VPR Commentary Stirs the VSC

LSC President Steve Gold said that he considers Schubart a friend and is even on the board of trustees for Vermont Works for Women, a nonprofit organization, with Schubart’s wife. Gold disagreed with Schubart on much of the commentary, however.

“Anyone who knows anything understands that a lot of what he said is completely off base,” he said. “It really robs the commentary of any real value.”

Even though the VSC has made it easy to transfer credits, like Schubart suggests it should, it is still not easy to move from one school to the next.

“If you are a student at Lyndon, you expect to stay at Lyndon and get a complete rounded education available to you here,” Gold said.  “I think that is just as true at Johnson and just as true at Castleton.”

Gold did see some merit in one of the issues Schubart raised. Another way that Schubart proposed cutting costs was to eliminate tenure for faculty. That was something that Gold agreed should be looked at.

“The institution of tenure for life for faculty could become a very major burden for colleges like Lyndon State College across the country,” he said, adding that the idea of tenure is obsolete because of unions and contract negotiations. “There is the potential for that contractual situation to cover all the issues that tenure for life was invented to protect.”

Gold says his thoughts on this topic may not be popular with the faculty.

“I am not suggesting that I would favor having it terminated, but I do think it deserves some thoughtful study about if it is the best way to move forward,” he said.