THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310529
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 109 lines
Hoping to capitalize on a newfound sympathy for higher education, Virginia college presidents pressed their case Tuesday for $340 million more in state funding for universities.
``Today, we stand united - with the business community - in our appeal that you put Virginia where it belongs: first in higher education,'' Timothy J. Sullivan, the president of the College of William and Mary, told members of the Senate Finance Committee.
``Six years of underinvestment have left us with a critical choice: We must reverse this erosion of academic strength or consign our students to a path that leads to mediocrity. . . ''
Gov. George F. Allen has proposed increasing the operating budget for colleges by $105 million over the next two years. But the presidents are seeking an added $340 million to make up for deep budget cuts during the early 1990s. Together, the $445 million increase would lift Virginia to the Southern average for per-student funding.
In a carefully choreographed presentation, six other presidents spoke, each homing in on a particular budget item. Harrison B. Wilson, president of Norfolk State University, argued for $99 million more for technology. John T. Casteen III, president of the University of Virginia, made the case for an extra $86 million for faculty salaries.
Casteen said U.Va.'s business school last year lost a promising young candidate, who went to Duke University for $30,000 more. ``We think it's time to regain the state's competitive position,'' Casteen said. ``Obviously, for us, faculty are our chief resource. They determine the quality of our teaching.''
Members of the Finance Committee's education subcommittee offered sympathetic responses and virtually no hostile questions.
``We know increased . . . support for higher education is the top priority; I think everyone agrees with that,'' Sen. Stanley C. Walker, D-Norfolk, co-chairman of the Finance Committee, told the presidents. ``. . . It's like a charge, unlike anything I've had put before me since I began serving.''
Yet legislators say it's unlikely that they can fully fund the colleges' request. ``At this point, I'm not sure that goal is achievable,'' Sen. John H. Chichester, R-Fredericksburg, the other chairman of the Finance Committee, said after the hearing.
The dilemma facing legislators is where to find the money. They will have to decide within two weeks, when the finance panel must vote on a budget, Chichester said.
Privately, some college leaders have said an increase of $100 million or $200 million would be a good start. ``There may be a multi-year solution to our budget problems, just as there was a multi-year series of events that led us to where we are now,'' said Eugene P. Trani, president of Virginia Commonwealth University.
The warm reception the presidents received Tuesday stands in sharp contrast to their fate in the early 1990s, when former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder and legislators berated faculty members for not teaching enough and colleges for excessive spending and unnecessary academic programs.
Now, both parties want to bump up Allen's allocation for colleges, and hardly anyone is attacking the schools. What has happened?
Observers say the legislators - and the public - have gotten the message that after years of budget cuts, the state's well-respected college system teeters on the brink of decline. And they credit Til Hazel, a Northern Virginia businessman, for driving it home.
Hazel, chairman of the Virginia Business Higher Education Council, a coalition of business leaders who want to increase spending for colleges, has pounded away at the numbers: Virginia ranks 43rd in the nation in spending per college student. Second highest, behind Vermont, in tuition costs at non-doctoral universities. The bottom third of the country in faculty salaries.
``People are recognizing that something has to be done,'' said Paul S. Trible, president of Christopher Newport University, who also attended the hearing. ``We are now doing less than states in the Deep South with whom we have never compared ourselves and who have never been known for their progressive policies in education.''
Hazel, who was the first speaker Tuesday, won lavish praise from the senators for his efforts. Robert Holsworth, director of the Center for Public Policy at VCU, said Hazel has been so persuasive because he is a Republican and his message has gone beyond education to focus on the state's economic health.
``They (the business council) have reinforced the message that college education is even more important today than it was 20, 30 years ago,'' Holsworth said. ``It's important not just for individuals, but also for states that want to be successful.''
Holsworth also noted that the colleges' restructuring efforts - such as trimming administrative expenses and increasing teaching loads - have won over some critics. ``I think there is still probably some sentiment out there,'' he said. ``But I think people are distinguishing aspects of universities that they don't support and the idea of supporting university education in general.''
Also helping the cause, Trible said, is the fact that the presidents are speaking in one voice. They have all backed the $340 million amendment, which spells out exactly how much each school would get.
``In the old days,'' Trible said, ``every president would be up there, kicking and banging on doors, trying to advance their own school. Now we stand united in speaking up for the interest of the commonwealth.''
Joking about the presidents' decision to join forces, Sen. Warren E. Barry, R-Fairfax, said at the start of the meeting: ``I've never seen anything more frightening.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Harrison B. Wilson, president of Norfolk State University, argued
Tuesday in Richmond before members of the Senate Finance Committee
for an extra $99 million in state funds for campus-based
technology.
by CNB