Updated below with apology from mayoral assistant Mike Kanarick.
On Monday, Burlington Mayor Miro Weinberger's office alerted the local press to a "photo opportunity" that would take place on the back steps of City Hall at 9:40 a.m. the following morning. The occasion was the prelude to the mayor's first formal meeting with both Fletcher Allen Health Care CEO Dr. John Brumsted and the recently installed University of Vermont president, Tom Sullivan.
Photo ops are not a common occurrence in Vermont. They're staged publicity events more associated with the president of the United States than with the mayor of Burlington. Two other reporters in attendance — Joel Banner Baird of the Burlington Free Press and Greg Guma of VTDigger.org — said they had no recollection of a photo op in these parts.
Sure enough, though, the trio of local VIPs showed up on schedule with smiles for the cameras. Trying to follow up on last week's story about UVM's disinclination to construct more student housing, I asked Sullivan a question about why the university does not require juniors and seniors to live on campus — as, for example, St. Michael's College does.
Sullivan replied that in providing campus accommodations for 60 percent of its student body, UVM has already done more in this regard than have many other institutions of its kind. But before Sullivan could field a followup question — "Will UVM commit to building more student housing?" — mayoral aide Carina Driscoll intervened to announce that this was a photo op, not a press conference, so further queries would not be appropriate.
The White House press corps, by contrast, is sometimes able to get answers from the president to questions asked at "photo ops."
Weinberger, Sullivan and Brumsted then climbed the steps to city hall, paused for a few more clicks of cameras, and headed inside for their private discussion.
**Update**
Mayoral assistant Mike Kanarick, who was not present at the photo op, called soon after it ended to apologize for its abrupt ending. Kanarick said he wants to emphasize that "the mayor has an open-door policy." Kanarick also arranged for Seven Days to conduct a half-hour interview with Weinberger early this afternoon. A Blurt on the mayor's remarks during that session will be posted soon.
Photo credit: Kevin J. Kelley
President Barack Obama didn't milk a dairy cow or take a dip in the Connecticut River hot springs on his swing through Vermont on Friday. But he did give thousands of screaming fans at a Burlington fundraising rally a show well worth the $44 price of admission.
On his first trip to Vermont as president, Obama sought to rekindle the magic of the 2008 campaign that catapulted him to the White House. He headlined a $7500-a-plate ($10,000 for a couple) luncheon at the Sheraton hotel, then zipped by motorcade across the street to University of Vermont's Patrick Gym, where a standing-room-only crowd of more than 4000 greeted him with defeaning cheers.
"It is good to be in Vermont," Obama said to the adoring masses, many of them decked out in red-white-and-blue Obama attire. "Out of all 50 states, Vermont has gone the longest without a presidential visit. The last time a president stopped by was President Clinton in 1995. So we decided today we're hitting the reset button."
Obama also offered condelences to the family of murder victim Melissa Jenkins, whose memorial service was scheduled for later Friday afternoon.
"This is a woman who, by all accounts, devoted her life to her community and helping to shape young minds and I know that Vermont is heartbroken," the president said.
Obama was on friendly soil in Vermont. A Castleton State College poll in February found that 56 percent of Vermonters approved of the job Obama is doing. Nationally, Obama's job approval rating hovers around 47 percent, depending on the poll.
(Video clips from speech after the jump)
Some of Obama's biggest applause lines came when he defended his signature health care law and the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, and when he said, "Change is the fact that for the first time in nine years there are no Americans fighting in Iraq." (Apologies for shaky camera work).
Obama laid out his case against the Republicans — whose motto, he said, is "you're on your own."
The media covering the president's visit was its own mob scene — and a tighly controlled one.
Reporters were picked up in yellow school buses from Waterfront Park and shuttled up College Street to Patrick Gym. After receiving credentials, reporters were patted down by a Secret Secret agent who was a spitting image of Jay Leno (and admitted as much), who waved a metal-detecting wand over our spread-eagle bodies. A bomb-sniffing canine gave reporters' bags a once over.
Reporters waited in a dance studio that served as a staging area. U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) was there chatting with reporters before the Secret Service took notice and ushered him out the door. (Pictured)
For whatever reason, the press wasn't allowed into the main area until just before Obama went on stage. We could hear Grace Potter and the Nocturnals warming up the crowd but we weren't allowed in to see her or Gov. Peter Shumlin, who spoke before Obama. In effect, the people attending the fundraiser became the journalists, tweeting news that the journalists held in the staging area could only retweet. Obama's people wouldn't explain why we weren't allowed inside for the pre-show. Even the logistics they gave us were "off the record."
