positions where their employment is not relevant because their departments will no longer exist. We know that when educators of great expertise in these disciplines retire, they will not be replaced and the student body will lose this valuable source of knowledge and mentorship.

Again, the lack of enrollment in humanities programs doesn't have a casual relationship to a lack of interest from students. Humanities courses are always relevant and in demand because there is always a need for the younger generation to learn about ideologies and ethics that will create framework for future leadership of the world. These programs don't see equal enrollment because of STEM-targeted advertising and branding. There are more students enrolled in the geology master's program than the physics master's program, yet geology is the one being cut. The reasoning behind these proposed cuts is weak and inconsistent.

These CAS programs aren't the source of the budget deficit and getting rid of them will not be the solution. The allocation of funding must be reorganized. The IBB model pits the different colleges against each other whereas more holistic model would ensure that all colleges are valued and supported. Professors should be involved in this decision making process as well. They are the ones teaching the courses so shouldn't they have a say in the structuring, dismantling, and consolidation of departments? The school could save a lot of money by getting rid of UVM campus police. They suck up $2.4 million annually that would be spent better on education, mental health, and harm reduction programs. Listen to the needs and demands of your students, it's their tuition that provides for your paychecks.

Respectfully,

Sophie Aronson

Class of 2024

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls and UVM Board of Trustees-

My name is Lydia Horne, I graduated from the UVM Honors College in 2016 with a B.A. in English and Italian. I'm currently a journalist at WIRED magazine and MFA student at California Institute of the Arts.

It has come to my attention that the university is considering eliminating the Italian department, a program that provided me a worldly perspective that extended far beyond the confines of Vermont. As an undergrad, my Italian studies took me to Bologna, where I took graduate level Art History classes (all in Italian) that required a degree of fluency that the UVM Italian professors helped me achieve. From Bologna, I went on to take an internship in New York City, an experience that helped me obtain my first professional job post-college, where I would communicate daily with Milanese textile manufacturers in Italian. Last year, I returned to Bologna to visit the friends I made there--dear friends who checked-in on me during quarantine and the throes of the 2020 election.

During the pandemic, I've started relearning Italian through weekly private lessons with a tutor in Udine. The intention of this is not only for the pure joy of speaking Italian, but also to supplement my Fulbright scholar application. My proposal is to live and work in Florence, where I will hone my skills as a critic in a city that contains the most renowned artwork in the world.

The direction of my life, work, relationships, and so much more can be traced back to my origins as an Italian minor at UVM. Until the protection and preservation of the liberal arts at UVM is guaranteed, including but not limited to the newly affected programs, I will not be giving any financial donations to the University, nor will I endorse or recommend the University to potential students.

I implore UVM to reconsider abolishing the Italian department.

Sincerely,

Lydia Horne, Class of 2016

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To whom it may concern,

My name is Greg Freeman and I'm a senior Religion major at UVM. Your abhorrent decision to purge the heart of the humanities absolutely fills me with sadness and anger. Entering my freshman year I was heavily considering dropping out or transferring. I simply did not see higher education as something that was meant for me. We are taught in high school that financially opportunistic academic pursuits are the only ones worth following. This was my mentality when I came to UVM, that is until I took my first Religion class. The Religion department has fostered a home to me and many students like me, who have not felt compelled by other majors. I know countless other Religion majors, and non-Religion majors who feel similarly and who have told me that they would not be at UVM if it were not for the department. I know countless Religion majors who, like me, hold true that the department has literally changed their lives. I go into tens of thousands of dollars of student loan debt every year at your expense because I know that the education I have been receiving from the Religion department is invaluable. You know very well that this was a cold and calculated decision, and was not the only means by which UVM could save money. You cannot consider UVM is committed to the liberal arts, or expect others to consider UVM as such, by gutting the heart of our humanities and social sciences. This is a short sighted a costly decision for the schools reputation and for yours. But thankfully you still have the opportunity to change it. Talk numbers and conclusive "data," all you want, but this is not the way to treat our teachers, departments, or students. Sincerely,

Greg Freeman, UVM senior Religion major

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My name is Mia and I am a sophomore at the University of Vermont studying Psychological Science in the College of Arts and Sciences.

