Marlene Tromp might not be watching the Idaho Statehouse much these days.

But if she is, Vermont is probably looking better all the time.

Tromp, Boise State University’s short-timer president, is leaving Idaho — not necessarily for greener pastures, but certainly for the Green Mountain State. Tromp was hired last week as president at the University of Vermont. She’ll be starting her new job at roughly the same time Boise State starts its new budget year, on July 1.

But the debate over that budget — and a proposed cut targeting Boise State — offers a fitting epilogue to Tromp’s six years at Idaho’s largest four-year university. Tromp is going out where she came in: at the center of controversy over higher education politics.

On Tuesday, a divided Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee voted to cut Boise State’s budget by $2 million (the University of Idaho faces an identical cut). The cuts are not driven by fiscal necessity. Instead, they are ideological, driven by hardliners hell-bent on extracting a pound of flesh from the universities.

“They need to start listening to this body,” said Rep. Josh Tanner, the House’s assistant majority leader, who openly questioned whether $2 million would be enough to satisfy his fellow GOP caucus members. “Hopefully this sends a slight message to them to straighten their act up.”

It’s important to remember that the $2 million number isn’t tied at all to diversity, equity and inclusion budgets at Boise State or the U of I. That’s because, for years, the Legislature had ordered the universities to stop spending state dollars on anything DEI-related. The universities did exactly that, according to reports from the universities and written statements from the State Board of Education. They paid for DEI programs through voluntary student fees or outside donations.

Tanner was unimpressed. “They just skirt us,” the Eagle Republican said.

Tanner mentioned the Boise State opening, but didn’t mention Tromp by name. The same goes for Sen. Codi Galloway, R-Boise. Galloway tried unsuccessfully to talk JFAC off the ledge of budget cuts — partly because of Tromp’s pending departure. “There has been a course change. There has been a correction.”

Yes, that’s how polarizing Tromp is around the Statehouse, and has been since her arrival.

In fairness, Tromp didn’t have much of a chance.

On July 9, 2019, 28 Republican legislators wrote Tromp, urging her to disavow her predecessor, interim President Martin Schimpf, and his public statements hailing Boise State as “a leader on inclusive excellence.” July 9, 2019, was Tromp’s ninth day on the job.

From her turbulent start, Tromp tried to map out common ground with lawmakers. She painted herself as a first-generation college student from rural Green River, Wyo., and a diehard staple at Bronco football and basketball games. All of these things were true.

But lawmakers seemed more troubled by other things about Tromp, all of which were true. Tromp’s previous stops in Santa Cruz, Calif., and Tempe, Ariz., college towns not much like Idaho. Tromp’s steadfast comments about making Boise State a welcoming place for all students, whatever their origins — comments that fed into the growing phobia about all things DEI.

Boise State’s ugly courtroom loss to Big City Coffee is another mark on Tromp’s legacy. Many on Idaho’s political right — including prominent conservative donor Larry Williams — made a cause célèbre of Big City owner Sarah Jo Fendley, who said Boise State pushed her off campus in 2020 because of her embrace of the Thin Blue Line. Tromp defended Boise State administrators in court. An Ada County jury didn’t buy it. Boise State now faces more than $5 million in bills, including $1.6 million in legal fees, as the Idaho Statesman reported Monday.

But Tromp’s record is complicated.

• When archconservative political science professor Scott Yenor labeled career-oriented women as “medicated, meddlesome and quarrelsome,” drawing international ire, Tromp stayed away from the public fray. Privately, she said there was little action Boise State could take against a tenured professor, and said the university “cannot infringe upon the First Amendment rights of any members of our community.”
• Tromp also avoided the public debate last fall, as Boise State’s women’s volleyball team drew national attention when it forfeited three matches with San José State University, which reportedly had a transgender athlete on its roster. Tromp’s role in this process was unclear. But activist groups directly lobbied Tromp, calling for the first of the forfeits — and almost certainly Tromp was in the loop as Athletic Director Jeramiah Dickey made the decision to forfeit.
• Under Tromp’s watch, Boise State proactively closed DEI-aligned student support centers over last November’s Thanksgiving break, weeks before the State Board could order Boise State to do so. Tromp may have fought back tears during the State Board’s Dec. 18 meeting, when the board passed its anti-DEI resolution — but by then, the vote was essentially a moot point.

Ironically enough, all of these things are liable to work against Tromp, as she moves into a completely different political ecosystem.

Vermont’s senior senator is Bernie Sanders. Idaho’s senior senator is Mike Crapo.

In November, Kamala Harris carried Vermont with 63.8% of the vote. Donald Trump won Idaho with 66.9% of the vote.

Democrats control both houses of Vermont’s legislature, although Vermont does have a Republican governor, Phil Scott.

University presidents like Tromp — who holds a doctorate, specializing in Victorian literature — much prefer to see themselves as academicians first. They might also paint themselves as student-centric, and Tromp certainly made that a priority. But presidents of public universities are political figures. And in Idaho, that’s where Tromp struggled to fit in.

A proposed $2 million budget cut wouldn’t break Boise State. It is a one-time reduction, representing less than 1% of Boise State’s $289.8 million budget. But JFAC’s Tuesday morning budget-cutting afforded lawmakers one more chance to express what they want in Boise State’s next president. Someone more like them and less like Tromp.

Tromp might not have been watching. Would-be applicants certainly were.

Kevin Richert writes a weekly analysis on education policy and education politics. Look for his stories each Thursday.