Vermont State University officials apologize for library, sports cuts, still vow not to reverse course

By PETER D’AURIA

VTDigger

Published: 02-11-2023 10:41 PM

CASTLETON, Vt. — Vermont State University administrators apologized Friday, after students and community members expressed surprise and anger over changes to libraries and sports programs.

Speaking to scores of students and community members at a rowdy forum in a theater in Castleton University’s Fine Arts Center, officials admitted that the announcement — in which administrators detailed plans to downgrade sports teams and transition to all-digital libraries — had been poorly handled.

The decisions “were communicated late in the day,” Vermont State University President Parwinder Grewal said, referring to a Tuesday afternoon email. “A lot of people made a point that that was not right. So we apologize for that piece first.”

But administrators said they had no plans to reverse course. And remarks from Grewal and other administrators apparently failed to mollify students and community members, many of whom arrived at the theater with protest signs and prewritten remarks.

“I feel like we’re losing the heart of our community when we lose our library,” one second-year English major told administrators, adding, “Why can’t we have both? Why can’t we have a digitized library? Why can’t we have a physical library?”

Northern Vermont University, Castleton University and Vermont Technical College are in the process of consolidating into Vermont State University, a move that is intended to unite those three Vermont state schools under one name and administration by July 1.

On Tuesday, administrators announced that, as part of that transformation, the university would transition to “all-digital” libraries and downgrade sports programs at two campuses.

As part of that change, the campuses’ libraries will donate most of their books to local communities and the spaces themselves will be repurposed, according to administrators. The move will eliminate seven full-time jobs and three part-time jobs.

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Northern Vermont University’s Johnson campus is set to move from the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA). Meanwhile, Vermont State University’s Randolph campus — currently Vermont Technical College — will leave the USCAA and offer only club sports.

Sports programs at Castleton University and Northern Vermont University’s Lyndon campus will not be affected by the planned reforms.

At Friday’s forum, more than a dozen students and community members condemned the plan to repurpose the university’s library. Some said that reading all-digital texts or books was difficult or impossible for people with disabilities.

“Many students, including myself, who have disabilities are not able to read online because of the glare from the computer,” another student said. “It can cause medical problems. And so by getting rid of books, you are blatantly adding to students’ failures.”

Others said that they were simply able to focus better and retain more information from a physical book and that screens are already too ubiquitous in their lives.

“Constantly doing your homework online, reading online, everything being online — it’d be a complete disassociation from reality,” Connor Murphy, a second-year nursing student, said in an interview. “And it’s just so obnoxious.”

Many said that the changes could make them consider transferring to other schools.

Amid occasional interruptions and heckling, administrators acknowledged the frustration the announcement had caused and vowed to meet students’ accessibility needs.

“We are all sorry for how this was communicated,” said Kelley Beckwith, Vermont State University’s vice president of student success. “You gotta give us a chance. We’re not taking all the books out of the library. You’re going to have the academic materials that you need related to your academic programs. That’s going to be our priority.”

But the forum laid bare a glaring communication gap between Vermont State University’s administration and its students.

In their email to students and the community, administrators said that they were basing their decision to restructure the libraries largely on the results of a student survey. The survey, officials said, showed that most students felt that their academic needs were being met with digital media alone.

According to Jim Allen, the Vermont State Colleges’ library director, the survey was emailed to students, posted to the library’s website and to Canvas, an online educational platform. Slightly more than 500 students completed the survey, he said Friday. (Vermont State University has roughly 5,500 students, meaning the student response rate was about 10%.)

“If more than 500 students could have responded, maybe we would have made a different decision,” Grewal told students Friday.

But students pushed back angrily against that argument. Some said that they had not received the survey in their email, while others said that the stakes had not been well-communicated.

“We get hundreds of emails a day,” said Haley Agan, a second-year history major, in an interview. “We don’t have time to read them all. And if we did open it, it definitely was not titled, ‘You need to take this survey to save your library.’ ”

In a brief interview after the forum, Grewal said the backlash had “influenced” him and other administrators.

But transitioning to a digital library is “the future,” he said. “So we have to go that direction.”

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