Students Stand Up & Faculty Union Joint Press Conference

Dear UVM community members,

Below is a press release that will go out Monday morning announcing a
press conference to be held Tuesday, May 12, 12 noon, Mildred Livak
Room, Davis Center, by United Academics and the Students Stand Up.
Please mark your calendar and join us! Although the UVM administration
plans to restore $3.2 million to teaching and research, a good number
of you are painfully aware that this has not directly translated into
job and position restorations for many faculty, staff, and programs.
In addition, some 30 students still face charges for their peaceful
protest of academic downsizing last month. Let's make sure the
trustees know that our concerns about academic quality and student
experience have not yet been fully and satisfactorily addressed.

Please spread the word about Tuesday's press conference and attend
yourself--sitting in the audience or, if you can, standing with
Students Stand Up! and United Academics speakers. If you still have a
"Don't Downsize Education at UVM" placard, bring it along. Or come a
few minutes early to make a poster to hold reflecting the press
conference concerns and faculty and students' shared goals.

Nancy Welch
Professor, English
Communications Co-Director, United Academics

For Immediate Release
UVM UNITED ACADEMICS AND STUDENTS STAND UP! TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE TUESDAY
University of Vermont Faculty and Students Oppose Budget Cutting
Measures Together

Press Conference
Tuesday, May 12
12 Noon
Mildred Livak Room (4th floor), Davis Center
University of Vermont

We are encouraged to see that the UVM administration has recently
agreed to provide a $3.2 million reinvestment mostly to teaching and
research activities. This distribution of monies reflects the hard
work and strong voices of students, faculty and staff on campus who
spoke out about the original cuts and the severe impact they were
likely to have on academic quality. Despite this positive step, other
administration actions still threaten to damage the quality of our
academic life and our reputation as a student-friendly institution.
This need not happen.

United Academics is inviting Students Stand Up! to join us in
expressing our serious concerns over the administration's budget
cutting measures. "Faculty and students share this university," said
David Shiman, president of the faculty union. "We share a commitment
to academic quality in the face of increased enrollment, fewer
instructors, larger classes, and diminished curriculum offerings. We
share a commitment to opening up what has historically been a rather
closed budget decision-making process so that the voices of the
stakeholders in the university can be heard and valued. And we share
a commitment to the fair treatment of those students who were arrested
for engaging in peaceful civil disobedience in late April."

Explained Kait Del Pozzo of Students Stand Up!, "We are trying to
engage the administration in a constructive dialogue. We understand
the economic climate the university faces. But we also know that the
budget doesn't need to be balanced on the backs of students, staff,
and faculty. We see other solutions that aren't being considered,
such as Administrative pay cuts."

United Academics, the UVM faculty union, represents full- and
part-time faculty members at UVM. Students Stand Up! is a student
group formed in the fall of 2008 in opposition to some of the
university's budget- cutting measures. While their agendas and tactics
might differ from time to time, both organizations share the goal of
maintaining academic quality at UVM. United Academics values the
students' commitment to protecting the quality of this institution as
demonstrated by their hard work, enthusiasm, and concerted action, and
we call on the University to respect these rights both practically and
legally.

The press conference will include both faculty union and Students
Stand Up! speakers.

For information, contact:
David Shiman, President
United Academics
656-1428 or 881-4583