Don Keelan: Vermont institutions are disappearing

This commentary is by Don Keelan of Arlington, a retired certified public accountant.

There seems to be a rash of closings of Vermont’s longtime institutions. The latest is in Plainfield, where it was announced that the nearly 90-year-old Goddard College will close at the end of the semester .

Other institutions, such as churches, stores, fire/rescue facilities, schools and companies, are closing, too. Organizations are operating at or close to the margin of being unable to exist — and it could result in closures. This includes health care, nonprofit and business/retail organizations.

At one time serving more than 1,900 students, Goddard College now joins other shuttered Vermont colleges , including Green Mountain College , St. Joseph’s College , Southern Vermont College , Marlboro College and Burlington College .

Vermont continues to have vital centers of higher learning, with institutions such as Bennington College, Norwich University, Middlebury College, the University of Vermont and several more. Nevertheless, other institutions find sustainability to be highly challenging.

In addition to colleges, scores of Catholic churches have closed in Vermont since 1990. An internet search notes over 20 between 1990 and 2019. The reasons given were the inability of the Catholic Diocese of Burlington to provide priests, the lack of parishioners, and the fallout from the child sexual abuse crisis that brought financial and negative public opinion upon the church.

The closing of churches has not only been associated with the Catholic Church but also many of Vermont’s Protestant houses of worship. As reported by the Guardian , this follows a national trend: In 2019, more than 4,500 Protestant churches closed their doors due to declining membership. This is the case with the closing of a 100-year-old Catholic church, once a reservoir of joyful and sorrowful emotions emanating from the thousands of baptisms, weddings and funerals.

In addition, there are the service, fraternal and veteran establishments that once were in almost every Vermont town. Due to a lack of members, they, too, are in financial instability and cease to provide the many community services they once were noted for.

The closing of schools will be on the table. Institutions are the heart and soul of a community. Schools with low student-to-teacher ratios — such as Woodford, with 21 students, and Sunderland, with 53 — have to feel threatened that their institutions could disappear. Voters have approved a budget that will close Roxbury Village School , which serves about 40 students.

The regionalization of firehouses and rescue services, institutions with enrollment constituting generations of family members, will see closings in the future. Towns can ill afford their cost, and volunteer members have declined for years.

Today, the former Orvis Co. headquarters in Sunderland and the 92-year-old Sam’s Outdoor Outfitters establishment in Brattleboro are unoccupied. While these companies continue to operate, they are not where they once were.

The intangible loss resulting from the closing of institutions is not vacant buildings but the loss of a place. In some instances, a sacred place where so much emotion was once expressed.

The six colleges noted above have provided generations of emotional experiences for many students, staff, faculty and their families, especially at first-semester drop-off and commencement ceremonies.

I am no expert on the matter, but social media is filling the vacuum of what once was a more physically connected society. There is less person-to-person interaction now, even in this small state of Vermont.

If additional evidence is needed, one only needs to calculate the audience at the annual Town Meeting. This 200-year-old institution is slowly losing its significance.

Of course, we can put our smartphones and computers aside for one or two nights a week, re-engage with our neighbors, and realize that we cannot afford to stand by and watch our long-existing institutions close because no one cares.

Read the story on VTDigger here: Don Keelan: Vermont institutions are disappearing .