Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 11, 1993 TAG: 9304110071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By HERBERT LOWE LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: CHESTERFIELD LENGTH: Medium
VSU STUDENT LEADER SAYS WILDER JUST FLEXING MUSCLE
Gov. Douglas Wilder isn't fooling Dawn Hilton into thinking that his only priority is what's best for her school.She believes Wilder forced all 11 members of the Virginia State University board of visitors to resign so he could ensure support for one of his allies - the school's incoming president.
"I think it was a very political move," said Hilton, a senior political science major and president of the school's NAACP chapter.
Make no mistake, Hilton and about a dozen others interviewed Friday want the board replaced. Many of VSU's 4,000 students are still upset that the board recently hired State Treasurer Eddie N. Moore Jr. to be president instead of a candidate that a student committee preferred.
Demanding more input in matters that affect their education and the school's future, Hilton said the governor's move "does give us a chance to have some say in who is selected for the board - and that is good."
VSU, next to Petersburg, is the nation's oldest publicly supported black college. It has had financial problems for years and repeatedly turned to the General Assembly for cash bailouts. Moore's selection as president is widely seen as Wilder's quest to put the school's finances in order.
But some students, who along with faculty wanted someone with stronger academic credentials, said Friday that they wonder whether Wilder is more concerned with flexing his political muscle than listening to their needs.
Why, they asked, didn't Wilder respond when students phoned his office March 5 to ask him to call off state police who the students claimed tried to intimidate about 200 protesters? About 200 students held a five-hour rally that day because the board broke a promise to meet with them before the new president was announced.
Despite all the upheaval, the students who were interviewed demonstrated fierce pride in their school. No one talked of bailing out and enrolling elsewhere next fall.
They acknowledged that many people consider VSU the worst college in the state, not, as they do, a college with excellent professors and students who value learning more than partying.
But they admit that VSU needs fixing, which is why they have grudgingly accepted Moore and promise to give him a chance.
"I love this school too much. I really hope he does what he says he's going to do," said junior Brian Taylor, 21, president of the student government association. "I really do."