Vermont State University president resigns just months before official launch

By Peter D’Auria/VTDigger

Vermont State University president Parwinder Grewal has resigned after less than a year in the position and less than three months before the university is set to officially launch. 

Controversial changes to libraries and sports programs will also be paused at the direction of the Vermont State Colleges board of trustees, officials said in a press release Friday, April 14.

The trustees revealed the remarkable news of Grewal’s departure at a Friday morning meeting, the second special meeting held last week. There, trustees spent roughly an hour in executive session before approving a public resolution accepting Grewal’s resignation, effective immediately.

Mike Smith, a former secretary of the state Agency of Human Services, is taking Grewal’s place as interim president, starting next week.

Grewal cited personal reasons for his departure, according to Katherine Levasseur, a spokesperson for the Vermont State Colleges.

“That’s all the information that I have,” Levasseur said in a brief interview Friday morning.

Three member institutions of the Vermont State Colleges — Castleton University, Northern Vermont University and Vermont Technical College — are currently consolidating into the multi-campus Vermont State University, or VTSU.

Amid years of underfunding, dropping enrollment and structural deficits, the transformation is intended to put the system on a path to financial stability. 

Grewal was tapped last spring to oversee the consolidation. He stepped into the position in July 2022, one year before VTSU’s scheduled launch date.