IN THIS ISSUE... New Mtn Rec. Prof. Page 2 New Way to Pay
Construction at LSC Page 2
Page 2
Sports Preview Pages 4 & 5
Opinion Page 6
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Entertainment Page 7 Student Quotes Page 8
Eric Blaisdell Editor
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Friday, September 8, 2011
LSC
Lyndon State College is not in a financial crisis. Since coming onboard as in! terim president at LSC in early July, Steve Gold had only a cou! ple 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 Pres! ident Gold, but he added that the school is far from stable. "We have to pay very close at! tention 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 fig! ure 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 pos! sibly taking the position.
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"After I picked my jaw up off the floor we had several conver! sations 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 ad! ministration$s decisions because of the school$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$t go into a lot of detail about it,# said Gold. "He told me he was not interested in giving me a lot of information about that because he wanted me to recognize that there had been some turmoil on campus and some sense of crisis and emergency, but he wanted me to come up and find out about it myself.#
Lyndon State College
Volume 58.1
GOLDEN
While President Gold is aware of the unrest on campus last year, he wants to make sure the students come first. "This organization doesn$t exist for the sake of the employees,# he said. "It exists for the sake of the students. The students re! ally should be what are on everyone$s mind here and not their own jobs. The reason we are here is to provide the best possible education that we can for the students that are here.# President Gold wants to be involved with the students dur! ing his short tenure. He already participated in a SOAR group with incoming freshman and plans to have dinner in the din! ing hall during the year to try to stir up conversation with the students and hear what is on their minds. One of the things the presi! dent was pleasantly surprised about was LSC$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 Steve Gold announces President’s List
President Gold$s career has been focused on helping those in need from an administrative standpoint. He has been Ver! mont$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
Photo by: Eric Blaisdell
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 for! ward. "I$m hoping to have a really great year of relative stability here on campus where people feel we are all in this together,# he said.
Second Largest Class Enters LSC, Bringing New Possibilities Samantha VanSchoick Managing Editor
This year$s freshmen are not just bringing their laptops and mattress pads on campus, they are also bringing along some questions. With enrollment reaching record numbers this year, LSC is welcoming 281 Vermonters and 262 out!of!state students, making the class of 2015 the second largest class in Lyndon$s 100!year history. "There$s a lot of different things that we can attribute this years success to,# Vincent Maloney, Associate Director of Admissions, explains. "We attribute a lot of it to our staff.# The admissions department brought in three new coun! selors, extended office work
for student workers, and ex! tended the time spent traveling and in high schools. However, Maloney was quick to give credit to many other depart! ments throughout the school saying, "It was definitely a group effort.# This was also a record year for the number of visitors on campus. "Of those seniors that visited, over half of those stu! dents deposited. I think that speaks volumes for what we do here,# Maloney said. "The VSC is strong,# Mal! oney says when asked how other Vermont state schools did with their enrollment for this year. "Johnson State was right around where they$ve been in previous years, Castle! ton was a little bit below where they$ve been but they were
right there.# After last years concerns about the financial stability of the college, many students and faculty wonder how the uptake in admissions will affect LSC$s crisis. "Is %the problem& completely gonna go away? No.# Maloney explains,"What you have to un! derstand is that, that problem, last years incoming class, af! fects the school for four years because that class keeps mov! ing on in the system.# Interim President Steve Gold warns against growth that may be out of proportion to Lyndon$s current facilities. "Growth for growths sake can be destructive if we don$t have the capacity on campus to do a good job,# explains Gold. Though Gold does not plan on
Campus Calendar Saturday >
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Monday
Courtesy of The National Weather Service
Sun. 9/11: Candlelight Vigil In Memory of 9/11 Mon. 9/12 & Tues. 9/13: Twilight Players Auditions 9/14 - 9/16: Spirit Week Sat. 9/17: Faculty/Staff Yard Sale
starting many new initiatives this year, he does plan on push! ing one. "We need more housing on campus, especially if we con! tinue to have the success with enrollment that we had this year and I have no reason to believe we wont.# Gold believes that maintain! ing the small campus feel at Lyndon is a priority, "The ques! tion that is always evolving is what are the numbers that con! stitute a small college.# Though some might worry about maintaining Lyndon$s small college feel, Maloney does not appear to be con! cerned. "This will always be the same LSC. It will always be the place everyone knows and loves.#
A Quote to Note “I'm not a prophet or a stone aged man, just a mortal with potential of a superman. I'm living on. ” - David Bowie
Governor Shumlin addresses the NEK Collaborative Economic Summit at LSC. Gov. Shumlin was optimistic about a bright job future in Vermont and encouraged federal spending in the Northeast Kingdom. He also spoke of plans to bring high speed internet to the NEK by 2013. Photo by: Sierra Willenburg
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