I am writing to you about the recent announcement that many majors and minors will be cut from CAS, as well as the Geology, Religion, and Classics department. While I’m not a major in any of the programs that are being cut, I’ve taken some very enjoyable classes in them, specifically the Italian department, and was devastated and outraged at the news.

The FAQ page states that UVM is “committed to being a liberal arts university at its core.” However, by cutting three entire departments in the humanities, I believe the opposite of this commitment is being achieved. In my opinion, the liberal arts are not complete without the study of Greek and Latin--the building blocks to many modern languages-- the study of the earth’s structure, or the study of religion. These three areas are essential in understanding how our world functions today. I understand that UVM wants to encourage people to major in the liberal arts, but this is not possible if there are few liberal arts programs to choose from.

I am also concerned about the reasoning behind the termination of these three departments. Just because very few people are enrolled in the majors and minors does not mean they are less worthy of our attention, money, and time. It is frankly disrespectful to imply to these students and faculty that their programs are not welcome at this institution because of their low enrollment. I know despite the low numbers, the people in these departments are beautifully passionate about what they study and contribute great ideas to their field. We should be embracing these subjects instead of eliminating them.

The FAQ page also notes that enrollment in CAS has declined over the years. I argue that this is because of instances like this- prospective students see that UVM does not want to put in the effort and money to promote and cherish the liberal arts, and thus choose to attend an institution that actually does. Right now, people see an institution with a clear discrepancy in what areas of study they value.

I strongly urge you to reconsider this proposal, and to take action to save these humanities programs at UVM.

Best,

Mia Umali

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A Person Not a Number, by Jessica Penny Evans

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls and UVM Board of Trustees:

My name is Katja Ritchie, and I graduated from UVM in 2015 with a BA in English Language & Literature, and a minor in French Language & Literature.

I reached out following the upset around the $1,000 COVID room and board reimbursement the University landed on back in March. In doing so, I've already pledged not to financially contribute to UVM, nor to affiliate myself with University alumni programs or to recommend the University to prospective students.

Today I'm writing to double down.

It seems as though UVM has landed in some financial trouble to the tune of an $8.6M budget deficit, and the solution is coming at the expense of the College of Arts and Sciences.

I'm not here to plead with you or wax poetic about the ways UVM shaped me as a human being and defined the trajectory of my young adult life. I did that in my last email.

I'm here to ask you to keep it interesting. Cutting programs in the liberal arts is tired. UVM is for innovators.

Below are some programs that you might consider cutting back instead, and a brief justification for each:

Business Analytics. We already have a BA and BS in Business, and as a member of the corporate tech sector myself, "analytics" means almost nothing. Take a couple stats classes and call it a day.
Engineering Management. Corporate experience has taught me that effective management, regardless of field, revolves mainly around aptitude at managing a Google Calendar. Learn to code, dummies!
Entrepreneurship. This is doing you a favor, if not society as a whole. There is already an overwhelming surplus of white boys from Connecticut who fancy themselves the next Bezos.
Exercise Science. We have Nutrition & Dietetics, Biology, and Human Development already. Next!
Finance. We've got Econ and a million other flavors of Business concentrations. We are the Baskin-Robbins of business degrees. Also, the stock market is essentially astrology for men in suits and you cannot tell me or my concentration in critical theory otherwise.

What's more, the programs listed above are uncreative amalgamations of majors and minors that already exist. The programs currently on the chopping block are discrete and nuanced wholes such as:

Italian Studies: the language, culture, and famed multi-millennia history of an entire nation
German Studies: see above. (Also, German is the root language of basically every other Nordic language! English itself is a Germanic language! German is widely spoken and largely considered the business language of much of Eastern Europe!)
Geology: the entire study of the physical earth on which UVM students are encouraged to grow their environmentally-sustainable businesses
Latin and Greek: cornerstones of all modern language
Vermont Studies: okay, this is a little niche, but cutting this one isn't a great look

and this little thing called

Religion. (That's it. All of them. Full stop.)

Jokes aside - although I stand by my budget cut substitutions - UVM cutting these programs isn't the root of the problem, rather, a symptom of a cultural devaluation of art and critical thinking in the name of financial gain. It's a sorry excuse for a "public ivy" that so narrows the minds it claims to enrich.

