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News Release

Vermont Law School Statement RE: AAUP Report

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

SOUTH ROYALTON, Vt.

The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) launched an investigation last fall into certain aspects of the Vermont Law School (VLS) programmatic restructuring. The AAUP is an advocacy and membership organization for university professors.

On May 7th, the School received the AAUP report entitled “College and University Governance: Vermont Law School.” The Report concludes that the School took many steps to comply and did conform with the “letter” of AAUP standards but perhaps failed to measure up, in some respects, to its “animating spirit.”

VLS remains deeply committed to the principles of shared faculty governance and academic freedom. The steps required to resolve our financial challenges were painful and by their very nature could not be accomplished to the satisfaction of everyone involved. Our focus moving forward is to provide our students with an outstanding law and policy education, to maintain the nation’s premier environmental law program, and to retain our overall commitment to environmental and social justice.

The School’s response to the AAUP appears at footnote 13 of the Report and can be accessed as follows: VLS AAUP Response.