THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, September 28, 1994 TAG: 9409280450
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
Old Dominion University is relying too much on a top-down approach. Norfolk State is trying too hard to cure the world. Christopher Newport spent too much time planning to plan.
With a fine-tooth comb, state officials Tuesday dissected the restructuring plans of more than 15 Virginia colleges, finding flaws in nearly every one.
But Gordon K. Davies, director of the State Council of Higher Education, praised the reports overall: ``I am very encouraged by the responses (from the schools). Some of them are, indeed, very, very good.''
The plans, submitted earlier this month, have taken on added importance with Gov. George F. Allen's announcement Monday that colleges would be exempt from budget cuts next school year if their restructuring reports win state approval.
Though some ``missed the mark,'' State Education Secretary Beverly Sgro said she doubted any of the schools would end up being penalized because they still have time to revise the plans.
The State Council of Higher Education, together with Sgro, will offer its final verdict on the revisions to the plans at its November meeting.
For more than 90 minutes, members of the state council, meeting at the Oceanfront, ticked off their assessments of each school's report.
Among local schools, Norfolk State and Christopher Newport Universities drew the most criticism, though both their plans were deemed ``acceptable.''
Norfolk State focused too much on its ``aspirations'' and didn't offer enough details on its streamlining efforts, council member Val S. McWhorter said.
He lauded outreach programs such as a planned urban institute, but said: ``We felt there were too many of them, that they were taking on too much. With limited resources, you're better off to tackle a few of those programs and do them well.''
NSU President Harrison B. Wilson said in an interview: ``We're going to work on it to get it close to what they're asking for.'' But he added: ``We told them about what we've already done in restructuring, and if they look at what we did, we were just ahead of the curve in terms of downsizing.''
Newport's report, McWhorter said, lacked details on what the school was doing now to economize.
Old Dominion's plan got more compliments. ``ODU, it seems to me, has been at this for a while,'' council member George G. Phillips Jr. said. ``They've been doing a lot.'' But Phillips said there needed to be ``a broader-based involvement of the faculty. A lot of this seems to be directed from on high.'' President James V. Koch declined to respond to the comments.
William and Mary's plan, McWhorter said, was ``sound'' and ``well-written.'' But he said it ought to offer more incentives for professors to ``enhance teaching and productivity.''
The schools that won the most praise were George Mason University, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. U.Va. and Tech, ironically, had been among the universities that in the early 1990s had most ardently resisted the state council's push for them to cut costs.
U.Va. won points for shifting professors from graduate to undergraduate courses and for allowing nearby Piedmont Virginia Community College to use empty rooms on campus.
The State Council of Higher Education on Tuesday also:
Endorsed a state contract with Mary Baldwin College, a private women's school, to run the Virginia Women's Institute for Leadership for women who want military training but can't enter the all-male Virginia Military Institute.
Under the contract, associate council director Donald J. Finley said, the state will pay Mary Baldwin about $7,300 for every student in the program, up to 50 students. And a portion of the $2 million state appropriation to VMI for ``unique military'' expenses will be diverted to Baldwin.
U.S. District Judge Jackson Kiser ruled earlier this year that the Baldwin plan is a legal alternative to coeducation at VMI. But the U.S. Justice Department filed an appeal; the case will be heard starting today in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond.
Endorsed a request to ask Allen to restore $15 million that already has been cut in state funding for higher education next year. The request will seek an additional $14 million for faculty raises of 4 percent to 6 percent.
KEYWORDS: STATE COUNCIL OF HIGHER EDUCATION EDUCATION RESTRUCTURING by CNB