Value the arts and humanities. Cut some middle management, paper-pushing, six-figure titles. Pay associates, lecturers, and adjuncts. Your students, professors, and alumni are imploring you. What else is there to say?

Regards,

Katja Ritchie

Class of 2015

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Den Falls, and UVM Board of Trustees,

My name is Alyssa Micheli. I graduated from UVM in 2015 magna cum laude with a double major in Italian Studies and Psychology, as a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Gamma Kappa Alpha Italian honor society, and Psi Chi psychology honor society. Furthermore, I earned the title of Honors College Scholar, having written and defended an honors thesis in the Italian department under the guidance of my advisor Paolo Pucci and committee members Cristina Mazzoni and Kelley Helmstutler-DiDio.

I started at UVM with no major declared. As a first-year student in the Honors College, I was surrounded by peers who aspired to be doctors, lawyers, and engineers. I thought that a liberal arts education would not make me competitive in the job market after graduation. But I was wrong.

My experience as an Italian Studies major was different than that of my friends studying in other areas. The Italian Studies major was built with an interdisciplinary approach. I took courses taught entirely in Italian. I was encouraged to speak often and share my points of view. We read texts written in Italian, but the subjects could be anything from facism in Rome, to food, to fairy tales. The Italian language was the foundation, but we learned so much more. I found new confidence in myself, to speak up and to open up. I also took courses across the College of Arts and Sciences, in areas like History and Art History, to fulfill the requirements for the major. I was able to step outside of my “home” department, while still working towards my degree. I met students and faculty coming from different academic backgrounds and learned how to effectively collaborate and communicate despite our differences.

Currently I work in the Deposit Operations department of a community bank. Critical thinking and effective communication are critical to succeeding in my position. I feel comfortable speaking to peers and to executives. I am a team member on projects that involve departments from all across the bank. My time at UVM prepared me for this. I think back to when I sat in Cristina's and Paolo's offices as a student, but feeling like my thoughts and contributions were valued as those of a peer. I think back to when I was the only non-Art History major in an Art History class, only now I am the one representative from my department in a meeting working towards goals with colleagues from across the bank.

The liberal arts are not optional in a student's education; they are at the very core. More than learning specific material, I learned a specific set of skills. Critical thinking. Sharing your own views and listening (really truly listening!) to the views of others. Analyzing information. Understanding and embracing differences. These skills are what prepare students for the "real world” after college.

The education I received as an Italian Studies honors student is invaluable.

I strongly urge you to reconsider the proposed cuts to Italian Studies and the other liberal arts programs in jeopardy.

Sincerely,

Alyssa Micheli

Class of '15

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Hello, UVM administration.

I believe the role of a university administration, if it is to exist at all, is to work for the teachers, student, and staff; i.e., those who in fact make a university what it is. An administration that has elevated itself above this basic mission is one that is not fit to serve.

The reasons for the consistently-unpopular decisions carried out in the last few years are clear enough, and the root causes more visible each semester. We are paying far too high for far too many administrative salaries and capital investments to attract high-income out-of-state students. The end result is a reprioritization of education in the interests of the few over the interests of the many.

I don't have the luxury of moving out of state for a better education, so I cannot afford for programs I hold dear to be constantly so near to the chopping block. For many, their programs have already been chopped. As a state university, it has a duty to offer the widest scope of educational opportunities it can and to fight every day for adequate funding from the state, something which you have clearly stopped trying to do, relying on the far more lucrative revenue of donor dollars, and using the supposed budget crises you manufacture as the excuse to cut less-lucrative programs.

The recent cuts to CAS have been in the works for some time, yet it is still shocking now that they've come. I do hope you reconsider. However, I know that after an entire academic career of fighting you, that is unlikely to happen. Luckily, teachers and students have increasingly learned to come together to fight your injustices, and this may be the straw to break the camel's back. I haven't seen such an outpouring of outrage and intent to organize, nor the amount of unity and clarity in understanding where the problems lie. A major shift in leadership is long overdue. We intend to fight you every step of the way. And we intend to win.

-Cobalt Tolbert

Philosophy/English/Film; Senior

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls, and UVM Board of Trustees,

My name is Valentina Czochanski. I am a current senior at UVM, pursuing a triple major in Italian Studies, Sociology, and Global Studies, and I was appalled when I first saw the email from Dean Falls.

