It appears that a long-standing injustice done to some of Vermont's most vulnerable populations in the early part of the 20th century is about to be officially acknowledged at last. The Burlington Free Press reported today that the Legislature took testimony from a few of the descendents of those vicitimized in the Vermont Eugenics Project, pursuant to issuing an apology to the wronged communities. Had the project achieved it's goal of sterilizing all but those who came from "the fine old stock of original settlers," there would be no descendents to offer that testimony today. It is a shame and a cloud of disgrace that hangs over the past of both the state and it's premier university, since it was under the influence of a UVM Dean of Zoology, Henry F. Perkins, that the legislature undertook this ignoble adventure, following the preliminary "studies" in the 1920's.
The UVM website devoted to the topic has an oddly understated tone, considering the volatility of its subject. Nancy L. Gallagher, who is credited on the website, has written a detailed history of the experiment entitled "Breeding Better Vermonters: The Vermont Eugenics Project." A friend loaned me this UVM publication several years ago because I was completely ignorant on the subject. In all the twenty some years I had lived in Vermont, no one had previously mentioned this particular piece of regional history to me. Quite an eye-opener.
Vermont was by no means unique in this perfidious action. When, in 1931, Vermont passed it's own sterilization law, it was the 27th state to do so.
Whenever I see Art Woolf's name on the op-ed page, I brace myself for another truly incredible argument from beyond the looking glass. His letter in the Nov. 30 Messenger (cross-posted on Vermont Tiger) once again renders me near speechless. He begins by observing that Vermont dairy farmers are "in a terrible pickle." Ignoring completely the role that dairy conglomerates and retail giants like Walmart have played in creating this "pickle," Woolf advances the following argument which barely alludes to the toll his beloved "free market capitalism" has taken on U.S. dairy farmers:
"Prices for their products are way down (in part due to the tremendous reduction in international demand for milk caused by the financial crisis and economic recession) and their costs keep going up. But it is disingenuous for Senator Sanders to suggest that despite being against allowing "guest" workers into the U.S., the predicament of the dairy industry in Vermont and elsewhere is so "desperate" that a guest worker program is needed to provide the farms with workers willing and able to do the manual labor jobs that farmers are unable to fill with local workers."
He then goes on to state the obvious:
"Agricultural laborer jobs just don't pay enough to attract Vermonters..."
and that
"If Vermont farmers had to pay a wage high enough to attract Vermonters, their economic plight would be even worse than it is today and even more farms would go out of business."
That said, Woolf's interest in the dairy farmers' plight and any consequent threat to local food security seems to have been spent as he moves quickly to the real meat of his matter; namely, equating small local dairy farmers with financial institutions that benefitted from TARP!
UVM and its President Daniel Mark Fogel are all over today's press. WCAX just announced that UVM is in line for federal stimulus funds, which if granted may be able to stop the next round of layoffs scheduled for April.
However, at the same time, AP launched a frontal attack regarding the number of UVM administrators and their high-powered salaries.
Fogel himself put out an email [in its entirety below the fold] to all UVM faculty and staff claiming that he is responsible for the new positive changes. I'm not buying it. I know faculty that has been laid off, and I remember Fogel's earlier statement that he would not consider any salary cut in order to retain faculty. Now AP is showing just how bloated UVM's administration really is, and our federal tax dollars will go to UVM to support that bloat while regular underpaid professors remain laid off. Add in the Ben Stein fiasco and UVM's image is certainly taking hits along with the newly unemployed faculty. No one is denying that the economy is in trouble, but in a state like Vermont that means that we all must pull together as a community rather than paying big bucks to only a few, or in this case, many in the recently created upper echelons.
According to AP,
The faculty union has accused the school of having too many vice presidents, jumping from 3 in 2002 to 22 in 2008.
AP: 28 of 36 University of Vermont administrators earn more than $150,000 yearly
The University of Vermont is being criticized for the number and salaries of administrators as the school makes millions of dollars in budget cuts.
According to information obtained by The Associated Press, 28 of the 36 administrators earn $150,000 or more. Of four vacant positions, at least two had salaries exceeding that amount.
The administration's budget for top administrators rose to $6.6 million for fiscal year 2007-2008 compared to $4.7 million for fiscal year 2002-2003.
The faculty union has accused the school of having too many vice presidents, jumping from 3 in 2002 to 22 in 2008.
UVM President Daniel Fogel says the amount hasn't changed but some titles have. And he says salaries generally are below comparable institutions.
