THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 21, 1996 TAG: 9610210039
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 87 lines
In a speech at Virginia Wesleyan College last month, Gordon K. Davies, the director of the State Council of Higher Education, compared the perils of his professional career to those of his rock-climbing hobby.
``Sometimes,'' Davies said, ``I feel safer on rocks than I do in this job.''
The comment reflects a concern among supporters of Davies that the true goal of the newly appointed council members - and of the man who appointed them, Gov. George F. Allen - may be to drive Davies out of the job he's had for nearly two decades.
``There are those who have been suspicious of that,'' state Sen. John H. Chichester of Fredericksburg, a Republican supporter of Davies', said last week. ``But I have not seen it manifest itself in any quarter.''
John D. Padgett, the Norfolk lawyer who is the new vice chairman of the council, vigorously denies that anyone is out to get Davies. ``I don't think anybody has expressed to me any immediate desire to push him aside,'' he said.
Allen's press secretary, Ken Stroupe, said, ``I had heard that (rumor), and it's just not true. . . . I think (Davies) has served the council well, and I expect that he will continue in that capacity.''
Davies could not be reached last week.
Davies has carved a national reputation among college educators, so why would Allen want him out? For one thing, he has been a thorn in the side of several governors, not always toeing the administration line. In the past, for instance, Davies has spoken against budget cuts with an independence unusual for state agency heads.
That may be because, under law, Davies may be hired or fired not by the governor, but by the members of the council. The idea is to keep higher education out of partisan politics and to ensure consistency in college policies.
Davies has also been a close ally of Democratic legislators, including former Senate Finance chief Hunter B. Andrews, who was one of Allen's chief nemeses before Andrews lost his re-election bid last year.
The speculation also has been fueled by Allen's previous attempts to whittle down the council. Last year, he proposed a 50 percent cut in the agency's budget. The legislature rejected it. Allen also wanted to transfer many of the council's duties to the state secretary of education and to transfer the power to hire or fire Davies to the governor. That also was turned down.
Davies has been the leader of the agency since 1977. ``Republican and Democratic governors over the years have relied upon Gordon Davies' steady and stable leadership,'' former Gov. Gerald L. Baliles said. ``He's respected all over the country. To lose his services would be a tragic mistake.''
At a meeting in Norfolk last week, Mark Musick, the president of the Southern Regional Education Board in Atlanta, added his praise: ``Virginia is watched throughout the country for what Gordon Davies and the State Council of Higher Education have done'' - such as the push for ``restructuring'' colleges to increase efficiency.
Padgett said he, too, supports Davies. ``I have no desire to get rid of Gordon,'' he said. ``It would be very bad for the council; it would be very bad for higher education. . . . I think he's doing a good job.''
But Padgett added, ``I do have concern with everyone worrying more about Gordon and not focusing on what we're doing'' positively.
Davies' allies don't expect that council members will ever vote to fire him. But they worry that the members might make life so difficult for him that he'll step down.
At the council's meeting in August, Davies appeared to be caught off-guard by a report from the state Department of Planning and Budget critical of the agency's enrollment estimates. The report had been commissioned by the members of the council.
Some of the new council members have complained that they don't get information from Davies' staff early enough to review it. But Davies said he was not shown a copy of the budget department's enrollment report before the meeting.
Padgett said it was not meant to embarrass Davies or the agency. Davies, he said, had been shown the preliminary figures, and budget department officials worked closely with the state council's deputy director, J. Michael Mullen, as they drafted the report.
Padgett is also annoyed that anyone would think that he and the other council members are puppets taking marching orders from Allen. ``The governor doesn't call me and, from what I know, he doesn't call Elizabeth,'' Padgett said, referring to Elizabeth A. McClanahan, the new chairwoman of the agency.
The last time he spoke with Allen, Padgett said, was at a campaign stop for Norfolk Del. Thelma Drake a year ago, and their discussion didn't go beyond pleasantries.
That's as it should be, Baliles said. ``It seems to me that the obligations of membership, whether on a college board of visitors or as a member of the State Council of Higher Education, require commitment to higher education rather than to the appointing authority.''
KEYWORDS: HIGHER EDUCATION by CNB