More coverage of the Obama visit in next week's "Fair Game."
Photo and Video Credit: Andy Bromage
Aromatic purple tulips, tiny sprouting seedlings, pale-green pilot tomatoes, and hanging, spiky cacti contribute to the wondrous botanical array inside the University of Vermont Greenhouse these days. While most of the greenhouse is dedicated to ornamentals, there is banana and avocado arboriculture, too, and even a “fruit cocktail” tree — a grafted combination of peaches, plums and nectarines.
Visitors might be surprised by something else inside these transparent walls: that anyone in the community can lease greenhouse space here and start springtime seedlings for their home garden.
Last Friday, I escaped the gray, slanting rain to tour the Main Campus Greenhouse, one of three that the university owns and operates. This branch — the only one routinely open to the public — serves an educational and social purpose that is not widely known.
My tour guide was UVM greenhouse manager Colleen Armstrong, who's had the job since shortly after construction of the building in 1992. She caught the “botany bug,” she said, at the University of Michigan, where she was the first female employee in her alma mater’s greenhouse program.
UVM’s computer-controlled, 8000-square-foot glass building consists of 11 conjoined chambers; there is also an outdoor nursery. Armstrong oversees 400 or so plant species, each chosen to represent a particular botanical family.
The main greenhouse is connected to multiple academic buildings, including the Jeffords Hall — home to the Plant and Soil Science Department — and serves as a classroom for courses in botany, plant physiology, soil ecology, home and garden horticulture, and botanical drawing and painting. The space is also an incubator for undergraduate and graduate scientific research, examining such subjects as invasive species, chemical contaminants and mineral wastes.
The main greenhouse is also a popular place to kick back and read, study or indulge in quality campus grub. “Every year we see more students socially gathering here for a quick picnic or to escape winter winds,” reported Armstrong.
But those greenhouse benches are for more than just hanging out; it's here that community members can rent up to 10 square feet of bench space to get seeds started for their vegetables and flowers at home. That's plenty of space in which to fit 90 small pots or 36 six-packs.
For $70 per month, the greenhouse staff will water and fertilize the plants, as well as patrol for pests and diseases. “You basically provide the seeds and walk away. We have all the pots, soil and trays you need,” explained Armstrong. “Although we do encourage you to check on your plants often — it’s so exciting to see them grow!”
Starting your home garden from seed is way cooler than buying full-grown plant transplants. The greenhouse rental program is opportunity for gardening gurus and rooting rookies alike to unite for all that is earthy and edible.
After the tour, I became a new tenant of bench space in the greenhouse, ready to start my heirloom tomatoes, and anticipating the return of dirt-encrusted fingernails and compost-covered clothing.
For Julian Tysh, a typical workday is spent among masterpieces.
An art handler by trade, Tysh shuttles priceless art and artifacts between Sotheby’s auction house in Manhattan and the estates of its one-percenter clients. His colleagues have handled everything from decommissioned space shuttles to a copy of the Magna Carta, and he himself once hung a Warhol print he estimates was worth well north of $20 million.
But Tysh hasn’t had a typical workday in a while.
Last July, Sotheby’s locked Tysh and 41 other members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 814 out of its facilities, fearing a planned strike would disrupt operations at the auction house. The two sides were deadlocked in a dispute over whether to reduce the handlers’ work week and increase the number of temporary, non-union workers.
Since then, Tysh has found himself on picket lines, in Zuccotti Park and — on Friday afternoon — at the University of Vermont’s Davis Center.
Joined by three fellow art handlers and a ragtag crew of 30 UVM students, faculty members and assorted Occupiers, Tysh spoke out at a press conference demanding the resignation of Sotheby’s CEO William Ruprecht from the university’s board of trustees.
“An attack on working families in New York is an attack on working families in Vermont and injustice in New York is injustice in Burlington,” he told the group. “Folks here are outraged by the fact that this university, which strives for these higher ideals, would let themselves be brought down to a less decent level by these actions that are happening in the name of the board of trustees.”
Holding signs reading, “Ruprecht: Settle up or step down!!!” and “Corporations are not people,” the assembled 99 percenters inveighed against Ruprecht’s outsized salary, arguing that his bonus alone equaled the entire union contract in question. They said Ruprecht should either resign from the UVM board or come to an agreement with Local 814.
The group then marched up to the fourth floor of the Davis Center, where the board — sans Ruprecht — was in the midst of its winter meeting. After an obligatory mic check — MIC CHECK! — the Occupiers chanted away as the trustees looked on sullenly.
