On Thursday, Nov. 2 the Student Government Association (SGA) sent out an email with a statement expressing its opposition to Optimization 2.0. The group said, during the creation of Optimization 2.0, the administration did not consider how it would impact students. After Optimization 2.0 was released, students felt like decisions were being made without student needs in mind. Members of the SGA, with the exception of Student Trustee Perry Ragouiz, chose to use their voices to express their disappointment by issuing a vote of no confidence.
Castleton was the first campus to introduce the vote to other campuses, proposing no confidence in “the Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees (excluding the Student Trustee), the Vermont State University Office of the President, and the Vice President of Business Affairs, as a result of the groups’ failure to meet the needs of its student body across each campus.”
In the statement the SGA expressed, “The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees (excluding the Student Trustee), the Vermont State University Office of the President, and the Vice President of Business Affairs have failed to effectively optimize the Vermont State University’s administrative structure.
“The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees (excluding the Student Trustee), the Vermont State University Office of the President, and the Vice President of Business Affairs have terminated positions within departments that are currently overworked and understaffed such as Conferences and Events, Marketing & Communications, and Facilities.
“The Vermont State Colleges Board of Trustees (excluding the Student Trustee), the Vermont State University Office of the President, and the Vice President of Business Affairs have deemed strong student-facing positions within the university to be non-essential in the departments of Student Life, Career Services, and Student Success. These terminations come after an extended period of student voices being minimized with student email restriction, and lack of action being taken regarding student concerns.”
Castleton asked the other VTSU SGA to support their decision by co-signing the vote of no confidence. Most VTSU Student Governments have voted to sign, with the exception of VTSU-Lyndon.