It is infuriating and, quite frankly, unbelievable that a university that boasts a commitment to diversity, inclusivity, and a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to education would even consider eliminating these 12 majors, 11 minors, and 4 master's programs in such important disciplines. It is embarrassing and the administration should be ashamed of this. As a student, this is a clear sign that the administration cares more about profit than my education. I can only imagine how disrespected the faculty in these departments must feel.

These departments which are now threatened have been some of the best parts of UVM that I’ve experienced over the past 4 years. The small class sizes have allowed students and faculty to develop close relationships and a sense of community, even in remote courses during this pandemic. Personally, I would not have decided to attend UVM if not for these departments. Hearing Professor Cristina Mazzoni speak at admitted students day became one of my main deciding factors in coming to UVM. Her knowledge of and passion for teaching Italian was obvious and, I hoped, representative of other faculty I would encounter as a student here. I knew I would enroll in courses with Professor Mazzoni long before I decided to declare an Italian major.

Over the past 4 years, I have been lucky enough to take a course with every faculty member in the Italian Department. These professors have been by far the most passionate group of educators I've ever had the pleasure to learn from. Professors Adriana Borra, Antonello Borra, Maria Patrizia Jamieson, Paolo Pucci and Cristina Mazzoni have taught me more than just the intricacies of the Italian language. Thanks to the Italian department, I am able to communicate with my Italian relatives and I even decided to study abroad in Italy last semester.

I speak from my experience with the Italian, Classics, and Geology departments -and the experience of friends in many of the other threatened departments- when I say the cultural and interdisciplinary education they provide has been an invaluable part of the UVM experience. The lessons learned from classes in these departments will serve me long after I graduate this Spring. It would be a tragedy for incoming students to not have the same opportunities.

The university should be showing stronger support than ever for departments teaching cultural competencies, but instead, these departments are threatened with termination. Until the protection and preservation of the liberal arts and humanities at UVM is guaranteed, including but not limited to the newly affected programs, I will not be giving any financial donations to the university, nor will I endorse or recommend UVM to potential students. As an institution of higher education claiming to offer studies in a diverse array of subjects, the University of Vermont must prioritize supporting these departments and the faculty within them over short-term financial gain.

As a society, we should be doing everything we can to support education in liberal arts and humanities. These are the departments that teach us to ask important questions. These are the departments that allow us to imagine the experiences of others and to feel empathy. These are the departments that will ultimately make our world a better place.

I hope you will consider these sentiments.

Sincerely,

Valentina Czochanski

University of Vermont, 2021

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls, and UVM Board of Trustees,

In the past week I have read articles in high profile national journals, seen stories on the local

news, and received dozens of emails and phone calls from friends, colleagues, and students

across the state and the nation in response to the recent announcement of wide ranging cuts in

the College of Arts and Sciences. Those cuts would terminate 12 majors, 11 minors and four

master’s programs; close the Classics, Geology, and Religion departments; and end or

combine numerous other departments and programs.

The overwhelming sentiment is that if these cuts were to go through, they would, in the

words of Michael T. Nietzel writing in Forbes, ‘deal a hard blow to a university that has long

been admired for its academic quality.’ 1

The rationale for these draconian cuts is a budget shortfall in the college. But as Dean Falls

acknowledges in his announcement, the proposed cuts will not come close to redressing this

shortfall. And as we know, budgets reflect choices and projections. There is an obvious gap

between the constructed crisis in the college, and the documented economic health of the

university as a whole. The president recently wrote that ‘the state of UVM’s finances is

sound’ and reported ‘an increase of $24 million in the University’s net position.’ 2

We are seeing radical inequalities within the institution. But rather than equitable

redistribution, those with the least are being told to sacrifice more, while the substantial

wealth at the heart of the university remains untouched and expensive projects proceed apace.

A 2017 AAUP (American Association of University Professors) analysis concluded that if

UVM cut just 3% from spending on administration, buildings, and branding, $11.7 million

annually could be made available for academics.

Instead, academics continue to be starved. The College of Arts and Sciences has been

systematically underfunded for years, as the IBB model has diverted money away from us.

Faculty and staff have diligently defended educational standards in the face of hiring freezes

and diminished resources, coming up with ever more creative responses to adverse

conditions. It is far harder to recruit and retain majors and minors when staff and faculty are

spread thin and lack adequate support.