“UVM’s stated values include,” came the call.
“UVM’S STATED VALUES INCLUDE!” came the response.
“Respect, integrity and justice.”
“RESPECT, INTEGRITY AND JUSTICE!”
“Bill Ruprecht is violating every one of these.”
“BILL RUPRECHT IS VIOLATING EVERY ONE OF THESE!”
Etc.
Grim-faced, the suit-clad trustees listened politely to a few rounds of call-and-response before the meeting was called to order and board members called for an executive session.
After a few verses of, “Workers’ rights, students rights, same struggle, same fight!” the protesters filed out of the hall. And the occupation was over.
UVM board chairman Robert Cioffi, seemingly unmoved by the protest, released a statement later in the day expressing confidence in his board.
“I recognize that there are strongly held views with respect to the labor dispute at Sotheby's, which is in proper channels for resolution with a federal mediator,” he said in the statement. “That matter is in no way related to the functions and responsibilities of the UVM Board of Trustees.
By the summer of 2013, Vermont will be the first state in the nation to have near-universal electrical smart-grid coverage — and Sandia National Laboratories is setting up shop at the University of Vermont to make it all happen.
That was Sen. Bernie Sanders' announcement at a press conference in his Burlington office this morning. Gov. Peter Shumlin, Green Mountain Power CEO Mary Powell, UVM President John Bramley and Sandia Vice President Rick Stulen joined Sanders to announce a three-year, $15 million commitment to open the first-ever national laboratory in New England in Burlington.
The new lab, dubbed the Center for Energy Transformation and Innovation (CETI), will make as the centerpiece of its work the rollout of smart meters throughout the Green Mountain State, enabling all the state's utilities to better manage energy consumption and better integrate renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind, into the power grid. The $15 million commitment comes in addition to the $69 million already allocated to Vermont from the federal government to roll out smart meters statewide.
As Vermont shifts from its reliance on fossil fuels to more renewable energy sources, "with those technologies comes an intermittency that we have to figure out how to manage," Sandia's Stulen explained. "So, if the state and the country [are] to achieve penetration greater than 30 to 40 percent of renewables, we need to understand how to manage that in a way that everybody has the power they need all the time."
In effect, Stulen added, smart meters will "turn the grid from a one-way street to a two-way street," where small, locally generated power is fed back into the grid and effectively managed. Smart metering also provides the grid with "increased resiliency and reliability" in an uncertain energy future. Managing that uncertainty also means anticipating "cyber challenges" that open up as home and business utility meters go online and thus are potentially susceptible to cyber attacks.
Sanders and Shumlin both describe the lab as a major driver of new sustainable energy development as well as job creation. Although neither offered a prediction about how many new jobs could potentially be created by CETI's presence at UVM, "The history of where national laboratories are located is a history of economic development," Sanders said.
Pointing to last spring's record flooding, as well as to the foot or more of rain Vermont received during Tropical Storm Irene, Shumlin noted that extreme weather is the "wave of the future" that can be "both a challenge and an economic opportunity for Vermonters, if handled properly."
Similarly, UVM's Bramley sees enornous opportunities for the CETI lab to open up new avenues of research at UVM.
“This helps us to engage around the STEM [science, technology engineering and math] disciplines," he said, "but it also relates to behavioral science and modeling and complex systems and all the other things that we’ve really tried to make a feature of the future of the university."
Responding to a question about Sandia's relationship with Lockheed Martin — the defense contractor whose proposed partnership with Burlington got Mayor Bob Kiss into hot water earlier this year — Stulen clarified the often misunderstood relationship between the national energy lab and the nation's largest defense contractor. Sandia, he explained, like all national laboratories, is contractually required to have an oversight partner from the private sector, and Lockheed is Sandia's partner. However, he emphasized that Lockheed doesn't "function in the mission space of the labs at all" because of "firewalls" that have been set up between between the two.
Photo by Ken Picard
How and why did life on earth evolve in the myriad ways it did? Would creatures evolve in the same ways, and with the same anatomical structures, if we could rewind time and replay evolution over and over again? And, can humans create robots that not only evolve and learn but eventually become sentient?
These are just a few of the heady questions that University of Vermont robotics researcher Josh Bongard wrestles with every day. Little wonder, then, that on October 14, Bongard was one of 94 winners of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. The White House honor came with a $500,000 research grant. (And in case you're wondering, no, that's not Bongard's Lamborghini parked outside of Votey Hall.)
