State College Board of Trustees, the decision was passed, in a vote of nine in favor to three opposed, to raise VSC tuition by 6 percent for the 2008-2009 school year.

The Board of Trustees report noted, “Unfortunately, as the Board is aware, the state of Vermont in terms of higher education appropriations continues to be one of the lowest funded of all states.”

In fact, the report continued, “For the last few years we were improving in regard to higher educational appropriations per FTE- we went from 49th to 48th to 47th back to 49th for two years. We are now 50th by a substantial margin.”

In a reversal of an earlier decision, JSC President Barbara Murphy has granted tenure to a popular professor in the Fine and Performing Arts Department.

“I’m very happy to have been awarded tenure. After being denied last year, and then being given a second chance, I am particularly delighted,” said Assistant Professor of Performing Arts Diane Huling-Reed after being informed recently that the president had reconsidered a spring 2007 decision in which she endorsed the Promotion Tenure and Review (PRT) committee’s recommendation to the administration not to grant her tenure.

On Thursday, April 22, 2008, amidst bright sunshine and a stiff wind, the college hosted a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the $7 million renovation of Stearns Hall that will turn that hulking, nearly 40-year-old structure into a comprehensive student center.

Clad in white DEW hard hats, JSC President Barbara Murphy, chairman of the Vermont State Colleges board of trustees Gary Moore, Vermont State Colleges Chancellor Robert Clarke, Dean of Students Dave Burgh, Department of Writing and Literature chair Andrea Perham, SGA president Jon Harris, and members of the construction and design companies working on the renovations spoke briefly about the significance of the project.