Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990                   TAG: 9003152555
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A10   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CASTEEN TO TAKE UVA INTO THE FUTURE

He holds three degrees from the university. He has been dean of admissions there. Former Gov. Chuck Robb made Casteen his first Cabinet appointee as secretary of education. He was president of the University of Connecticut and chairman of the College Board, the national organization responsible for the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

His experience within the state educational system and outside it should serve him well. At Connecticut, he stressed the importance of undergraduates, who are often forgotten or ignored in discussions of higher education. He even taught an introductory literature course. Casteen has long been a supporter of rigorous academic standards and the development of strong writing skills in students.

Those level-headed intellectual goals are combined with proven administrative skills. Casteen will need them as Charlottesville's "academical village" faces challenging problems:

How high can tuition costs rise? The university is indeed a "prestige" public institution, and prestige never comes cheap. But where is the limit? The next capital campaign is an ambitious plan that hopes to double the school's current $300 million endowment.

How much can UVa grow? Various figures for increased enrollment have been mentioned. Casteen's predecessor, Robert M. O'Neil, upset people when he said that the student body could grow 20 percent. A board of visitors committee has suggested 13 percent growth to 19,000, and the faculty senate has proposed a much smaller increase of between 500 and 1000 stu-dents. A degree of growth is inevitable; by the year 2005 there may be as much as a 36 percent increase in the number of high-school graduates in the state. If so, that would be about 24,000 more students who will be looking for a college education.

Assuming the pressure will be that great, can the university afford to continue to have such a high percentage (35 percent) of out-of-state undergraduates? Northern Virginia is already saying that its students are underrepresented at UVa. As that area grows in population and political muscle, its demands will increase.

Does the proposed Woodrow Wilson College, a cooperative extension of UVa and Virginia Tech in Northern Virginia, have a future? Officials of George Mason University are already lobbing verbal grenades at the idea, and the General Assembly has not shown any enthusiasm, either.

The president alone cannot answer those questions. The governor and the legislature will have a lot to say about them. But Casteen knows what UVa is, and he knows what it has been. Just as importantly, he understands state government. He should be able to argue persuasively for the right balance of change and preservation that has always been at the heart of Mr. Jefferson's university.