This week, the 37-year-old Toronto native took a short break from his research in UVM's Morphology, Evolution and Cognition Lab to talk about his work and the future of "computational evolution." (For visual depictions of Bongard's work, check out the media link on his site.)
Bongard is one of 11 speakers at this Friday's TEDxUVM event. Registration for the Oct. 28 event is full but the seminars will be streaming live from the TEDxUVM website.
SEVEN DAYS: Did President Obama recognize you for one specific scientific breakthrough or discovery, or was it your entire body of work thus far?
JOSH BONGARD: It's both, actually. This half-million dollars is for a specific research project we proposed and have started research on. But this project is, obviously, built on a lot of other projects we've done in the past. The PECASE [Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers] Awards are given for basic science. So, part of the idea is that, by doing this work, there will be a discovery in an area where there hasn't been one before. And then the other part of it is, in your proposal, you have an idea for how to make that basic science, as it's happening, available to everyone. So, there's the basic research side and the educational side that people can peer in and contribute to as it moves forward.
SD: Did you begin your research from a biology background and then move into robotics, vice versa or did you pursue both paths simultaneously?
JB: I have four degrees under my belt. Some of them are biological and some of them are computer science. So, it's a mixture.
SD: What's the nature of the robotic devices you build?
JB: Most of the work we do in my lab is not necessarily on the hardware side. Instead of making robots, what we like to do in our group is to build virtual worlds where robots evolve. We make robot-evolving systems, rather than the robots themselves... My interest in robotics has been conceptual: How did Mother Nature go about creating complex machines, which are animals and plants, and can we borrow some of her ideas to do the same thing in simulation? So, very much how ancient humans bred dogs from wolves, can we breed robots in simulation to do useful tasks in a virtual world? And if evolution succeeds, if we can produce a useful robot in simulation, we could then send a blueprint of that robot to someone else to build a physical version of the robot.
SD: Conceptually, what are some of the hardest challenges for robotics developers to overcome?
JB: We're often borrowing a lot of ideas from biology and obviously, biology is a vast field. And a lot is known about how evolution works. So, what we're looking for are processes that are not tied to the specifics of biology. So they're things that are not specific to carbon-based life forms. They're general design principles. And it's often hard to tell that this is the way Mother Nature did it because this was the only way she could do it given the materials at hand, or this is just the best way to do it. It's those latter processes that we're looking for and that's what we want to build into our computer systems.
SD: So, you're literally reinventing the wheel with each experiment.
JB: That's right. And that, for us, actually counts as a success. We often see things evolving in our virtual world that have evolved before in nature. So, for example, we published a paper last year in which we had snake-like robots that eventually evolved legs. We didn't tell the computer that we wanted legs. We just wanted robots that could get from point A to point B as quickly as possible. So, as you say, we see computational evolution reinventing the wheel, something that biological evolution has already done.
SD: So, there's no fear that the human element somehow inadvertently imposed a bias toward what nature has already done?
JB: No, that's a very good point. We're always very vigilant for that sort of thing: Did we accidentally put something in there that deflected evolution toward a particular solution? So, a lot of our work is trying to prove that that is not the case and that it found that solution because that solution is a good solution.
SD: Have you ever gotten a chill from seeing your robotic creations do something unexpected or shocking — something that you wouldn’t have predicted?
JB: Yes, definitely. And that's one of the reasons why I do what I do, that thrill of discovery. You often see something that no one has seen before. To give you one example: A few years ago we were evolving a robot that was to do an interesting task. And it did it without a centralized brain. It had a very, very simple brain and was able to do something more complex than we thought simple brains could do.
SD: Do you think we’ll eventually reach a point where robots are as intelligent, or more intelligent, than humans?
JB: I don't think that's a question that science can answer, because it depends on what intelligence means ot you. It's actually very hard to define what we mean by intelligence. I tend to focus on robots because it's very easy to point to a machine or an animal and say it's doing something that looks intelligent. It's waiting, it's thinking, it's planning and then it's doing. So, for myself and others in my field, behavior is the hallmark of intelligence. If it's doing something that looks intelligent, then it is intelligent. There are others who would disagree with us. They would say that there's some magic stuff in biological brains that make us intelligent, and that's something that you'll never achieve in machines.
SD: Is there a holy grail in your research?
JB: The holy grail would be, if you look at nature, nature is continually producing diverse and ever-more-complex organisms. In our research, we can produce complex machines up to a point. And then there seems to be some glass ceiling. We can't seem to get beyond locomotion, carrying objects from point A to point B, very simple planning. But our evolutionary system seems to run out of gas after a while.
