THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 26, 1995 TAG: 9511230013
SECTION: COMMENTARY PAGE: J4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Higher education can be improved in Virginia, according to a newly released legislative commission's report. It calls for more management autonomy for campuses, various common-sense reforms and competitive salaries for faculty and tuitions for students.
The Commission on the Future of Higher Education was chaired by Republican Sen. John Chichester. Among the more important proposals are these:
Tenured faculty should be reviewed periodically to assure they are still performing. That's a trend in higher education, and it's a reasonable idea. Few professors treat tenure as a permanent sabbatical, but those who do need to be weeded out.
Faculty salaries ought to be raised above the national average to keep Virginia competitive in the quest for the best professors. At the same time, tuition should be kept affordable to prevent students with academic promise from being denied an education due to economic distress.
Those steps will cost money. The report suggests some can come from streamlining the system. The commission believes the state now has enough institutions granting doctoral degrees. It opposes adding more and also expresses doubt about the need for further proliferation of campuses and programs.
There's no doubt the commission is right in worrying about wasteful duplication in a state with three public law schools, three medical schools that receive state support and a plethora of community colleges. The commission admits that political clout often influences where campuses are built and how they grow.
The goal must be to address educational needs rationally. New campuses should have to justify themselves on the merits. A moratorium, on the other hand, would rule out even those which are needed and can make a compelling case - the proposed ODU-NSU center, for example.
The report is far from original in bemoaning the emphasis on research, often at the expense of teaching. In some fields, research is undeniably important. In others, it should be a secondary consideration. Teaching skill should get more respect, but an entrenched academic culture evaluates faculty on the basis of publication and rewards research with grants. There is no way to legislate change. But institutions can reward teaching excellence.
The proposed change that would most affect day-to-day campus operations is the report's call for greater freedom from central authority for state colleges and universities. Institutions would control their own accounting, purchasing, building operations and employee management. The state would be confined to modest auditing and oversight roles. Such decentralization has already begun and should proceed. Power to manage colleges and universities is better vested in campus administrators than in distant government bureaucrats.
The recommendations of the commission go to the General Assembly in January. Most of them deserve respectful consideration. by CNB