With the last of town hall meetings on the proposal allowing the top three Virginia universities to gain more autonomy now behind us, Gov. Mark Warner doesn’t seem anymore enthralled with the idea than in the past.
Gov. Mark R. Warner on Thursday again voiced reservations about a proposal to grant “charter status” to three leading Virginia universities. But he vowed to resolve the issue next year.
Warner, echoing earlier words of caution, said the plan should not be considered in isolation. “Rather than look at special status for one, two or three, we’re saying, ‘Let’s look at what the whole state needs,'” he said.
“What the whole state needs” doesn’t sound like, to his credit, he’s ready to jettison the other schools to second class citizen. Still, details are missing.
Warner warned that the plan could raise tuition at the universities, though the three presidents have promised to avoid big increases. The governor also questioned why William and Mary should have more freedom in construction than larger campuses such as James Madison and Old Dominion universities.
The governor said his goals include increasing the number of people attending and graduating from college while maintaining affordability, expanding faculty research and filling shortages in nursing, teaching and engineering.
Filling teacher slots is all about one thing: the lack of pay they get. As for engineers, there seems to be a lot of engineers still looking for work after the tech meltdown in 2000. Few kids are majoring in technology for that reason.
Barnie Day wants to put the charter idea to a vote – in November 2006.
The thing not to do is to let past neglect, past funding cuts, somehow become the rationale for doing something foolish now.
There has been no debate of this proposal. There has been no real scrutiny of it. Two points here – if the “charter” idea is as good as it is being portrayed to be, then it will withstand withering examination; and if it is as good as it is being portrayed to be, there should be no rush, no hurry. If it is all that good, it won’t be weakened by the wait of a year or two.
At minimum, the legislature should hold public hearings in each of the counties of Virginia before they put any more distance between these universities and the people who own them. That might seem like a lot, but a lot is at stake here. What’s given away by charter can never, ever be taken back. In the matter of a charter, what is done by one legislature cannot be undone solely by another.
What would guarantee the debate, the scrutiny this proposal deserves, would be to give this matter some time and then put it to referendum. (2026 would be soon enough for me.) Let the people of Virginia who built and own these universities decide this matter directly.