SD: And that's not limited by our computational abilities?
JB: No, it has nothing to do with the machines we run it on. We could run it on ten times as many machines and it still runs out of gas.
SD: So, there's something missing.
JB: There's definitely something missing. So, the holy grail would be to create one of these virtual worlds where robots of ever-greater variation and complexity continue to evolve without us having to do anything further. Biological evolution did it, and I think we can get computational to do it, too.
SD: Does your work ever take on a spiritual component? After all, you are trying to create a new form of intelligence.
JB: I get that. I don't know that I would use the term "spiritual." I would prefer the term "philosophical." Like the example I gave you where we saw a robot doing something complex, but when we looked at its brain it was much simpler than we expected. And that often reflects back on us. We observe other animals and other humans and we attribute intelligence or empathy or cognition to them. But is it really just the result of relatively simple electrical signals in the brain?
SD: Just like the part of the human brain that's programmed to recognize patterns that resemble human faces. So, when we look at the front grill of a car, we see two eyes and a mouth.
JB: Right. We project patterns.
SD: You're scheduled to speak at the TEDxUVM event. What will you be speaking about?
JB: I'm going to be talking about how big data applies to robotics. So, as I mentioned, if we have these evolving worlds with populations of robots, we have, in essence, a complete fossil record. We can go back and look at what evolved and why things evolved. We can rewind the evolutionary tape and then let it go forward again and see if we evolve the same kinds of things. So, we have these massive data sets where we have whole histories of life — robotic life, in this case — but they help us to ask questions about not just biology as it is, but life as it could be. How would evolution play out if we could do it again?
SD: Is there the potential for these things you're creating to eventually become self-aware?
JB: I think yes, in the literal sense of self-awareness, that I know where my body ends and the world begins. I know I'm capable of running at a certain speed and no faster... For some people, it has a spiritual or even religious connotation. I don't think so. But I think literal self-awareness can get you a long way. All of our behaviors, even up to the ones we're most proud of, like empathy, might be able to be explained by literal self-awareness. It doesn't remove any of the wonder of the things we're capable of doing. Shedding more understanding on human nature doesn't make it any less wonderful.
SD: Do you believe it's possible to build what Isaac Asimov once called the "positronic brain"?
JB: You mean build something of human-level intelligence? I do believe it's possible. I believe it's quite a long way into the future. I believe what we're more likely to see first in the coming decades are animal robots, simple robots that are fixing roads or operating on construction sites, things like that. I think we'll see ever-more-sophisticated robots that can do more for us. And, eventual something of human-level intelligence. But it'll be a long time coming.
Jeff Ares, a University of Vermont alumnus who now works for Goldman Sachs, was scheduled to speak to business students at the school on Friday. Given Goldman Sachs's sizable role in the financial meltdown, this didn't make Vermont's contingent of Occupy Wall Street supporters too happy.
Occupy Vermont participants planned a "showdown" at the talk to protest Goldman Sachs and to urge business students to take up careers away from Wall Street. Talk of a protest led Goldman Sachs to request that the event be canceled, according to the AP.
The AP story includes a quote from a notable free speech advocate, who appears to condemn Occupy Vermont for their role in getting the plug pulled:
Harvey Silverglate, a Boston lawyer and chairman of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, said by effectively pressuring Ares to cancel the talk, the activists involved were likely involved in “a conspiracy to restrict free speech.”
Harsh words. Occupy Wall Street protesters and their supporters scattered around the world seem pretty dedicated to democracy — accusing them of trying to suppress free speech is a serious charge.
Sure enough, Occupy Vermont didn't take kindly to that suggestion. Occupy Vermont participant Matthew Cropp published an open letter to Silverglate on the group's blog that claims Occupiers never asked for the talk to be canceled, and that Goldman Sachs is the real enemy of free speech. Here's an excerpt:
Our goal was to use the event as an opportunity to engage in a public discussion about Mr. Ares’ employer, which was the stated purpose of his presentation. Indeed, in our event invitation, we urged all attendees to read up on the activities of Goldman Sachs so that they might meaningfully contribute to a constructive dialog. As far as I know, no one from our movement called on his talk to be canceled; what we desired was the opportunity to offer alternative perspectives in an environment of intellectual freedom (a right that your organization purports to promote).
And here's where the story takes an unexpected twist. Harvey Silverglate responded with an open letter of his own, which was also published on the Occupy Vermont blog.