At the same time, the value of a department cannot be gauged by counting the number of

declared majors and minors alone. Classics, Geology and Religion serve the greater mission

of a broad liberal arts education for all our students. The centrality of this mission is

acknowledged on the college website: ‘Why study the liberal arts? Your major is not your

career. That’s because a broad background in the sciences, arts, and humanities provide you

with the skills necessary for success in any profession.’ 3

The University of Vermont aspires to be a ‘public ivy’ that provides a well-rounded liberal

arts education, delivered by dedicated scholar-teachers who are actively engaged in

specialized research. If we are to continue to weather the storm of the current crisis, and

thrive in the future, we need to invest in faculty and programs in order to enhance the

experience of our students, and to expand our role as a public university in Vermont. These

proposed cuts do the opposite: they threaten the very attributes that make us strong. How can

we hope to attract students if our majors and minors are impoverished, and foundational

subjects such as Classics, Geology and Religion, have no homes?

I am equally alarmed that these cuts threaten to undermine the values of diversity and equity

that the University of Vermont promotes. At a time when we are seeing increased intolerance

and the rise of the far right, the study of world languages and religions is more important than

ever. In the words of Simran Jeet Singh, writing about UVM: ‘At a moment when everyone

is clamoring for more resources devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion, why would an

institution take away resources that already exist and are not easy to replace?’ 4

The Latin American and Caribbean Studies program plays a crucial role in fostering an

interdisciplinary understanding of the history, languages, and cultures of this diverse region,

and an appreciation of its longstanding and deep interconnections with the United States. Last

summer I had the pleasure of attending an Honors College Faculty Seminar on ‘Immigration

in the Contemporary Age’ which featured the work of many of my colleagues in the LACS

program. The event showcased the remarkable range of their research, which was of local,

national, and international significance. Especially in an era of rising forced migration,

nativism and xenophobia, this project is one that should be nurtured and enhanced, not

dismantled.

The pandemic and attendant economic crises will likely create great challenges in the coming

period. In order to meet these challenges, we need a thorough assessment of the financial

priorities of the institution. This must rest on substantive and genuine consultation with and

input from all sectors of our community, including unions, the faculty senate, and other staff,

faculty, and student representative bodies. If and when necessary, any cuts should be

progressive, respect the core academic mission, and protect the vulnerable. Top-down,

unilateral, short sighted, and devastating cuts to the core of our educational mission will only

compound externally driven problems.

I urge you not to pursue these cuts. The savings would be minimal compared to the projected

budget shortfall, but the costs to our academic integrity would be immense. Let us instead

take a creative, deliberative, and inclusive approach to devising alternatives, and do

everything in our power to protect and nurture our central mission: ‘To be among the nation’s

premier research universities with a comprehensive commitment to a liberal arts education,

environment, health, and public service.’ 5

Sincerely,

Helen C. Scott

Professor of English

1 https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2020/12/03/major-academic-cutbacks-proposed-at-

university-of-vermont/?sh=2c6d9e6a1689

2 https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Division-of-Finance-Administration/Publications/FY20_Fin_Rpt.pdf

3 https://www.uvm.edu/cas/why-study-liberal-arts

4 https://religionnews.com/2020/12/04/why-universities-and-the-rest-of-us-need-religion-studies/

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls and UVM Board of Trustees,

My name is Travis Bobley, I am a 2017 UVM graduate with a Bachelor of Science from the Parks, Recreation and Tourism program within the Rubenstein School of the Environment and Natural Resources. I am currently employed as the Marketing Manager at the Vermont Ski Areas Association, Ski Vermont. My work as a PRT major and my mentorship with a professor and ski industry expert helped me land my dream job right out of college.

My major at UVM is not currently at risk of being eliminated, but one of my favorite subjects is. I’m writing this letter to show my support and love for UVM’s Italian department. I have taken at least one Italian class in each full year of my studies from 6th grade through my college graduation. My family is not of Italian descent, but my mother speaks fluent Italian and we have many close family-friends from Italy. Italian culture has always delighted me from the food, to the animated method of speaking with one’s hands. Italians and Jews are similar in those ways.

