Editor’s note: This commentary is by Rachael Montesano, of Burlington, who is a senior lecturer of romance languages at the University of Vermont.
Dear President Garimella,
I wonder what your experience with food and family is like. For me and my two girls, meals are a gathering place for discussion about our highs and lows, for processing what is going on in the world and for blowing off steam together when we find ourselves overwhelmed by school or work. At the dinner table I am in my element as a parent. It is where I see the good things that come from my job; I see my children being nourished by food and a stable housing environment. I have done my best to build a steady foundation for them through my work, but it hasn’t been easy as a single parent without a safety net.
This March, as a result of the pandemic and being given only one week for preparation, I converted my four courses to remote instruction. This was a feat that took an enormous amount of my time, mental and emotional power, and creativity. I worked overtime to continue educating my students at the same level that I would normally be able to do during face to face instruction. I did this at the same time I was facilitating the education of my children at home due to the pandemic. I can say with confidence that I gave my UVM students a rich and meaningful learning experience during remote instruction.
When the administration sent out a letter to faculty acknowledging their tremendous effort and dedication to the UVM community in adapting courses to remote instruction, I felt appreciated and valued. However, seemingly using the same breath, they informed us that all lecturers in the College of Arts and Sciences would have their salaries cut by 25%.
In 2019 the Vermont Legislative Joint Fiscal Office published the Vermont Basic Needs and Livable Wage Report which states that for a single parent with two children living in Chittenden County an annual salary of $81,317 constitutes a livable wage. After the sanctioned 25% reduction in my salary as a lecturer at UVM, I will still be a full-time lecturer, but my salary will now be 41% below the livable wage.
In the classroom I am in my element as a professional. This fall, two of the four courses that I will teach with a 25% reduction in my salary are sustainability courses. On the UVM gen ed sustainability requirement website it states that “UVM’s vision for sustainability embraces the goal of educating all of its students to understand and contribute to the sustainability of human society. That is, we recognize that the pursuit of ecological, social, and economic vitality must come with the understanding that the needs of the present be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.”
The two sustainability courses that I will teach in the fall will teach UVM students about the interconnectedness of social equity and economic vitality. My students will learn about community and interdependence, about how every system has a carrying capacity and every system has a limit. They will learn that sustainability means that everyone has the ability to make a difference if the balance of fairness and equity is pushed out of equilibrium. The sad part of teaching in the fall for me will be that the very same university that projects an image of sustainability, and prides itself on educating its students about sustainability, is not practicing sustainability.
This 25% cut in my salary means that as I sit around the dinner table with my family after working at one full-time job, I will be worried about how to find an additional job during a pandemic. I will be worried about having enough money to buy food. I will be worried about paying for housing. I will be worried about paying for heat, electricity, and water. I will be worried about my children not having enough time with me.
I wonder what your dinner table will be like next year? I wonder if you will be worried about having enough money to feed your family and pay your mortgage? If you and other top administrators were to take a 25% cut in your salaries would it affect you as much as a 25% pay cut to my salary? The numbers tell me that clearly it would not.
I know from personal experience that higher education is a great equalizer. I believe in the public university system and its mission. That is why I attended a public university and that is why I teach at a public university. UVM can do better than this. I urge you to practice sustainability and use your role as the leader of a public university to take care of all of the members of your community by cutting salaries from the top, instead of balancing UVM’s budget by gutting the salaries of the most vulnerable and lowest paid educators and staff.
