UVM United Against the Cuts was formed as a loose coalition of volunteers in the spring of 2020 in response to announcements from UVM’s top administration of numerous cuts, especially those impacting lecturers in the College of Arts and Sciences. It was reactivated the following fall semester when further cuts were announced. Throughout the year hundreds of students, faculty, staff and community members collaborated to oppose those cuts with car rallies, press conferences, petitions, panels, teach-ins, social media campaigns, articles and letters in local and national media outlets. This put UVM management on the defensive and pushed back against the worst of their attacks. However, UVM management continues to rely on a narrative of “budget shortfalls” and necessary restructuring. The materials on this website present a corrective to this narrative and show that while there is no financial crisis, there is a crisis of priorities on this campus. We hope that these will continue to be a resource for ongoing and future struggles for the soul of UVM.
UVM Doesn't Have a Fiscal Crisis, It Has a Values Crisis
Contact the UVM Trustees
Let them know your thoughts on UVM's values crisis!
rlumbra@heidrick.com, jbartholomew@leg.state.vt.us, jdonovan@leg.state.vt.us, code@leg.state.vt.us, kchristie@leg.state.vt.us, sjerome@leg.state.vt.us, syoung@leg.state.vt.us, lrogers@leg.state.vt.us, kittytoll@live.com, ssmith@dinse.com, cbarnhar@mit.edu, dgringer@uvm.edu, sidney.hilker@uvm.edu, Caitlin.McHugh@uvm.edu, frank@vermont.org, epagano@akingump.com, dba@flybridge.com, trustees@uvm.edu

UVM Budget Myths vs. the Facts
Justice for UVM Faculty, Staff, & Students
Stop the Layoffs at UVM!
Restore All Programs and Departments!
We call on the Board of Trustees to halt immediately the threatened closure of the departments of Classics, Geology, and Religion; the cancellation of 27 majors, minors, and graduate programs; the consolidation and downsizing of our language and fine arts programs; and the termination of three award-winning and long-serving senior lecturers. We further call on the Board of Trustees to correct UVM’s course on spending priorities. What UVM faces is not a financial crisis but a crisis of priorities.
The Issues
In a nutshell, they say the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) has a “structural” budget deficit. But budgets are planning documents with UVM’s budget planning “structured” to create a budget crisis and trigger downsizing, reorganizing, and intensified work for a leaner and cheaper workforce. Meanwhile, the net tuition revenue CAS brings and should be able to draw on more to support a robust liberal arts curriculum gets siphoned away. Some of those siphoned funds support other important units on campus, like the libraries or teaching and research in other colleges that depend on expensive equipment or intensive pre-professional training and mentoring (think nursing). But students’ tuition dollars are also going to executive salaries and bonuses, debt service for the super-sized stadium, multi-million-dollar consultant contracts etc. Admin has a vision for campus that’s very expensive: big university amenities and sports, R1 research designation with an emphasis on corporate partnerships and “innovation” for the market. Hence the CAS budget squeeze which other schools and colleges at UVM are beginning to experience: undergrad education squeezed to cough up the cash for a different kind of UVM.
Updates
UVM fabricated ‘structural deficit’ to justify program cuts, faculty critics say
Editor’s note: Notably, Prelock did not provide any detail on the nature of the ‘structural challenges’ that she refers to. …
UVM fabricated ‘structural deficit’ to justify program cuts, faculty critics say Read More »
UVM pushes back on claims administration fabricated a budget crisis to justify humanities cuts
Editor’s note: Notably, Prelock did not provide any detail on the nature of the ‘structural challenges’ that she refers to. …
The Era of Artificial Scarcity
Administrators have rushed to embrace austerity measures. The faculty should call their bluff. When does a $5,000 investment pay off …
Garimella Must Go Press Conference Charges UVM Administration with Manufacturing a Budget Crisis and Presiding through a Climate of Fear and Callous Disregard
Garimella Must Go Press Conference Charges UVM Administration with Manufacturing a Budget Crisis and Presiding through a Climate of Fear …
UVM Foundation should disclose who’s getting its millions
Nancy Welch: UVM Foundation should disclose who’s getting its millions – VTDigger This commentary is by Nancy Welch of South …
UVM Foundation should disclose who’s getting its millions Read More »
Three Steps You Can Take
Here are THREE STEPS to take to underscore that you have NO CONFIDENCE in the leadership of UVM President Suresh …
1,500 UVM students, faculty, staff alumni say ‘no confidence’ in administration
Three months after the University of Vermont announced plans to cut 23 liberal arts programs, pressure on the university to …
1,500 UVM students, faculty, staff alumni say ‘no confidence’ in administration Read More »
Burlington City Council Unanimously Calls on President Garimella to Reverse Cuts and Change Priorities
Last night, the Burlington City Council voted unanimously in support of a resolution calling on the UVM President and Board …
View video: The Liberal Arts @ UVM: An Online Teach-In to Defend Our Students’ Educations
The Liberal Arts @ UVM: An Online Teach-In to Defend Our Students’ Educations View the recorded teach-in here on our …
VTDigger: ‘They’re running it like a business’: As more cuts loom, UVM faculty debate the mission
BURLINGTON — Before the University of Vermont announced towering cuts in liberal arts programs this fall, there were warning …
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