Italian classes at UVM taught me more than just how to read and write in another language. I learned about poets, artists, history, politics, civil rights, Italian pop culture and much more. Because of ALL of my wonderful professors and peers, I felt comfortable discussing social, racial, and political issues and concepts in a new language. I felt a real sense of community in each Italian class and I met some of my closest friends there. When I walked into the Waterman building each day, I knew two things: I would smile, and I would truly learn something. My Italian professors encouraged me to be a better student. Small class sizes kept me accountable because my work and performance affected everyone else in class. I have applied what I have learned about accountability in my professional and personal life. Unlike other classes I took at UVM, both the students and the teachers wanted to be there. This dynamic allows for free-flowing thought, creativity, and joy. It is obvious that when students are enjoying themselves, they learn more.

UVM is a liberal arts school whether you want it to be or not. We are not a Big 10 school and never will be. We don’t even have a football team. This is a school that challenges kids to get outside, to learn about and experience the natural world. If you take away the arts from this school, you’re left with an overpriced, mediocre product. The College of Arts and Sciences defines UVM. Why do you think all of those classes are taught in the oldest and most beautiful buildings on campus? I understand that UVM wants to build its athletics program, but it shouldn’t be done at the expense of professors and other faculty members who bring true value to this school. Not to mention, they are some of the most intelligent professors you have at this school.

It’s embarrassing that I have to write a letter to the board of my alma mater, justifying the value of my education. The tone of this letter has become increasingly more frustrated because of the nature of the situation. Decision makers at UVM have made many mistakes in the past few years; cutting these programs would just be another drop in the bucket.

I urge you to reconsider cutting not only the Italian program, but all of the programs currently under review. You are not only taking away opportunities for students to receive a well rounded “Public Ivy” education (that term is meaningless without the arts, by the way), but you’re also discouraging free thought and creativity. Should you choose to cut these programs, I will forever withhold any donations to the University that do not directly and fully benefit the UVM Club Sailing team.

Adamantly,

Travis Bobley, Class of 2017

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Dear President Garimella, Provost Prelock, Dean Falls and UVM Board of Trustees,

I hope you are staying safe during these difficult times.I graduated in December 2019 with a major in Psychology and a minor in Italian.

I am writing to express my confusion and disappointment in the decisions that were made by the UVM board to eliminate certain departments that I held, and still hold, dear to my UVM experience.
I am confused. It seems as though there were major decisions that were made, which I'm sure we're not spontaneous, that resulted in sweeping changes, with little regard to their large scale effect. I am certain that these matters were discussed thoroughly, but I, along with many others, were absolutely blindsided by these decisions. Coincidentally, these news were released just around the time UVM was sending me weekly emails to "show my catamount pride by buying a UVM scarf" and other requests for donations. As an international student, I had always felt an outsider to the college pride culture and if it weren't for the efforts of the International Office of Education, I would not even know that a catamount was an animal.

However, I still felt a rush of pride and nostalgia when I saw these emails. They instantly reminded me of the experiences I had that made my 4.5 years in UVM special. It was not the UVM hockey team winning games, it was not the shiny new STEM buildings that were out of a James Bond movie, it was not the 240 student lecture halls that turned into a New York City subway during rush hour as soon as the class was finished, but it was certainly the small classes where I got a chance to engage with the teachers and my peers. In those classes, I was not just a check and a grade next to a bizarre sounding foreign name, but a person that was a part of the class structure and an active member in my own education.

In those classes, the teachers were not simply presenting a class, but engaging us, listening to us and responding to our inquiries to guarantee our thorough grasp of the subject matter. I cannot recall much from my lecture halls beyond my grades, but I can recall most of the books we've discussed in Italian class. I frequently quote all the pieces of wisdom and cultural expressions taught to me by my teachers. I, still to this day, identify more as an Italian speaker than I do a psychology graduate, even though my career is in that field.

I cannot detach UVM from those experiences and everything I believed UVM stood for are innately tied to those memories. If these departments are something to throw away without consideration of their influence and value to the students that paid the ever increasing tuition, then it does feel like my personal experience is also something UVM is willing to disregard and forget about while actively ignoring desires of those that pay parts of the salaries of those that make such decisions.
I appreciate you taking time to read this.I do hope you will take my words into consideration.