According to Silverglate, AP reporter Dave Gram "mangled" his views and took his quotes out of context. In fact, Silverglate supported the right of the protesters to make their perspective on Goldman Sachs heard, as long as they also respected Ares's right to speak as well. An excerpt from Silverglate's response:
If demonstrators get together with an aim to drown out the speaker, they are in a conspiracy to restrict free speech. On the other hand, if the speaker fails to show up because he does not want to confront those who disagree with him, that is the fault of the speaker, not of the audience.
One final note: Facebook postings suggest that Occupy Vermont participants weren't entirely sad to see Ares's talk canceled. An administrator on the Occupy Vermont Facebook page posted a link to the AP story on the ABC News site with the caption "Victory!" You shouldn't glean too much from a one-word Facebook posting, especially from an ostensibly leaderless movement like this one, but it's worth noting. (I wasn't able to confirm who's running the Facebook page while writing this post.)
UPDATE: I spoke with Matthew Cropp, who in addition to penning the open later is one of the 14 administrators on the Occupy Vermont Facebook page. "My intended meaning was to celebrate the fact that, in spite of the cancellation, our proposed attendance was nonetheless sparking a discussion in our community about Goldman Sachs," he said via email. "I still would have much preferred to have been able to attend the actual in-person event, but the fact that Goldman's cowardice in the face of scrutiny didn't slip beneath the media radar was cause for celebration."
File photo of "Goldman Sucks" sign was taken by Shay Totten at the October 2 Occupy Wall Street solidarity rally in Burlington.
The University of Vermont is one step closer to creating a first-ever policy to govern the volunteer activities of presidential spouses.
On Wednesday, a committee of UVM trustees unanimously approved a draft policy that would put stricter oversight on a president's spouse who wishes to raise money for UVM, coordinate alumni events or engage in other aspects of university life.
The policy was created as result of the revelations that the wife of former UVM President Dan Fogel — Rachel Kahn-Fogel — had a years-long relationship with a high-level UVM staffer assigned to work with her on fundraising events. Fogel stepped down from his role as president in early August, almost a year ahead of schedule.
In the wake of the news and a subsequent internal investigation, the UVM Board of Trustees created a special ad hoc committee and charged it with crafting a policy to better spell out the roles and responsibilities of the university, and the spouse, if he or she chooses to volunteer.
Chaired by Rep. Bill Botzow (D-Pownal), that committee met Wednesday afternoon in the Waterman Building and voted to bring the draft policy to the full board of trustees for a vote on the weekend of October 21-22.
"This policy provides some practical, realistic parameters for all parties so the spouse can volunteer for the university effectively," said Botzow.
Under the policy, a spouse interested in volunteering would jump through a series of hoops before taking on a project. First, the spouse would contact the vice president for executive operations, who, in turn, would contact the appropriate UVM official in charge of the area in which the spouse would like to provide support. From there, the spouse would interview with the person who directly oversees that part of UVM operations.
Final approval of any volunteer appointment would need to be granted by the chair of the board of trustees, who would also co-sign a clearly-defined letter of agreement detailing the "nature and extent of any proposed services, including his or her reporting line."
The board chair would also meet at least once annually with the spouse and UVM officials to "discuss the ongoing suitability of the volunteer assignment and any adjustments to the assignment that the partner or the officials wish to request."
In short, the policy creates a clear path for any presidential spouse to follow if he or she is interested in volunteering at UVM. If the spouse is interested in a paid job, then normal policies and procedures governing other UVM job-seekers apply.
As part of the policy, UVM would cover or reimburse the spouse for any business travel or entertainment expenses.
The policy was drafted by UVM General Counsel Fran Bazluke after she reviewed policies from a host of other universities around the country.
"We did look at a lot of other policies," said Bazluke, "and tried to bring out the best of each one and tried to create a policy for UVM that was somewhat hospitable without being too constrictive."
Though the university's internal investigation cleared Kahn-Fogel of wrongdoing, it did find some of the personnel decisions made by the Fogels created a negative workplace environment.
Workplace climate is another area the ad hoc committee is examining. Provost Jane Knodell is taking the lead on determining how UVM can update its workplace climate guidelines to give employees more chances to register complaints outside of current channels. The committee is also looking into ways UVM can improve the oversight of employees' use of purchasing cards to pay for business meals and travel expenses.
A separate review is underway regarding UVM policies around administrative pay and severance packages, issues that continue to rile students and faculty.
A battle is brewing at the University of Vermont between administrators and unionized maintenance workers who say they're "pissed off" about the golden parachutes and salaries handed out to former President Dan Fogel and other university leaders.
