Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 7, 1995 TAG: 9501090049
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Shane Sobers got a phone call from a friend who'd heard that Radford University's New College of Global Studies had been axed. Sobers sat down at his computer, logged on to the Internet, called up a news service, and, sure enough, found out that his first choice for college had been yanked from the educational landscape.
It was an ironic way to get the news. If the new college had opened for business next fall as planned, Sobers would have spent hours on the worldwide computer link. He would have had to discourse with professors and businesspeople around the world in order to complete his classwork.
But it was not to be. On Wednesday, Radford's board of visitors decided bowed to Gov. George Allen - and, many say, political reality - by deciding not to fight for the college in the upcoming General Assembly session. Gov. George Allen eliminated $2 million in operating funds for the college as part of his plans to cut $400 million in programs to fund a $2 billion tax cut and nine new prisons.
With a $1.6 million cut to basic operations at Radford already hanging in the balance, board members agreed they might win the battle over the New College of Global Studies but lose the war.
"We need that $1.6 million and we need that cooperation from the administration," board member Nancy Wilson said.
Left untouched is $4 million for a new building that was to become the new college. It may become a dormitory to help handle the influx of students that will push Radford's enrollment from 9,000 to 11,000 in the coming decade, as the baby boomlet starts college.
But that won't help Sobers. He and other students who might have been his classmates say the new college - with its emphasis on technology, travel abroad and foreign languages - was different from anything else they'd heard of.
"Basically, the world changes every day and teaching styles haven't changed in hundreds of years. Here's something new and fresh. Interesting," said Sobers, a senior at Potomac High School in Woodbridge.
The B-plus student, who earned 1220 combined on his SAT scores, probably will look now at George Washington University or another school known for international studies, said his father, Jim.
"Where can he go and be as excited?" said Jim Sobers.
The news was taken equally hard in the Richmond-area home of Danny Pedrotty, who, 31st in his class of more than 380, was thinking seriously about going to the new college.
"He was real upset," said Danny's mother, Barbara. "It just seemed perfect."
Danny Pedrotty said he liked "the new way they were going to do it. The global village. The emphasis on technology. ... Fifty students. A close relationship with professors."
The college held the promise of study abroad for students before their junior year, when most international programs allow students to travel, said Katrina Moss, an Alexandria senior who "thought it was a bad joke" when she heard that the college had been axed.
The students interviewed realized that the untested program could have failed, and that the new college name on a rsum wouldn't be recognized like some of the prestigious international schools.
"A couple of my teachers who thought I was going to be leaning toward [University of Virginia] had concerns about it being the first year and not having a reputation," said Danny Pedrotty.
The undefined nature of the program is part of what killed it, said state Secretary of Education Beverly Sgro. Better to learn traditional disciplines, then overlay global studies, she said this week.
Sgro also backed off a previous statement that had outraged regional officials.
"Our opposition with that international studies program had nothing to do with geography. It focused on the lack of academic rigor," said Sgro, who previously had listed Radford's remoteness from international centers as one reason for the college's demise.
State Sen. Malfourd "Bo" Trumbo, R-Fincastle, offered his assessment:
"From what I've been able to gather, I think there was a concern that the global college was looking not only at providing an answer to some of the needs and niches the businesses and students may have, but was trying, perhaps, to get into what some may term politically correct curricula," he said.
"I think the administration recognized the need for additional bricks and mortar, but they were concerned that ... the university, was spending money it could use [for existing programs], and not have such a flowery new type of program," he said.
Radford University says it will salvage parts of the five-year, $2 million investment the state already has made in the college by infusing parts of the global program into the regular curriculum. But some speculate that it may have lost a sterling chance to boost its academic reputation, an effort launched this summer that already has faltered.
After 22-year President Donald Dedmon left amid controversy in June, acting President Charles Owens announced that Radford would impose tougher admissions standards on a student body whose average SAT scores were 900 in 1992. Those plans were dropped when enrollment plunged by 300 this year.
The focus now is on recruitment, and administrators report that freshman applications have jumped 11 percent over this time a year ago.
Of the new college recruits, only Moss said she still would consider attending Radford University. The rest said they just don't think of the school when they think of international studies.
"I'd just heard about so many problems at that school, and I just wasn't interested in it," said Salem High School senior Tim Herby. "But the new College of Global Studies sounded interesting."
by CNB