University alumni committed to enhancing and improving the College have created the new College Foundation Building and Grounds Committee, designed to address the issues of facilities renovation.
The committee, which held its first meeting Friday, is in the middle of its planning stage. Members hope to generate support on and beyond Grounds from potential donors and other people of influence who might help provide solutions to the University's facilities problems, College Assoc. Dean Joseph Grasso said.
The University recruited Grasso specifically to address facilities reparations issues.
Twelve of the College's 22 buildings are in fair or poor condition, according to the University's most recent facilities condition index report. Among the worst are Rouss, Cocke, Fayerweather and New Cabell Hall.
"Improving the College's infrastructure must become an overriding priority of the University and the Commonwealth," College Dean Melvyn P. Leffler said.
"Our buildings and facilities are in terrible shape, and we need to launch a comprehensive effort to build new facilities and renovate the older ones," Leffler said.
A comparison of the funds appropriated for facilities reparations at the University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill further highlights the funding deficiency.
A higher education bond act passed in North Carolina guarantees $3.1 billion within the next five years to every college and university in the UNC system.
The flagship campus at Chapel Hill alone will receive $500 million over the next five years. By comparison, the Commonwealth of Virginia has provided the University with only $108 million in the past 14 years.
Specific comparisons of contributions to the arts and sciences divisions at both universities yield similar results. At UNC, arts and sciences will receive $165 million within five years, but over the past 14 years at the University, $48 million has been appropriated for the College.
Even lower-ranked schools in the UNC system are receiving more aid than the University, Grasso said.
According to Grasso, one of the main problems with Virginia state funding is its sporadic and unpredictable nature.
"It's hard to plan the construction and renovation of buildings over a long time period when funding is so erratic," he said.
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