Some prominent proponents of higher education, including former University Rector Hovey S. Dabney, are suggesting that Virginia collegiate Boards of Visitors members could ensure quality education more effectively if members were not appointed solely by the governor.
In an opinion article printed yesterday in The Washington Post, Dabney and three other authors warned that appointed board members should not follow governor's orders with "slavish obedience," but should be guided by the will of the Virginia constituency. They said appointees often bring "a very partisan and narrow point of view" leading to "disrupted" meetings marred by "strident name-calling."
Dabney's co-authors were Lawrence Eagleburger, former U.S. secretary of state and member of the board at William & Mary, Frank Batten, former vice chairman of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, and George W. Johnson, former president of George Mason University.
The group wrote that politically charged boards could be avoided by forming a nomination committee consisting of former board rectors. The committee would narrow the field of applicants down to three candidates from which the governor would make the final choice.
The article was responding to a statement that Virginia boards are "foot soldiers of the governor." The statement reportedly was made by Virginia Secretary of Education Wilbert Bryant following an address to the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education last month and was printed in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Sept. 9.
Bryant later wrote a letter to the Times-Dispatch, stating he had never made that statement and that the "foot soldier" phrase was the invention of the reporter.
In his speech before the Commission, Bryant said the priorities of college presidents "may not always be the priorities of the governor."
He urged board members to ask college presidents, "how does this policy meet the governor's goal of making institutions more accountable to the taxpayers of Virginia?"
David Adams, special assistant to the secretary of education, said Bryant's speech to the Commission conveyed that the "BOVs are accountable to the people of Virginia, to the students and the parents, and to the alumni who all give their hard-earned money to support these institutions."
But Dabney said when the governor is making board appointments he "will repay in some cases people who have done things for him."
He said "in that group [of board members] there are probably a lot of good people." He then added that the governor does not necessarily address the needs of each school when he makes board appointments.
"The governor wouldn't know if U.Va. needed someone that was an accountant, or a businessman, or a lawyer," Dabney said. "It would be helpful if he knew the deficiencies of the schools."
But Larry J. Sabato, a member of the Governor's Blue Ribbon Commission and government and foreign affairs professor, said the proposed system never would be enacted.
"It is a fascinating idea, but politically it is a non-starter," Sabato said. "No governor of either party will ever give up the right to fill these most coveted of all appointments."
Dabney agreed that the proposed nomination process is unlikely to become a reality.
During the appointment process, the governor's office spends a tremendous amount of time reviewing recommendation letters and the governor spends a lot of time interviewing qualified candidates, said John P. Ackerly III, Gilmore appointee and University rector.
The University Alumni Association also recommends candidates every year based on its own thorough review system, Ackerly said.
"I don't think any additional committee would be particularly helpful," he said. "The governor is a double 'Hoo and his wife is a double 'Hoo. He is committed to doing what's best for the University."
He added that the governor's office does not coerce the University's Board to make certain decisions.
"The governor has never once contacted me about any issue," Ackerly said. "No one at his office has ever called me in an effort to obtain a certain result"
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