Dr. Carol A. Moore, the former president of Burlington College, has spoken out about the college's closure earlier this year in a of the Chronicle of Higher Education.
In the letter, titled "What Really Happened at Burlington College," Moore blames the school's financial trouble on former board members and a large land purchase authorized when Jane Sanders was president of Burlington College.
"BC鈥檚 fate was set when its former board members hired an inexperienced president and, six years later, approved the imprudent purchase of a $10 million piece of property for campus expansion, Moore wrote. "Enrollment that year was about 195 and the budget just over $4 million, less than half of this ill-advised investment. What were they thinking? Where was the Finance Committee when these decisions were being made?"
Moore went on to question why Burlington College got approval for the loan.
"More interestingly, what bank lends a small, private, unendowed college of that size and financial status an amount that so obviously outweighs its ability to repay? People鈥檚 United Bank of Vermont. And the collateral? One planned gift of a revocable trust, payable upon the death of the donor, and the 鈥減romise鈥� of another million-dollar gift," wrote Moore. "But, alas, no written record of such a 鈥減romise鈥� could be found, anywhere in Burlington College鈥檚 records."
In an interview with VPR in May, Moore said she saw the land deal as the primary cause for the closure.
Jane Sanders told VPR last year that she was disappointed the school didn't follow through on her plans for the college. "Unfortunately, there was a kind of a quick change in leadership and we just didn't 鈥� we had different visions for the future of the college," Sanders said.
But in her August 31 letter, Moore questioned whether Sanders' husband, Sen. Bernie Sanders, had influence over the land purchase.
"Who is to blame for this appallingly inappropriate business deal? Perhaps a board that steered clear of the tough questions which needed to be asked," wrote Moore. "Or a bank in the state of an influential senator 鈥� a senator, as it turned out, with bigger ambitions?"
Neither Moore or Jane Sanders immediately responded to interview requests from VPR.
