University of Vermont president Tom Sullivan and other top administrators resisted calls to expel the student who took down a Black Lives Matter flag — one of several demands made by students pressing the administration to address diversity issues.

"The student involved in the Black Lives Matter Flag theft was afforded a due process procedure and was sanctioned," the administrators said in a written response Friday to demands from the students. "The student cannot under law be charged or sanctioned again for the same incident that has been adjudicated."

Nor does Sullivan believe that the name of the late professor George Perkins should be removed from a building on campus — another of the students' demands.

Although George Perkins was the father of Henry Perkins, the UVM biology professor who directed the Vermont Eugenics Survey from 1925-1936, there is no evidence that the senior Perkins was involved in the eugenics program, Sullivan wrote.

The movement is "recognized now as dehumanizing, painful, and discriminatory," but "it would not be appropriate to remove Dean George Perkins’ name from Perkins Hall due to the actions of his son, Henry," the statement reads.

To strip his name from the building would be a mistake and could represent "guilt by association" and a return to the "regressive era of Senator Joseph McCarthy," according to Sullivan.

The president emailed the statement to the entire UVM community. It responded point by point to demands made by a group of students who marched to Sullivan's office in the Waterman building Monday and called for progress on a host of issues.

Sullivan met with some of the students Wednesday. The statement Friday morning was written by Sullivan and three other top administrators.

Last spring UVM student newspaper the Vermont Cynic broke the news that J.T. Reichhelm, an undergraduate at the school, had been quietly disciplined for taking down a Black Lives Matter flag flying next to the Davis Center. The incident last September upset many in the campus community. UVM authorities quickly learned who had taken the flag down but did not disclose who was responsible.

After the Cynic article, UVM leaders acknowledged that a student had been disciplined through the campus process, and that no criminal charges were pursued.

This week students said they considered the removal of the flag to be a hate crime.

"The University of Vermont once again showed students of color that our wellbeing means nothing and that we do not matter," their written demands state.

Sullivan's response seems to question the characterization of the incident as a hate crime.

"Hate Crimes are specifically defined by Vermont state law, determined by the State’s Attorney, and adjudicated through the court system," it reads. "It is important to note that under Vermont law hate crime is based upon a person’s intent/motivation and not on the impact of the crime. However, we are in full agreement that certain incidents have an injurious impact on members of our community, even if they do not meet the legal definition of a hate crime."

The statement also addressed many other demands, from increasing students and faculty of color to improving diversity education.

Harmony Edosomwan, one of the leaders of the student protest and the president of the UVM Black Student Union, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday. The union Facebook page said a student forum on race issues would take place at 2 p.m. Saturday in the Livak Ballrooom at the Davis Center.

Read the students' demands and the response below:

A Georgia Elementary & Middle School substitute teacher was fired Thursday after demonstrating the Nazi salute for a group of third grade students, according to a district official.

Franklin West Supervisory Union Superintendent Ned Kirsch wrote to parents Thursday night that the incident involved a "long-term substitute" interacting with students who were walking to the cafeteria.

"The children were standing with their arm out in front of them and the teacher was modeling the position," Kirsch wrote. "She then raised her arm slightly and said, 'And now we say, Heil Hitler.'"

"I'm at a loss on the whole thing," Kirsch told Seven Days on Friday. "People are shocked. People I've spoken to are at a loss for words." He declined to identify the teacher.

The teacher admitted she uttered the words and made the gesture, Kirsch wrote. She was "immediately relieved," Kirsch wrote, and will not return to the school of about 650 students.

She was subbing for a teacher on maternity leave who was scheduled to return on Monday, Kirsch said in an interview. The teacher had taught as a substitute at the school regularly for years and had not been the subject of any complaints, Kirsch said.

"It's not a pattern; [I] never had a report about her, nothing," Kirsch said. "No one can quite understand what happened."

The school's principal and a guidance counselor were scheduled to visit the class Friday morning, Kirsch wrote to parents.

"We are dedicated to ensuring a safe learning environment for our students and families," Kirsch wrote. "This incident was completely unacceptable and I apologize."

A new commission charged with studying whether Vermont teachers should move to a statewide health insurance contract is taking shape.

Gov. Phil Scott on Wednesday appointed David Provost, executive vice president for finance and administration at Middlebury College, to chair the panel. Provost, a former senior vice president at Champlain College, serves as chair of the Burlington Telecom Advisory Board.

House Speaker Mitzi Johnson (D-South Hero) last week chose Barbara Griffin, a teacher at the Rivendell Interstate School District and a former Vershire school board member, as her appointee to the commission.

Senate President Pro Tempore Tim Ashe (D/P-Chittenden) has appointed former state representative George Cross, a Democrat from Winooski and a former school superintendent.