At a rally outside the Waterman administration building Wednesday, the head of UVM's maintenance union told 100 supporters that, "The people in this community are pissed off too."
"The trustees have become morally bankrupt," said Carmyn Stanko, an electrician and president of United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) Local 267. "Giving out millions of dollars to Fogel and their friends while sticking it to the workers."
With talks stalled on a new three-year labor contract, some at the rally threatened that UVM students, faculty and staff would "take over" the Waterman building if they didn't get a fair contract, meaning stage a sit-in. The sides were scheduled to meet with a federal mediator today in hopes of breaking the impasse.
UVM is asking its lowest-paid workers to contribute more toward health insurance premiums and accept a salary increase that works out to 1 percent stretched over three years. Meanwhile, union leaders expressed outrage at the $600,000 and $500,000 severance packages afforded to Fogel and another top university official, and the combined $500,000 salaries paid the new dean of the business school and his professor wife.
"Is that the kind of university we want?" Stanko asked the crowd.
"Hell, no!" was the immediate response.
Philip Baruth, a UVM English professor and state senator representing Chittenden County, told the crowd that if UVM administration didn't offer a fair labor contract, "This building will be taken over. And, that's a promise." Baruth said he was ashamed of the university for its attempts to squeeze the workers at the bottom of the pay scale while rewarding those at the top.
"There is a deliberate attempt to increase the gap between the highest paid workers and the lowest paid workers," said Baruth. "That's what is wrong with America and that's what is now happening here."
Baruth then got the crowd chanting, "Shame! Shame! Shame!" for a couple of minutes — a chant used by union workers and their allies in Wisconsin earlier this year against Gov. Scott Walker. Baruth suggested that people continue to chant "Shame!" whenever they pass Waterman or a UVM administrator.
That might be a bit awkward for Fogel, who is still on campus with an office in the Old Mill Building. He is planning to return to teaching in 2013. UVM recently paid about $5200 to renovate the office for the former president.
Stanko ticked off the recent six-figure golden parachutes handed to Fogel and Michael Schultz, a top administrator who had been involved in a relationship with Fogel's wife, as examples of how out of touch the university was with average Vermonters.
Fogel resigned earlier this month just weeks before the release of an internal investigation into his wife's activities. The report concluded that Fogel and his wife, Rachel Kahn-Fogel, contributed to low morale among UVM's development and fundraising staff as a result of personnel decisions but did not violate any state laws or UVM rules. Former UVM Provost John Bramley has since replaced Fogel as interim president.
The contract offered by UVM would also overhaul retiree health care benefits. If workers don't take early retirement by July 1 of next year (which means being at least 55 with at least 25 years of service in most cases), then they'll see their retirement benefits skyrocket. Under current rules, retirees pay the same amount toward health insurance premiums as employees. Depending on a person's salary, that can be anywhere from 3 to 8 percent of an employee's paycheck.
For Joe Stout, an electrician and member of the UE Local 267 contract bargaining team, the change means his health insurance premiums would jump from $190 a month to cover his entire family, to $800 a month just to cover himself and his wife.
"That means I'll be working here until I'm 65 or 67, rather than 55 as I had planned — as many of us had planned," said Stout. Stout and Stanko said the physically demanding jobs of the maintenance crews make it hard for people to keep working until 67.
Stanko (pictured, second from left) also urged people to vote out of office next year the legislative trustees who approved Fogel's severance package while pushing for more sacrifice from the lower-paid workers.
Stout told the crowd that five years ago there were 130 people at UVM who earned $100,000 or more. Today, that figure is 360. Meanwhile, more than 1600 workers earn less than $45,000.
"They shouldn't be taking the money out of our pockets," said Stout to rousing cheers. "They should be taking it out of their pockets."
Stout and others pointed out after the rally that while students, professors and administrators didn't show up on Monday at UVM because classes were cancelled, UE worker had to show up in order to keep the buildings running.
In response to the rally, a top UVM official said he understands the union's concerns but said the administration is looking out for the long-term stability of the university.
"As we worked to develop a balanced FY 12 budget proposal for the board of trustees this spring, we were confronted once again with the need to significantly increase financial aid, in this case by $11 million (14.8 percent)," said Richard Cate, UVM's vice president for finance and administration. "Meanwhile the total general fund expense budget increase was less than 1 percent,"
In order to balance its budget, Cate said UVM relied primarily on three strategies: a $3 million reduction in departmental operating budgets; a 0 percent salary increase for all faculty and staff; and a 5.8 percent increase in tuition.
