Burlington College is off to a rough start this year. First they were having enrollment problems, now this.

Tim Johnson of the Burlington Free Press reported.

Burlington College students ask for president’s ouster

Embattled Burlington College President Christine Plunkett emerged from a board of trustees meeting in downtown Burlington Friday morning to be met by a throng of student protesters demanding her resignation.

The confrontation was on the front steps of the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce, where the college board of trustees began meeting shortly after 10 a.m.

Protesters had marched to the meeting from the college, but had been denied access to the meeting.

After the meeting ended, Plunkett came out the front door and began walking to her car in an adjacent parking lot, followed by student protesters chanting and demanding that she speak to them.

She got in her car, but some students stood behind it, preventing her from backing up. At one point, her car’s back-up light went on, and the car edged slightly back, but the students didn’t budge and the car stopped. Plunkett opened the driver’s side door, and they engaged in a back-and-forth discussion in which she said she had work to do and they complained of lack of communication.

Plunkett countered: “I speak to students all the time.”

The debate continued, and Plunkett’s passage remained blocked.

Plunkett abruptly said, “I resign. Happy? Goodbye.”

The students stepped away from behind her car, allowing her to back out and leave, and cheering as she drove away.


 
 0 
 
 0