Meredith Hay, the second UVM presidential candidate to visit campus, held in-depth interviews with University officials and conducted an open forum on Jan. 23 to answer general public questions. In an interview with the Cynic, Hay discussed the importance of listening because it helps to give her different perspectives on why the University is great. “Listening to the students, listening to the faculty and staff, listening to the legislatures in the state and to governor’s office and the business owners,” Hay said. “That’s really tapping into the collective wisdom of the entire community and deciding how to move the University of Vermont them.” Hay said that when these kinds of difficult decisions must be made, not everyone will be pleased with the outcome. “Certainly some people were unhappy in the end,” she said. “But we made some very specific investments in certain programs, and today the University is stronger than when it was in 2008. I learned a lot in the process about how to communicate