"The administration understands the concerns raised by UE members but the financial stability of the university is in their best interests as well as the institution generally," said Cate. "We are hopeful that the bargaining process will ultimately result in a contract that fairly balances the needs of staff with the financial realities confronting the university."
During a weekend phone call, Gov. Peter Shumlin urged outgoing University of Vermont president Dan Fogel (pictured right) to give back a portion of his more than $600,000 severance package as a way to dampen the outrage that some leading politicians and the public have had over his golden parachute.
"I told him that I would like to see him set aside a portion of his severance pay that he'll receive to set up a scholarship program that would allow more Vermont students to attend UVM," said Shumlin during a lunchtime meeting with Seven Days. "I though that this would help put him, and the university, back in the good graces of Vermonters."
There has been increased anger directed at UVM's board of trustees, in particular the legislative trustees, for granting Fogel the equivalent of a $35,400-a-month severance package that will last 17 months. At the end of that time period, Fogel is anticipated to return to UVM as an English professor, earning $195,000 a year — $80,000 more than the next-highest-paid professor in the department.
Shumlin told Seven Days that he talked to the former president on Sunday.
"I really feel it would be the right thing to do, to undo the damage to his legacy and to the university," said Shumlin. The pair spoke for close to half an hour, the governor said.
So, how did Fogel react?
"Let's just say that my recommendation was not well received," said Shumlin, " which I think is a real missed opportunity."
Fogel confirmed the phone call occurred and told Seven Days he didn't heed the gov's advice because it would set a bad precedent for future presidents — and send a bad message to the national academic marketplace.
"Governor Shumlin urged me — in the interest of 'protecting my legacy' — to give back some of my severance," Fogel wrote in an email to Seven Days. "He asked me to consider his advice — I said that I would, reiterated that I appreciated the way he and others felt, but that I thought the kind of gesture he was recommending would satisfy only a small portion of the critics, and moreover would send a very bad signal to the marketplace — the message that even a successful president will in the future be hard-pressed to secure a post-presidential package that is quite modest by national standards."
Fogel said, in turn, that he appealed to Shumlin to be a strong advocate for UVM, rather than simply a critic, to help recruit a bold president who can carry the university forward.
"I appealed to the governor to do everything he can to support the university and the board in recruiting another strong — and we hope even stronger — leader, and to remember that his bully pulpit as governor can send a strong message to potential candidates, for good or for ill, about Vermont's aspirations for its one research university. He said he has every intention of doing so, and would," wrote Fogel.
During a midday news conference with reporters, Shumlin said he was not interested in punishing UVM financially in the state budget for what he deemed an exorbitant pay package for Fogel, and for other top university officials.
Shumlin said he understands that granting a one-year, paid leave of absence might be a standard contract provision in academia, but the governor said contracts can be written to limit severance pay if an executive resigns from office under a cloud of controversy — as did Fogel. Fogel resigned his post effective July 31, just weeks before the results of an investigation focused on his wife, Rachel Kahn-Fogel, was to be completed.
UVM launched its investigation following Seven Days’ inquiries into Kahn-Fogel's influence over the doctoral studies and day-to-day employment of Michael Schultz, the school's associate vice president for development and alumni relations. The university's investigation focused on whether, as a result of the relationship, UVM resources were used inappropriately or UVM workplace policies were violated.
A report released yesterday found that neither Kahn-Fogel nor Schultz had violated any laws or university policies during their relationship. However, the report did find that the personnel decisions made by Kahn-Fogel and Pres. Fogel created a negative workplace environment and lowered morale in the development office.
UVM revealed yesterday that it had agreed to pay Schultz his $155,000 salary through the end of 2012, as well as health care benefits and free tuition for his kids. In exchange, Schultz agreed not to sue UVM, and vice versa. Schultz had been on the receiving end of Kahn-Fogel's affections for more than six years and was a central figure in the months-long investigation into Kahn-Fogel's actions at the university and her interactions with key staff.
Shumlin told Seven Days he supports legislation that would seek to remove sitting legislators from the boards of UVM and the Vermont state colleges.
"There is an inherent conflict in serving on the board while at the same time appropriating money to the university," said Shumlin. He added that while some lawmakers serve on the boards of nonprofits, serving on the board of a major university or state college, which comes to the legislature each year seeking millions of dollars in assistance, is a different story.
"Are you doing what's best for taxpayers, or are you delivering on what the president wanted you to deliver as a trustee?" asked Shumlin.