LSC is Golden

Lyndon State College is not in a financial crisis.

Since coming onboard as interim president at LSC in early July, Steve Gold had only a couple months to get his bearings and deal with a college that he thought was in flux, but quickly found out that that was not the case.

"Despite the fact that there was an honest perception of being in a financial emergency or crisis, in fact we are not in an emergency or crisis," said President Gold, but he added that the school is far from stable.  "We have to pay very close attention to what we are doing with our resources. The road ahead is not smooth in terms of our fiscal situation. We are going to continue to have to figure out how to be as efficient as we can."

After President Carol Moore announced her retirement in April, Vermont State College Chancellor Tim Donovan had little time to find a replacement and contacted Gold about possibly taking the position.

"After I picked my jaw up off the floor we had several conversations about it," he said. "Looking at this as a defined one year position I decided that it was an offer that was too good to refuse, and here I am."

President Gold may only be here for the year, but he has all the power and responsibility of the office he holds, including faculty and staff decisions. Last year students and faculty were upset about some of the administration's decisions because of the school's financial issues, including possibly not bringing back faculty. Students protested that they did not want to see teachers they loved not be brought back and the faculty were worried for their jobs.

"The chancellor brought it up to me a little bit, but I think he very deliberately didn't go into a lot of detail about it," said Gold. "He told me he was not interested in giving me a lot of information about that because he wanted me to recognize that there had been some turmoil on campus and some sense of crisis and emergency, but he wanted me to come up and find out about it myself."

While President Gold is aware of the unrest on campus last year, he wants to make sure the students come first.

"This organization doesn't exist for the sake of the employees," he said. "It exists for the sake of the students. The students really should be what are on everyone's mind here and not their own jobs. The reason we are here is to provide the best possible education that we can for the students that are here."

President Gold wants to be involved with the students during his short tenure. He already participated in a SOAR group with incoming freshman and plans to have dinner in the dining hall during the year to try to stir up conversation with the students and hear what is on their minds.

One of the things the president was pleasantly surprised about was LSC's focus on first-in-family students and brining in students from lower income households.

"It made me proud to be a part of a school like this and it fits in some ways what my whole career has been about," he said.

President Gold's career has been focused on helping those in need from an administrative standpoint. He has been Vermont's Commissioner of the Department of Social Welfare, Deputy Secretary of the Agency of Human Services, Welfare to Work Program Director, and worked 21 years in the alcohol and drug field with a focus on prevention.

This is his first foray into higher education and for now he is just looking to be a leader and help the college move forward.

"I'm hoping to have a really great year of relative stability here on campus where people feel we are all in this together," he said.