Diversity University

I would say it was a charged learning environment; a charged, energized, learning environment,” O’Rourke said.  “It was also very stressful and emotional.”

After the 1991, shacks and shanties were on the Waterman Green, and stayed there until December 1991. Protesters dubbed this makeshift community “Diversity University” used it to continue the two-week diversity curriculum that had been taught in the classrooms of Waterman during the takeover, according to the history of diversity at UVM.

“[Diversity University] has no president and no peons: it has as many teachers as students, as many bodies as heads,” the organization’s statement of purpose read.  “We are not here just to educate ourselves.”

Davis resigned in October 1991 after the board of trustees rejected his proposal to fix the University’s budget, which included getting rid of the engineering department, according to the University’s history of its presidents. The board named Thomas Salmon as interim president two weeks after Davis resigned.

Salmon had previously served as governor of Vermont from 1973 to 1977, according to his bio on UVM’s website. He is currently associated with the Salmon and Nostrand law firm in Bellow Falls, Vermont, according to their website.

He was unable to be reached for comment.

In December 1991, an individual set fire to the shacks and shanties, according to an  article in The Vermont Collegian from that month.  It had been a rainy Friday and no individuals were present during the arson and no one was harmed, according to the article.

The perpetrator’s identity was never discovered, though in an anonymous recorded message sent to the Vermont Collegian, a male claiming to be a UVM student, said he started the fire because the “campus is ugly enough without having this shack out on the green,” and because he believed Salmon was “going to get things done,” according to the article.

“I handed [Salmon]… a very safe and fast way for him to get rid of the shacks and for him to come down on the policies as they are going to be from now on,” the anonymous male said, according to the article.

After the fire, the Diversity University leaders rejected the administration’s offer of a permanent office in one of the school’s buildings, according to the article.

The administration then announced it would not allow Diversity University to be rebuilt.

No arrests were made regarding the arson.