WCAX.COM Local Vermont News, Weather and Sports-Panel Rejects Plan to Consolidate UVM, Vt. Colleges

Panel Rejects Plan to Consolidate UVM, Vt. Colleges

Montpelier, Vermont - November 5, 2009

After eight months of study and numerous public meetings-- it's official. An education task force voted unanimously not to merge UVM with the five state colleges.

Task force chair Stephan Morse said, "There's just too many complexities and too much history to bring them together."

"The cost of merging would have been frankly, astronomical, with little savings perceived," said Karrin Wilks of the Vermont State Colleges.

Gov. Douglas created the task force shortly after his inaugural address in January, where he identified a potential merger as one of his top priorities. He hasn't yet read the panel's report but says colleges must cut costs.

"We have to look in every nook and cranny," Douglas said. "We have to look at any possibility for greater efficiency in state government."

Panel members cited several reasons for their recommendation. A merger would require costly software updates and would create numerous legal complexities. UVM and the state colleges also have different missions and different organizational structures.

"I went into this process thinking there had to be all kinds of duplication, and there really isn't," Morse said.

"The University of Vermont has a research basis and a completely different model than we do and a different tuition structure," Wilks explained.

Both institutions also worry a merger would negatively affect their reputations. The state colleges appeal primarily to students from Vermont-- many of them first generation students. While students from all across the country attend UVM.

"We are very different and have different niches that appeal to different types of the population from around the state," UVM spokesman Enrique Corredera said.

The panel did recommend officials from both institutions meet annually to find ways to share resources. Both institutions say they will commit to that plan and will report annually to the governor and the Commission on Higher Education Funding.

Keagan Harsha - WCAX News