To everyone who read my editorial from last issue, thank you. Thank you for your comments, your shares and your stories. I am so glad to be surrounded by a community of people that have started to speak up when the time is right.

Thank you to the people who came forward on Facebook and shared their stories of heartbreak and frustration at the hands of an administration they felt wouldn’t listen. You aren’t alone.

More than 30 current and former students messaged or responded to my column on Facebook or on our website, citing all kinds of issues. Six of those openly admitted that they will be transferring away from NVU. Three former students, all who dropped out, cited tuition increases as the reason for their leaving.

“The summer before the college officially became NVU, I was working on campus, and found out my bill would be much larger going forward,” said Michaela Dube, a former student at NVU-Johnson. “I was forced to drop out.”

Another current student, Heaven-Leigh Dery, said that she will be transferring to Castleton due to understaffing in her major. “I hope and I pray that the unification doesn’t hurt other programs like it’s already hurt humanities, theater, and science.”

Mackenzie Murdoch, another former student, dropped out a couple of semesters ago. She shared the editorial on Facebook and wrote, “in case anyone wants to see a glimpse of why I dropped out of NVU.”

“If I had felt that the unification was going to go kinder to Johnson, I don’t think I’d’ve left,” said Ciarra Annis, a former Johnson student who now attends UNH.
This doesn’t just pertain to those that left. Those of us who stayed, who will continue to stay, are still feeling the frustration.

“I myself am particularly disappointed in the lack of resource sharing between similar departments at both schools,” said Athena Parke, an interdisciplinary studies major at Johnson.

I want to clarify here that many of the problems these 30 students spoke about are not directly due to the merger. I didn’t include a lot of their posts. But many students feel as though the merger brought to light the problems with the administration’s listening ability.

Here’s where our story takes a turn for the better. There is, as they say, a light at the end of this tunnel. Please read President Collins’ open letter to the students on page 7. It’s her affirmation to us that someone is hearing us.

President Collins’ letter lets us know that the administration is listening, and that, my friends, is what we’re asking for. Please speak up when you’re asked to. Attend meetings and make your faces known. Together, with a supportive admin, we can build a better NVU for both ourselves and future students.

We could not do Basement Medicine without everyone’s support and readership. This is our last issue for the semester, but we’ll be back in January with the latest news and stories. If you’ve read something that made you think, cry, laugh or learn something, please take the time to thank the journalist who inspired that. With your support, we can keep bringing you the news on a bi-weekly basis.

-Rebecca Flieder
Editor in Chief