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Vermont College “Feels the Bern” and Closes
Accuracy in Academia ^ | May 19, 2016 | Cliff Kincaid

Posted on 05/20/2016 7:25:00 AM PDT by Academiadotorg

The wife of the socialist candidate promising free college is being blamed for closing down a college in Vermont. Burlington College is going out of business, thanks to debt incurred under the leadership of its former president Jane Sanders, also known as "educator" Dr. Jane Sanders.

Alluding to the "Feel the Bern" rallying cry for the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the publication Politico noted that his wife had made a big-ticket purchase during her tenure as head of the small, private college in Vermont "and, in the end, the institution got burned."

"Anything is Possible," it says at the top of the Burlington College website. However, the Sanders’ socialist financial magic didn’t work at the college. It ran out of money, as socialists and their institutions usually do.

"Burlington College: Start a Fire" is the gimmicky slogan used to attract students to this unorthodox institution of higher learning. A fire sale would be more appropriate. It's not clear how long the "Cuba Semester Abroad" program at Burlington College will continue. Officially, the college closes down on May 27.

Sanders and his wife sometimes campaign under the banner, "A Future to Believe In." That future in higher education does not lie at Burlington College.

Yet, Sanders has been campaigning for months on the basis of giving students access to a free college education and relieving the burden of student loan debt, now estimated at $1.2 trillion nationally.

It was all a fraud--a scam--and his wife, Dr. Jane Sanders, was directly involved in the financial shenanigans. Incredibly, she was given a "golden parachute"worth $200,000 after putting the college in a precarious financial situation. Though he and his wife have a portfolio of stocks and properties worth more than $1 million, on the campaign trail Sanders has said he lives a frugal life and doesn’t care about money or status.

Interestingly, students at Burlington College could get a minor in "Media Studies," including coursework in "media activism and social movements." Perhaps they ought to focus their investigative talents on the wife of the socialist candidate running for the Democratic presidential nomination, a woman whose actions contributed to the destruction of an institution of higher learning.

What did Jane Sanders know and when did she know it? The same questions should also be applied to Senator Sanders.

The Jane Sanders link to the destruction of the college could not be hidden and was even highlighted in a CNN article that carried the headline, "Jane Sanders' former college closes doors citing burden of land deal she orchestrated." But a Sanders campaign spokesman told CNN that the campaign had "no comment at the moment."

Suddenly, the disclosure Sanders has asked for from Hillary Clinton, in regard to her Wall Street speeches, was nowhere to be found in regard to Jane Sanders and the Burlington College debacle.

AIM had cited her involvement with the college in a previous article, "Financial Scandals Follow Socialist Millionaire Sanders."

Back then, we said, "By any standard of fair and objective news reporting, a candidate who promises 'free college' to America's young people should be asked to address the issue of his wife's financial shenanigans almost bankrupting an institution of higher learning."

Now that bankruptcy has become a reality, as the college is closing its campus, perhaps the major liberal media will demand accountability from the Sanders.

The Washington Post headline, "Vermont college that Bernie Sanders's wife once led is closing," did not quite grasp the magnitude of what had happened under Jane Sanders' leadership. But the story did not beat around the bush, noting that Burlington College was closing under "the crushing weight" of debt incurred during her presidency.

A Politico story admitted, "The closure is directly related to a big-ticket purchase that Jane Sanders spearheaded during her tenure." Vanity Fair headlined its story, "Bernie Sanders's wife drove Burlington College into the ground with a costly expansion."

Brady C. Toensing, a partner with the law firm of diGenova & Toensing, has filed a legal complaint with federal authorities requesting an investigation into apparent federal bank fraud committed by Ms. Sanders.

At the news conference announcing the closure, a terse "no comment" was offered by the college in regard to official investigations of the circumstances leading to the closure. "I have no comment" was also offered about the role of Jane Sanders in the debacle.

The left-wing magazine The Nation interviewed Jane Sanders about her work as an “educator," asking what she would do in this field if her husband were elected president. "I see my overall role, if I had the honor, as listening to the voices here in America that are not being heard and putting them out there for people to hear, but also researching and learning some of the best practices everywhere else and bringing them back here and letting them be heard as well," she said. "Kind of a megaphone."

Nothing was said about the Burlington College debacle in the interview, which was conducted by a volunteer in the Bernie Sanders for president campaign.

Let's see if the media "megaphone" holds Mrs. Sanders responsible for depriving students in Vermont of the college education they were promised.

