Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, December 14, 1994 TAG: 9412140134
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Gov. George Allen won't unveil his budget until Monday.
"It is his decision" whether to go through with threatened cuts, said Sgro, the state secretary of education. "The budget is complete."
Sgro did, however, agree that restructuring plans by Radford and three other state colleges and universities should be approved. The State Council for Higher Education of Virginia unanimously approved plans for Radford and Norfolk State universities and Longwood and Mary Washington colleges at its monthly meeting Tuesday at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Earlier this fall, Allen told colleges and universities to file restructuring plans by October or face 2 percent, 4 percent or 6 percent cuts to their budgets for next year. Ten schools, including Virginia Tech, met the deadline. Radford, which has since unveiled plans to reduce its per-student costs by $707 in eight years, missed the deadline. But a round-the-clock effort in recent weeks led to the plan that gained approval Tuesday.
Still, the school remains vulnerable to cuts. Observers speculate that it may take separate action by the General Assembly in its upcoming session to restore the funding.
Jim Stutts, a member of Radford's board of visitors, said he was pleased with the council's decision, but could not predict if the school would lose funding. Stutts and his fellow board members froze Radford faculty and administrators' salaries for nearly two weeks after the plan initially was rejected last month.
"I think [the salary freeze] helped in the sense it made clear across the university that this was a priority," he said.
Also Tuesday, the council unanimously approved of the state's newest engineering college. Opening at VCU in two years, the school will be started with $17 million in private funds to open a $20 million building. Virginia Tech's engineering faculty will help develop the curriculum. Tech mechanical engineering Professor Henry McGhee is the dean of the new college.
Telecommunications classes between the two schools may be developed, too. A formal cooperation agreement, signed last spring, assures Tech's assistance for from five to six years.
"I don't think this will cut into Tech's program," state council Director Gordon Davies said after the meeting. "It might open doors in the Richmond area."
VCU's effort to erect the college, pushed along by private industry, signals what some say could be the future of higher education in Virginia, where tax dollars have become increasingly precious. VCU President Eugene Trani said the university won't ask the state for more than $2 million per year in annual operating costs for the college, expected to help draw such industry as biomedical firms to the Richmond area.
"This is the way we're going to do most new programs in the future," Davies said.
by CNB