We in Connecticut have a special interest in Vermont Law School because so many alumni live and practice here, and the school has done a great job in educating a generation of committed environmental lawyers. Vermont Law School, an independent school and the only law school in Vermont, has been at the forefront of environmental law education and advocacy since its founding in 1972, and modest beginnings in an old schoolhouse in the sleepy little town of South Royalton.

But today, VLS is floundering, up to its neck in debt brought on by the sagging enrollment caused by the Great Recession and struggling to stay afloat with a totally inadequate endowment. Applications, admissions and enrollment are up, but the improvements are recent and follow too many years of financial losses.