Cliff Kincaid is the Director of the AIM Center for Investigative Journalism, and can be contacted at cliff.kincaid@aim.org


TOPICS: Cuba; Culture/Society; Politics/Elections; US: Vermont
KEYWORDS: burlingtoncollege; janesanders
See what happened when the senator's wife tried to apply "the Sanders Touch" to an actual college.
1 posted on 05/20/2016 7:25:00 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
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To: Academiadotorg

I posted a mention of the story plus a link on MyNorthWest.com and the moderator pulled it; guess he or she is a Bernie fan and doesn’t want anything disparaging posted.


2 posted on 05/20/2016 7:37:23 AM PDT by SkyDancer ("Nobody Said I Was Perfect But Yet Here I Am")
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To: Academiadotorg

I did some research. She was pres from 2004 to 2011. College has about 100 students, $3 million budget. She bought an entire new campus for $10 million in loans. Couldn’t afford it.


3 posted on 05/20/2016 7:41:25 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (President Trump: It's all over but the counting)
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To: Academiadotorg

What was the big ticket item....mention of a land purchase but no details...


4 posted on 05/20/2016 7:43:19 AM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: Academiadotorg
Vermont College “Feels the Bern” and Closes

Are the spoiled little lib "students" going to be able to transfer their credits to somewhere else, or do they just join the Bernie Brigade of losers?

5 posted on 05/20/2016 7:43:21 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (0bama's gift to Michelle [aka Michael] - Men in Women's bathrooms.)
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To: Thank You Rush

I guess post #3 answers my question.


6 posted on 05/20/2016 7:44:00 AM PDT by Thank You Rush
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To: Academiadotorg

Will be interesting to see if Hillary brings this up. They may have had a deal before the campaign: Bernie to Hill: We won’t go into the email issue if you don’t bring up Burlington College.


7 posted on 05/20/2016 7:51:20 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (President Trump: It's all over but the counting)
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To: Rennes Templar

but if they did, have either been known to keep their word?


8 posted on 05/20/2016 7:52:56 AM PDT by Academiadotorg
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To: Thank You Rush

Basically Jane Sanders as the college’s President did a huge throw of the dice in buying real estate they couldn’t afford (and she LIED on the bank loan forms, pretending they had major donors committed which was not the case). She hoped that by announcing a campaign to fund a new campus for the tiny college she would somehow assemble more donors and students to make the expansion affordable. She failed utterly and neither the donors nor the students materialized. Her felonious fantasy drove the college off the financial cliff.

Some info is here:

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/burlington-college-jane-sanders-close-223222


9 posted on 05/20/2016 7:55:02 AM PDT by Enchante (Hillary Clinton: Hamas puts its rockets and ammo in schools and hospitals because Gaza is small)
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To: Academiadotorg
Idiots on parade. Educated nincompoops. Liberal parasites surfing on the wake of hard working blue collar middle class people. There is a difference between information and knowledge. The “smart” people are really the dumb-asses.
10 posted on 05/20/2016 8:10:10 AM PDT by Awgie (Progressives should be called RE-GRESSIVES!)
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To: Enchante
She hoped that by announcing a campaign to fund a new campus for the tiny college she would somehow assemble more donors and students to make the expansion affordable. She failed utterly and neither the donors nor the students materialized. Her felonious fantasy drove the college off the financial cliff.

I guess she never asked the Clinton Foundation for money. They might have been willing to make a donation a few months back, but now? I don't think so.

11 posted on 05/20/2016 8:18:40 AM PDT by Repealthe17thAmendment
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To: Academiadotorg

Rome felt the “Bern” too.


12 posted on 05/20/2016 8:32:19 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
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To: Academiadotorg

Given the degrees offered, depriving the students of that particular “education” might just be the kindest thing Jane could have done.


13 posted on 05/20/2016 8:39:50 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (JFK Wanted To Send Man To Moon - Obama Wants To Send Man To Ladies Room)
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To: Repealthe17thAmendment

ha haaa, the Clintons wish they had funded Bernie Sanders to be the permanent scholar-in-residence at Burlington College.... if only they could have kept him out of the Presidential race.....


14 posted on 05/20/2016 8:49:38 AM PDT by Enchante (Hillary Clinton: Hamas puts its rockets and ammo in schools and hospitals because Gaza is small)
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To: Academiadotorg

There’s little doubt that this woman’s deft socialist touch ruined the college, but the DOJ’s timing seems a bit political, given the success Sanders has been having against the corrupt democrat uber-insiders bill and hillary. Another potential sign that obama is propping up clinton both for a pass on indictments and for the WH.


15 posted on 05/20/2016 9:43:52 AM PDT by DPMD (o)
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To: Enchante

Thank you - it’s appreciated but why I want to know about another stupid liberal is anyone’s guess - liberal or whatever she is. Not too bright anyway! They all make me so angry I can’t even think or type straight..


16 posted on 05/20/2016 9:48:08 AM PDT by Thank You Rush
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