Sincerely,
Murat Mert Titiz, Class of 2019

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My Letter to UVM president, Provost, and Trustees:

I'm writing to protest the proposed cuts to key departments at UVM. Please reverse this extremely damaging trajectory.

These cuts will have more far-reaching and devastating effects than the need to balance the budget merits. Dean falls was quoted in SevenDaysVT, “History will judge whether or not there was a way for me to be more consultative….” Regardless of all the professors he did not consult, history already judges the loss of humanities. We know this leads to less understanding between cultures, lack of empathy, and dark ages. Is this UVM’s legacy in 2020?

This decision drives Vermonters out of state to study—and therefore work--in the future. My kids are in high school now, and had hopes of studying at UVM. As a parent paying for my kids’ tuition, my priority is not for them to study only subjects that will guarantee jobs in STEM, but for them to have the opportunity to explore and discover a breadth of new subjects. College is a time to explore many things, but particularly subject matter that is more difficult to absorb later in life, namely languages, and the details of history, literature, religion, and geology.

I want my kids--and all students --to have the chance to learn about the rocks of Vermont, Buddhism, or Ancient Greek (for example) as well as Econ and Psych. The fundamental purpose of University education is to gain a well-rounded depth of understanding of the world, and what is UVM’s purpose but to serve the residents of this state? Students who study often stay and work where they graduate—these students will become the innovators and entrepreneurs, and these cuts have already alienated them from our state.

We will no longer entice prospective out-of-state students to UVM with programs in the Humanities. This is national news—the reputation of UVM as an expansive and supportive community is undermined. Even if YOU don’t see the need for these programs, or consider the study of religion and “dead languages” irrelevant in the world now, the job of the university is to attract students and allow them to discover their own course of study. You should value, support, and promote the work of outstanding professors (as well as the students who follow them) and not force them to fight for the right to teach.

The cuts reverberate throughout the community, not only affecting UVM, but the morale and fabric of the people in this town and all over Vermont. When faculty lose jobs, or are shuffled into other departments, the loss erodes the well-being of their partners and kids, who live and work here too. Opportunities are diminished, culture and economy shrinks. I understood the University as at the heart of a vibrant and diverse educational community--not the downfall of it.

We want young, driven, smart, engaged students to STAY in Vermont, not leave for other colleges and universities with more vision and patience. We are living in a state of emergency at all levels in Vermont, and this is not the time to add to the sense of both personal and societal despair.

With grave concern,

Glynnis Fawkes

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UA open letter on Labor Relations memo, October 23, 2020:

United Academics open letter

Labor relations memo to non-represented staff

Fall 2020 faculty video/photo project

Faculty statements to UVM Trustees, September 25, 2020

United Academics President Julie Roberts: “Unfortunately, the current UVM administration appears to have chosen a leadership style grounded in maximum control and minimum collaboration. Opportunities for true collaboration have come minimally, reluctantly, and only under pressure.” Read the full statement.
United Academics Vice President Suzy Comerford: “Is what is viewed as a ‘Scorched Earth Approach’ to faculty and staff, the people who actually teach and support the development of our students, really what we want here at UVM?” Read the full statement.
United Academics member Patrick Brown: “What would the late John Lewis say if he knew that UVM removed the Black Lives Matter Flag? Please let us honor his wish through solidarity with Faculty, Staff and Students with the return of the Black Lives Matter Flag for unnumbered days to be.” Read the full statement.
United Academics Chair of State and Higher Ed Issues Committee Justin Morgan Parmett: “Looking at recent decisions, whether they be faculty cuts, teaching modality questions, or campus safety, our faculty are experts on all of this and with more inclusion, these decisions can be made in ways that empower and lift up everyone.” Read the full statement.
United Academics member Helen Morgan-Parmett: “It is no secret why faculty of color leave UVM—these answers are compiled yearly in the climate survey and the exit interviews of these faculty…when we lose faculty of color, not only is UVM’s reputation hurt, but we are all losing out on their enriching insights, questions, and perspectives.” Read the full statement.

May 2020 Letter from Working Vermont legislative caucus members to UVM Board of Trustees in support of UVM faculty, greater transparency, and shared governance with United Academics and Faculty Senate

May 2020 Statement from UA President Julie Roberts to UVM Board of Trustees

New buildings are important, but faculty and students, working together, are the soul of the University