THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506220042
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
Staff writer Phil Walzer has done it again. This time, unfortunately, it is ``apples and oranges'' as he compares graduation rates at a metropolitan institution - Old Dominion University - to those at the residential institutions William and Mary, U.Va. and Virginia Tech (``Diversity's cost on campus, '' June 6).
Anyone with even a little familiarity with Hampton Roads knows that Old Dominion serves many military personnel who leave the area after several years and that Old Dominion's student body contains many highly mobile employed adults who may take 10 years to graduate. Even then, they are likely to graduate at a different institution.
What Mr. Walzer should have done was to compare Old Dominion's graduation rates with those at Virginia Commonwealth and George Mason universities, which serve similar populations. Or he could have compared Old Dominion's graduation rates to national averages. In either case, he would have found that Old Dominion stacks up quite well.
There is considerably more diversity in higher education today than Mr. Walzer recognizes in his article.
CHARLES E. RIGNEY SR., president
Old Dominion University
Alumni Association
Norfolk, June 12, 1995 by CNB