THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, October 11, 1994 TAG: 9410110302
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
The president of the College of William and Mary, speaking at a luncheon at Old Dominion University, blasted the state Monday for charting ``a drastically new and dangerous direction'' by slicing funding for colleges.
``This shift in policy has occurred not as a result of rational debate, but rather as a string of piecemeal reductions unaccompanied by discussion,'' President Timothy J. Sullivan said.
``Nobody ever said: `Let's back out of support for higher education and go in a different direction.' Nobody ever explained how these reductions damaged the hopes of generations to come.''
Since 1990, Virginia has cut aid to state-supported colleges by more than 20 percent. And Virginia has sunk from 22nd to 43rd in the nation in terms of funding per student, Sullivan said.
Sullivan was the guest speaker at ODU's annual Founders Day ceremony. He began by recounting the shared history of William and Mary and ODU.
Old Dominion was founded in 1930 as the two-year Norfolk Division of the College of William and Mary. ODU was spun off as an independent institution in 1962.
But Sullivan focused on the financial squeeze facing Virginia universities.
He praised Gov. George F. Allen for his ``sustained support for higher education.'' Allen said last month that universities would be exempt from budget cuts next year if they submit suitable restructuring plans to the state. ``But,'' Sullivan added, ``there is so much ground to be made up.''
He said the recent push for ``accountability'' and ``efficiency'' in higher education is really nothing new in Virginia: ``Virginia state government has never lavished support on a public program. . . . Virginia is a fiscally restrained society, and it has been so from Jamestown to this very day.''
The state's universities, he concluded, are ``a profound and valuable resource, a resource we must work to preserve for our own sake and for the sake of generations to come.''
At the luncheon, 11 alumni and community leaders received awards. Norfolk lawyer Peter G. Decker - who attended both ODU, when it was the two-year division, and William and Mary - received ODU's highest honor, the University Medal, for his fund-raising efforts. ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by PAUL AIKEN
David F. Harnage, acting vice president of administration and
finance at Old Dominion University, unveils the stone marker for
Monarch Gardens in a dedication ceremony Monday on the campus.
KEYWORDS: COLLEGE OF WILLIAM AND MARY BUDGET CUTS
by CNB