DATE: Saturday, September 27, 1997          TAG: 9709270422

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:  106 lines

VIRGINIA WESLEYAN HIRES ``SUPERSTAR'' GORDON DAVIES WILL TAKE CHARGE OF PROGRAM ON RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

Virginia Wesleyan announced Friday that Gordon K. Davies, the recently ousted director of the State Council of Higher Education, will direct the college's Center for the Study of Religious Freedom.

School officials hope Davies' arrival will help the Methodist-affiliated college carve out a national reputation and reverse its sagging enrollment.

Wesleyan President William T. ``Billy'' Greer Jr. called Davies a ``superstar'' who ``is going to put us on the map in a different way. He will give us the visibility we wouldn't otherwise get. This school deserves that kind of attention.'' With that higher profile, he said, may come more students.

Davies was director of the higher-education agency for 20 years, overseeing the state's four-year and community colleges. He amassed a strong reputation in Virginia, and nationally, as an independent voice and innovator, coaxing colleges to embrace technology and reduce teaching loads, while prodding politicians to increase state funding.

But in April, a majority of the agency's board members, who were appointed by Gov. George F. Allen, voted to dismiss Davies, citing a problem with ``chemistry.''

Davies, 59, is probably the most prominent hire in Virginia Wesleyan's 31-year history.

Administrators and professors, who greeted Davies with an enthusiastic burst of applause, are counting on him to bring focus to the 1-year-old religious center, which seeks to promote religious tolerance and understanding.

Dora H. Dobrin, a professor of health and human services who serves on the center's faculty steering committee, was upbeat about the announcement. ``I think he's brilliant,'' she said of Davies. ``He also has lots of contacts and lots of savvy, and he certainly walks through a lot of worlds.''

Last school year, the center offered a course and a series of lectures on subjects ranging from the religious rights of prisoners to Chinese repression of Tibetan Buddhists. Down the road, Greer has said, he envisions a mini-think tank that will attract visiting researchers and transfer students.

Davies said Friday that he will talk with faculty members before charting a vision for the center, but that he expects activities to reach out to the community.

``It is beyond question that there is in this country today a rising tide of intolerance,'' Davies said in a speech at the Boyd Dining Center. ``It is my hope that a center of this sort will provide some antidote to that phenomenon - a modest antidote, to be sure, as we begin, but who knows?''

Davies, who received his doctorate in the philosophy of religion at Yale University, said he plans to teach at Wesleyan, too. This school year, he is a visiting education professor at Columbia University's Teachers College.

Davies said he will visit Wesleyan on Fridays during this school year and will start working full time as director next fall.

As director of the state council, Davies helped oversee policy - and craft budget recommendations - for more than three dozen four-year and two-year colleges with nearly 300,000 students. The schools receive about $860 million a year from the state.

In contrast, at Wesleyan, Davies will oversee a center with a $25,000 annual budget and, as yet, no full-time staff or faculty members. Wesleyan has 1,334 students, down 15 percent from 1995.

But, Davies said in an interview, he is more concerned with the power of the idea than with empire-building.

``It seemed to me to be worthwhile to try another approach on how to deal with the issue of intolerance in our society,'' said Davies, who was the keynote speaker when Wesleyan announced the center's formation a year ago.

Besides, he said, it was the most interesting offer he'd received in the past six months.

``I didn't want to be a president of a university,'' Davies said. ``I didn't want to run another (state higher-education) system. . . . I'm not very interested anymore in the notion of career-building.''

At Wesleyan, Davies said, he hopes to continue to be a voice for education policy in the state and the nation, through lectures, writings and conferences.

His outspokenness has irritated not just state council members, but also governors, including Allen. ``There is this wonderful quality he has of being a gadfly,'' said Larry Hultgren, a professor of philosophy at Wesleyan. ``He is somebody who listens, but he is also somebody who prods and pokes.''

Greer said that doesn't bother him. ``I like those qualities,'' he said. ``I like to work with people who know what they want to do and are bold enough to get there.''

Even bold enough to contradict the president.

At the ceremony, Greer said he and Davies sealed the deal over barbecue sandwiches in Williamsburg. Davies interjected, ``That's not the way it happened; I don't eat red meat.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo

Dr. Gordon K. Davies

Graphic

Gordon K. Davies' qualifications

Davies was director of the State Council of Higher Education for

20 years. He has urged colleges to embrace technology and

politicians to increase funds.

Dismissal from education agency

In April, a majority of the State Council for Higher Education

board members voted to dismiss Davies, citing a problem with

``chemistry.''

Agenda for religious center Probably the most prominent hire for

Virginia Wesleyan, Davies plans to bring focus to the Center for the