Gov. Mark R. Warner visited the University yesterday to speak on issues currently affecting Virginia, including his vision for higher education.
Warner addressed an audience of about 500 people in Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato's Introduction to American Government class.
Despite unprecedented levels of security for a University visit, Warner succeeded in connecting with the audience, Sabato said.
The University stationed police at the entrances of the Wilson Hall auditorium and brought in bomb-sniffing dogs for the speech.
"No one wants to invite me anywhere because I bring calamity with me," Warner said, referring to the many crises he has faced during his 102 days as governor, including a tire fire, a drought and a flood.
The Governor spent much of the hour-long session responding to audience questions about Virginia's budget problems and the future of higher education.
Warner said he viewed higher education differently than how it was viewed 10 years ago.
He said he hoped to encourage Virginia's schools to take on the role as intellectual centers and economic engines through increased reliance on research and technology.
Despite a decision to abandon a long-standing in-state tuition freeze, Warner said Virginia colleges still were a good bargain.
He said the Commonwealth needed to be more fiscally responsible, however, now that the prosperity of the late 1990s was slowing down.
"I think that was a house of cards," Warner said. "That house of cards just collapsed this year."
Warner responded to several audience questions on Virginia's standards of learning tests, saying that failing schools needed more accountability. He also spoke briefly on the recent eavesdropping scandal that led to the resignation of state GOP executive director Ed Matricardi.
"We don't need this cloud hanging over the political process when we've got so many important things to do," he said.
Warner also said he was very proud of his four appointments to the University Board of Visitors in April, though he planned to include more women next time.
Warner said that his term as governor, the first political office he has held, was very much different from his experience as a businessman.
"Many things in government can't be measured in dollars and cents," he said.
The governor's visit, sponsored by the University's Center for Governmental Studies, marked the fourth and final speaker to visit Sabato's class this semester. Other speakers were Senator John Warner, R-Va., Congressmen Tom Davis R-Va., and Bob Goodlatte R-Va., as well as Virginia Supreme Court Justice Leroy Hassell.
"Sabato's influence to get these major players in politics into the class really correlates well with what we're learning," second-year College student Ryan Temming said.
Sabato said the governor, one of 10 people whom he invited to speak to the class this semester, almost did not come because of scheduling problems.
"I'm glad we got here," Warner Press Secretary Ellen Qualls said. "It's good for him to hear this crowd"
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