Updates
(Click on titles to read each Update)
Guiding Words from Tom Ragle
So the other shoe has fallen: as expected, the AG has approved. The Marlboro we knew is gone forever. We are all in some form of mourning. Emerson is an honest institution, and I wish the best for the Institute there, but while our academic program may be largely reproducible in an urban setting, the…
Alumni Council Letter to Trustees
The Marlboro College Alumni Council stands with the alumni and former staff of color at Democracy Prep in their questioning of DP’s founder, Seth Andrew. Through Democracy Builders Fund, Mr. Andrew has now entered into an agreement to purchase the Marlboro College campus, which would bring this leadership style to Vermont and the Town of…
How do we stop another Vermont college closure?
Contact the Vermont Attorney General to express your opposition. Leave a message at (802) 595-3803 or email this letter to ago.info@vermont.gov. Click article title for more information.
Our Community Reaches Out to the Attorney General
Our community started sending letters to the Vermont Attorney General last fall. This spring, more writers are taking the task to heart. Please find copies of the filings below, most recent at the top. Click on the letter writer’s name to open in your web browser. Will Wootton ’72 – March 26
Demand Marlboro College Remain in Vermont
With assets of at least $40M, there’s no reason to close the College, let alone to transfer those assets to Boston. As things stand now, Marlboro College has entered into a non-binding agreement with Emerson College to gift itself to Emerson College in Boston, including its endowment of $30M and its real estate holdings valued…
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jess Cover jess.cover@junapr.com (802) 373.4762 Group Works to Save Marlboro College from Gifting Itself to Boston’s Emerson College and Moving out of State MARLBORO, Vt. (May 4, 2020) — As things stand now, Marlboro College in Southern Vermont has entered into a non-binding agreement to gift itself to Emerson College in Boston, including the…
Take Action
By Becca Boyden Hi friends. I have struggled, and perhaps you have as well, as to what exactly we can do to stop the Emerson Merger and keep Marlboro College here on the Hill. But, there are reasons to believe that it is not too late, so here are some suggestions for what we all…
Campus Listed for Sale
The Campus Working Group was convened last fall by the Board of Trustees. It’s charge was to assess what the community wished for the future of campus and to find potential buyers. It would then turn that information over to the Board of Trustees for their decision on the matter. The Committee consisted of the…
New York Times Archive
“The philosophy that guides Dr. Hendrick is easy to understand. He feels that a college can help bring a better, more democratic life to the community and thus to the nation. At Marlboro the ‘caste system’ of education–such as places the teaching staff into competing categories of ‘professor,’ ‘associate professor,’ ‘assistant professor’ and ‘instructor’ is…
Letters to the Attorney General
If you’d like to write to the Vermont Attorney General protesting the proposed merger with Emerson College but don’t know what to say, read on. It’s intuitive to think a letter to the Attorney General should reference legal statutes and the like, which is a fine approach, if you’re a lawyer. For everyone else, reach…
Will Wootton’s Letter to the Vermont Attorney General
March 26, 2020 T.J. DonovanAttorney GeneralState of Vermont109 State StreetMontpelier, VT 05609 Dear Sir: My name is Will Wootton, and I write to you over deep concerns I have regarding the upcoming closing of Marlboro College and the transfer to Emerson College in Boston of Marlboro’s endowed funds of some $40 million and the proceeds…
Letter to the Editor
By Amy Tudor In a March 19 Berkeley Beacon article, Emerson-Marlboro merger still on track despite growing opposition, Marlboro College President Kevin Quigley made several erroneous statements. The President was reported to say “The [I Believe in Marlboro College] group as a whole has brought several resolutions to Marlboro College’s weekly Town Meeting, which have…
Lt. Governor Letter of Support
March 11, 2020 To the Marlboro Board of Trustees: In the past few years Vermont has seen the closure of four of its small, independent liberal arts colleges. These colleges represented four distinct regions of our state, hundreds of teachers and employees, a few thousand students and tens of thousands of alumni, as well as…
Debunking Statements
The following paragraphs are designed to clarify some of the issues in dispute in the discussions of the college’s past, present, and future. They are offered from a point of view, but nonetheless with every effort to make them as accurate as possible. If you believe that facts in these statements are incorrect, by all…
How to Downsize Marlboro College: A Retrenchment Primer
by Will Wootton I’ve been encouraged over the past few weeks to further explain what “retrenchment” means, not in higher education generally, which I tried to do, but at Marlboro specifically. I resisted because retrenchment is on the first level an exercise in financial planning. But because the original Challenge met with refusal, the institutional…
We Believe
Hello Petitioners! We’ve not forgotten that over 1000 of you in the extended Marlboro College community felt that a second opinion on the current proposal to merge with Emerson College was warranted. Unfortunately, the Board of Trustees appears unmoved by our entreaties. We have heard about the changing landscape of higher education. We are told…
Selected Statistics 2002-2019
These statistics are all from the IPED Data System. The data format changed at least 5 times over the 18 years I was researching, which made collecting the numbers tricky, to say the least. The 2002 enrollment was not listed, so I estimated it as slightly lower than 2003. I have included Teach Staff in…
Open letter on Marlboro College: Working for a new future
The news of a decision to close Marlboro College came suddenly and blindsided people at the college now and in the larger community of Marlboro alumni, retired faculty and staff, and supporters of this unusual institution. It is shocking to think that the hard-won endowment and assets of Marlboro will be handed over to a…
Retrenchment, A Description
To: Marlboro College Alumni and FriendsFrom: Will WoottonRe: Retrenchment Colleagues:I’ve complied here a number of somewhat disparate papers, articles, and reports on the definition and practice of retrenchment in higher education, which can also be referred to as “down-sizing” or “right-sizing.” Some are reproduced in full, and others you will have to search on titles…
Comments from Petitioners
The following comments were posted to support our January petition to Accept Will Wootton’s Challenge or Clearly and Publicly Reject It by Jan 15 Randy Knaggs Wilmington, VT It is a process that can benefit all regardless of which continuum you are partial to. Giving voice to a quorum of concerned and dedicated individuals benefits…
Petition to Accept Will Wootton’s Challenge or Clearly and Publicly Reject It
Amy Tudor’s petition calling for the Board of Trustees to provide a second opinion generated over 1000 signatures. View petition on change.org Full text: During the Public Comment portion of the December 14 Marlboro College Board of Trustees meeting, long-time former staff member and alumnus Will Wootton [1] issued the board a simple challenge: “It…
Timeline of Events
The wider community was told time and again that Marlboro College campus was in no danger of imminent closure. This timeline of actions and statements was assembled by Becca Boyden, daughter of Roland Boyden who was a founding faculty member of the college, acting president, dean, and trustee. September 18, 2016 New semester brings big…
Marlboro College Website – Archived!
Guest post by David Torke Do you remember what the Marlboro College website looked like in 1996 when it first launched? When you were a student? Now you can. Marlboro College’s website is archived. You can now interact with the website as if you were using it during your time at Marlboro. This includes the…
I Believe in Marlboro College 