ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, September 27, 1996 TAG: 9609270055
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
Virginia Tech has raised more than $200 million of its $250 million capital campaign with a year to go, university President Paul Torgersen said Thursday.
The campaign was announced a year ago, with more than $150 million already raised in low-key contributions from major donors. It will fund everything from endowed scholarships and professorships, to aiding the university's libraries.
Torgersen gave a "state of the university" speech to the university community Thursday covering a wide range of topics.
Tech's fall enrollment of 24,812 "is ahead of where we wanted to be," Torgersen said. "For the first time, we rejected more than 4,000 freshmen and that is a record."
But it is necessary to upgrade the quality of students, he said, noting that Tech's finance office was first in the state to get its financial packages out. Admissions representatives visited 1,000 high schools, 400 college fairs and worked in other ways to increase student applicants, becoming more successful than anticipated.
"You read of these crowding problems in town because of this success," Torgersen said. "But I think they all found homes." He said some freshmen previously were put temporarily in study lounges and the staff decided it was better to start them with permanent dorm housing which caused dorm crowding on campus.
He said Tech must continue as an innovative leader in projects like the Blacksburg Electronic Village and Hotel Roanoke.
He said Tech's athletics program has been successful, despite recent publicity from former student Christy Brzonkala suing under the Violence Against Women Act claiming she was raped two years ago by football players Tony Morrison and James Crawford in a dormitory room. That suit will be appealed to the Supreme Court but at least Tech has been dropped as a defendant, he said.
"If I had my way, I'd rather have the trial right away," he said. "I'd like the thing to be settled." He said Tech had resisted a settlement earlier because officials thought it would be an admission of guilt on the university's part.
Torgersen was asked about evaluation of university presidents generally, in light of news that Radford University's Board of Visitors has directed a consultant to evaluate President Douglas Covington's performance after only 15 months in office.
An outside consultant does seem unusual, Torgersen said, and he declined when asked to speak with the consultant because he did not think one university president should be involved in evaluating another. He said he regularly meets with his board each August, after mailing its members a report of his year's activities and goals, and usually spends two hours with it. "And candidly, I'm delighted. I mean, all of us should be reviewed."
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Torgersen.by CNB