About 700 students, faculty, staff and community members confronted UVM President Daniel Mark Fogel about the developing budget cuts at a public forum on Feb. 23.

Fogel appeared with six representatives, including President of United Academics David Shiman, Faculty Senate President Robyn Warhol-Down and SGA President Jay Taylor.

“I have called on UVM to shift gears, to move from an invest-and-grow strategy to a focus-and-invest approach to building academic quality and competitiveness,” Fogel said. “To carry that strategy out in challenging times we have made, and will have to continue to make, hard and painful choices.”

After each representative spoke, the floor was opened to questions from the audience, allowing members of the community to voice their concerns.

Junior Ethan Paquette, dressed in his uniform from UVM’s now cut baseball team, came to the forum with three of his teammates to question Fogel about their removal from 2010’s budget.

Fogel said he was regretful, but reiterated his belief that the cuts of both the baseball team and the softball team were necessary.

The forum ended after one hour and 30 minutes where around nine questions were fielded from the audience. The panel of representatives recieved polite applause from the audience.