UVM Admins Shutter Doors
While speaking at the American School Administrators Convention in 1957, John Kennedy spoke of how varied perspectives are crucial to government, that "every one of us is in a position of responsibility and, in the final analysis, the kind of government we get depends upon how we fulfill those responsibilities."
In recent weeks and months, it has become clear that the UVM administration is making critical decisions to the detriment of students and staff. This ranges At the same time, they've been patently unresponsive to inquiry to legitimate questions.
These unanswered questions have coalesced under the banner of UVM United Against Cuts, and recently, this group invited the administration to debate the issues publicly. To facilitate this debate, the Lawrence Debate Union had offered itself. However, in reply, President Suresh Garimella indicated the reopening required such "immediate and sustained attention" that not a single administrator could be spared for a single hour, but was quick to pawn the responsibility of confronting these questions off to a handful of student debaters.
Despite the fact this university was designed to serve the public and the students, the administration has chosen the path of unilateral movement in lieu of transparency, debate, and open dialogue.
Adding insult to injury was President Garimella's faculty webinar, inauspiciously scheduled at the same exact time as the debate with UVM United Against Cuts. It's difficult to understand this as sheer negligence, looking more like an effort to stymie dialogue and dissent about this institution's future.
Explaining university decisions through speeches and press releases is not transparency — in isolation, it's propagandizing. Isolation is what has been offered so far, and it's given way to dogma at the expense of exploring better alternatives.
This university is a community and the quality of its governance depends on fundamental principles - the same kind as any healthy government. Confidence and trust in an organization depends on transparency and openness.
If you're reading this as an administrator, I implore you to reestablish the connection and hear the call to meaningfully engage with strong campus relations. No one is interested in watching our university shutter its windows, but this disengagement with our most engaged students and staff leave the impression that minds have already been shuttered. While the coordinating work of administrators means it is not possible to answer every question, the hardline silence is wrong. Leadership means listening as well as speaking.
If you're reading this as a student, the current moment is just another instance when it's incumbent upon us to accept the responsibilities of citizenship. Although the trajectory of UVM's reopening is set, we are each still afforded a role in shaping the outcome of this process. The administration's intransigence has made clear the need to continue asking questions and seeking answers; refusing to let real safety concerns be washed over by monologue.
Beyond institutional pressure, these extraordinary times also require an extra measure of wisdom, patience, and compassion. This looks like many things, but namely: tying down the number of people you closely socialize with and being ready to share resources with others.
Despite what seems like this administration's tin ear, we — as students — can exceed the poor conditions we were given, setting an example for universities around the country. And ultimately, how we treat each other during this fall semester will become our legacy.
