Good afternoon, 

Today we have achieved the 31,000 signature mark! Since Wednesday there has been such amazing support from students, faculty, staff, community members, businesses, and political leaders across the state. The pressure that we have put on legislators and the board of trustees has led to a delay in the vote and a call among legislators to provide funding to bridge into the next year so that a long term funding plan may be developed by the state! Just because we have a delay in the vote doesn't mean the fight isn't over. We still need to continue to pressure the legislators on proper funding for the VSCS and the board of trustees to consider an alternative plan. The VSCSA, Vermont State College Student Association, has also committed to working on developing alternative options on behalf of students to present to the board. 

In other important news, President of NVU has released an op-ed stating the importance of the institution as well as saying that:

"We have met and exceeded every benchmark the Board of Trustees and the Chancellor set forth. NVU is the only public residential institution in Vermont that hasn’t borrowed from the system to meet its budget in recent years. In fact, NVU has reserves. This has been accomplished through immense sacrifice from our staff, faculty, leadership, and students. We have asked our students to believe in NVU. They gave us that trust and that belief. We hold that sacred."

With this new information from President Collins' office, we must not only advocate for all of the schools in the VSCS but work to use factual data to develop plans to support the system. 

Keep pushing forward because we are all in this fight together! Be kind and provide support to those around you during this challenging time.

-Patrick