Union Institute selling property to local group
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A pedestrian walks to College Hall on the campus of Union Institute & University in Montpelier Monday. AP Photo/Toby Talbot |
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By Mel Huff Times Argus Staff - Published: February 27, 2007
MONTPELIER – The cloud of uncertainty about the future of Vermont College has been lifted by a plan that would convert the historic campus into a national arts magnet.
Roger H. Sublett, president of Union Institute and University, announced Monday that he has signed a letter-of-intent to sell the campus and three MFA programs to the Vermont College of Fine Arts. The transaction is to be completed by July 1, 2007. The sales price was not been announced.
VCFA was formed in June 2006 by a group of Union Institute faculty and staff for the purpose of buying the 33.5-acre college campus, 11 buildings and the MFA programs and incorporating them into a "separate, independent institution of higher education" according to Tom Greene, the group's acting president.
"Our vision is to build a national center for the fine arts," Greene said. Starting with the MFA programs in writing, visual arts and writing for children and young adults and some 350 students, the founders plan to add programs in screen-writing, graphic design, illustration and other disciplines, and within 10 years, to increase enrollment to 700 to 1,000 students.
In addition, the founders envision offering noncredit programs, including a residence program for artists and writers.
"Our broader goal is to have a strong impact nationally on arts and letters," Greene said. "What that means is we'll have top artists and writers in the country passing through here, both as students and as emerging writers, but also as established writers who come here to hone their craft, to be in a community of other writers and artists."
He noted that there is no college in the country devoted exclusively to fine arts.
Greene is currently the director of Union Institute's MFA program in writing for children and young adults. The nine-member board of directors includes members with backgrounds in writing and the arts, real estate development, teaching and civic leadership. Montpelier Mayor Mary Hooper is the board's vice president.
"I'm thrilled," she said of the agreement. "Not only does it mean that we are going to maintain the character of that really important area on the hill – there will be a college there that looks and feels like a college – but that is going to become very focused on the fine arts and will play into what is a tremendous asset in central Vermont, its rich cultural activities. My hope is we will become a national class organization, just like Julliard or the Iowa Writers Program."
David Jauss, faculty chair of the MFA in writing program, echoed Hooper's words.
"My inbox has been filled all day long with excited e-mails. We're all really thrilled," he said. "We can't wait for this to take place and to be masters of our own destiny." Sublett called the signing "a pivotal moment" in the history of Vermont College.
"Our goal has always been with the board of trustees to place the campus in the hands of an educational entity."
Since it was created in 1964, Union Institute had focused on delivering higher education to adult learners through low-residency and distance-learning programs from six centers around the country. Union offers baccalaureate, master's and doctoral programs. Sublett said the board decided to divest its real estate holdings in Montpelier and Cincinnati in order to focus on its academic programs.
Union Institute will retain and continue to run its online and low-residency programs for adult learners, said Carolyn Krause, the university's spokeswoman. "It's important for people to understand that Union's there to stay," she stressed. Union offers undergraduate programs in liberal arts and master's programs in history and culture, literature and writing, leadership, public policy and social issues, health and well-being, and creativity. Both Krause and Greene said that they intend for students currently enrolled in the programs to experience a 'seamless' transition.
Krause said she understands that the New England Culinary Institute and Community College of Vermont will also stay.
"Here's this campus that overlooks downtown Montpelier and will have four educational entities on it. It's a rebirth for the campus," she declared.
On Wednesday, the Montpelier City Council will consider a request from the Vermont College of Fine Arts to use part of the city's tax-exempt borrowing capacity – $4.5 million for 2007 and $5.5 million for 2008 – for purchase of the Union Institute property. The purpose is to allow the college to obtain a more favorable interest rate.
By statute, municipalities have authority to borrow up to $10 million a year, Hooper explained. If they don't borrow that much, they can share the borrowing capacity with nonprofit organizations.
"It in no way binds us to the other entity. We aren't guaranteeing the borrower's performance," she said. She added that the city's legal counsel has examined the proposal.
Such "bond allocation agreements" have been used by other Vermont towns to support projects important to the community, Hooper observed. She cited Essex Junction, which used the mechanism to support the Champlain Valley Exposition, and Shelburne, which used it to support Wake Robin and the Shelburne Museum.
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