Marlene Tromp was named as the 28th UVM President on March 20 and will fully step into her new role later this summer, according to a March 20 UVM press release.
Tromp was announced as the sole finalist for the position on Monday, March 17, and was on campus last week for interviews with students, faculty and staff.
“It’s such an exceptional opportunity to be able to lead this great institution in this challenging moment for higher education, for our country and for the world,” Tromp said at a news conference on March 20.
In the wake of Tromp’s announcement as the sole finalist, students have raised concerns about her track record in her current position as president of Boise State University.
A March 20 UVM Union of Students Instagram post alleged that Tromp “called in the Boise Police Department and had snipers stationed on campus” in response to a pro-Palestine ceasefire protest last spring.
In an exclusive interview with the Cynic, Tromp denied stationing snipers on Boise State’s campus, a sentiment that had also been circulated via flyer at the community forum on Wednesday.
“I was gobsmacked to read that,” she said. “I don’t know if there were any security people who were watching on campus, but I certainly wasn’t aware of anything like that. I’ve never heard of snipers being on campus.”
Tromp said the Idaho State Legislature passed a bill mandating that if there was an encampment on a college campus in Idaho, state police would come and break the encampment up and remove people.
She said Boise Police Department has a preexisting relationship with the university, which includes helping train their officers and prioritizes Boise State methods of discipline for students rather than those of Boise PD.
“We want to engage in ways that allow us to give people the opportunity to get support and grow through our Student Affairs processes,” she said. “We built our partnership with Boise PD, but we don’t have that relationship with Idaho State Police, because that’s a different entity.”
Boise State administration informed protestors that they wanted them to make the decision that was best for them, but that the university did not have the authority to bar the Idaho State Police from entering campus, Tromp said.
As a result, the protestors chose to march to the state capital instead, she said.
Tromp said there were also pro-Palestine protests at Boise State’s commencement last year.
“We told them ‘we welcome you being on campus, [but] please don’t disrupt the Commencement ceremony,'” she said. “Because the students who were graduating that year […] were the same students who lost their graduation from high school from COVID.”
The UVM Union of Students Instagram post also raised concern about the recent shuttering of Boise State’s Student Equity Center and the Gender Equity Center, which were closed in advance of an Idaho State Board of Education resolution aimed at restricting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at colleges and universities.
The two centers were replaced by the Student Connections and Support Center, according to a Nov. 29, 2024 Boise State email to the campus community.
At the Thursday news conference, Tromp said her hands were tied by the Board of Education legislation, and that she regretted the harm it caused for LGBTQIA+ students at Boise State.
“It was a very, very difficult and often very painful process, largely because that work had been really profoundly misunderstood,” she said. “It felt like a terrible slight to people, that the work they were doing to uplift people was somehow designed to harm others, and I don’t think there is that perception here [in Vermont].”
As deportations by the federal government have ramped up in recent weeks, some members of the UVM community have called on the University to develop a response if Immigrations and Customs Enforcement were to come to UVM’s campus.
When asked if she had any plan for or response to such a situation, Tromp said that universities must follow the law, but that they also have a responsibility to challenge directives that are legally dubious.
“There’s a difference between what has the force of the law and what doesn’t, and I think the university has to be responsible for asking questions when there is a question about whether or not an action or behavior is legal,” she said.
Tromp said that she also supports people gathering on campus to protest such federal actions.
“I will welcome people raising their voices in response to things like federal actions or executive orders or things like that, because universities should be places where that speech is welcome and engaged,” she said.
Tromp said she will make communication between the administration and campus community a hallmark of her tenure.
“There are times when for either legal or ethical reasons, I can’t share what the reasons are for a decision I’ve made, or there’s information I can’t share for legal or ethical reasons,” she said.
“I think that actually makes it even more important to be transparent when you can, and to communicate when you can.”
At the community forum on Wednesday, Tromp responded to questions about her attitudes toward working with unions.
Tromp said she is the daughter of a union member and former member of a graduate student union, and that those experiences have led to her embracing working with unions when and where possible.
“One has to work in good conscience and in partnership with the unions, with the voices across the institution, with the city, with the state, and to look for solutions,” she said. “I will always work alongside you to problem solve and that I will always look for solutions that help the community thrive.”
Ellen Kaye, co-president of UVM Staff United, said she spoke to Tromp after the community forum about some of the issues facing UVM Staff, including the ongoing 13-month-long contract negotiations between the union and the University.
“While other people were waiting to talk to her, she kept her focus on her conversation, which is not something that previous president ever was able to do,” she said. “This is a different kind of person, which I think I was hopeful.”
