Burlington College Records

In 1972, Steward LaCasce, formerly an assistant professor of English at Boston University, moved to Burlington to found an unconventional "college without walls." Because of a quirk in Vermont’s certification law, he could not use "College" in its title, so he called it “Vermont Institute of Community Involvement," or "VICI." He and others liked the acronym, from Julius Caesar's famous quotation, "Veni, vedi, vici": "I came, I saw, I conquered." The concept of conquering obstacles was appealing, not only for those helping to start the new college, but also for the students they hoped to serve. A few years later, after growing tired of always having to explain what VICI was, people at the fledging institution changed its name to the self-evident Burlington College.

Although VICI operated at first "without walls" by using donated space throughout the community, it did have an office in the President’s apartment on Dorset Street in South Burlington. After two years, it had grown enough to afford a small suite of offices on Main Street in Burlington across from Courthouse Plaza. Then it moved to a larger set of offices on the corner of Main and Pine Streets. In 1982, it purchased its own building, formerly Colodny's Market, on North Avenue and North Street.

Enrollment grew from fourteen students when the college opened to around two hundred in 1984. In the beginning, LaCasce and a friend who worked part-time were the only regular employees. Faculty were hired on an adjunct basis and paid only for the number of students enrolled in their classes. This direct relationship between tuition income and the expenditure for instruction combined with low administrative overhead and no cost for campus or classroom made it financially possible for the college to establish a foothold without private or public funding. Perhaps the most difficult obstacle the college had to conquer in its early years, aside from staying open, was achieving recognition for its academic programs. This entailed certification by the Vermont State Board of Education to operate and grant degrees, and regional accreditation from the New England Association of Schools and Colleges. Because of the unconventional nature of the institution, this recognition came only after a ten-year struggle and the timely intervention of a few open-minded individuals.

From the outset, a cornerstone of the college's academic program was written evaluation of all learning activities. This helped students break the master/servant relationship that grades tend to foster, and free them to become independent lifelong learners. Also, the college emphasized community involvement to encourage students to use their learning to serve others, and thereby become enriched by that experience. LaCasce saw this concept as a secular version of the one that is deeply rooted in Western, Judeo-Christian culture. [Presumably wrote by Steward LaCasce, circa 1995]

Burlington College graduated their final class and was closed in 2016 due to financial pressures.