In a forum sponsored by the advocacy group Virginia21 at Virginia Commonwealth University yesterday, the three Virginia gubernatorial candidates shared their distinct views on higher education. Each candidate spoke for roughly an hour, first presenting his vision and then answering questions from panel and audience members.
Democratic candidate Tim Kaine spoke first, outlining his two-pronged vision for higher education in Virginia.
"Meet the [financial] formula, so that we can guarantee university access to students and we can guarantee that the schools have the resources they need to pay faculty, and secondly expand access to education," Kaine said.
Kaine also connected himself to one notable Virginian, saying his views on higher education were modeled after those of Thomas Jefferson.
"I am a Jeffersonian," he said. "I believe in the Jeffersonian view of education as a public good."
Republican candidate Jerry Kilgore focused on his personal experience as a first-generation college graduate from the University of Virginia College at Wise.
In his opening remarks, Kilgore posed two questions to the audience, questions he said he would address if elected governor.
"How do we assure that higher education remains affordable and accessible?" he asked. "How do we make sure that our higher education benefits not only our students but the Commonwealth of Virginia?"
Kilgore's remarks highlighted the economic benefits of cutting-edge research opportunities, which he said he would work to bring to the Commonwealth if elected.
Russ Potts, a Republican who is running independently, focused primarily on the price tag of any reforms the elected governor could put in place.
"The worst thing we can do is make promises we cannot keep," Potts said.
Potts peppered his speech with prices for a variety of services, such as extending financial aid, the Commonwealth could put in place.
While Potts responded to many questions regarding concrete reforms with his mantra that the Commonwealth could not keep adding programs because they would be too costly, and he repeatedly stated he was proud and committed to higher education in the Commonwealth.
"I think it's a very noble goal [for] Virginia to say that we have the best higher education system in the country and to keep it that way," Potts said.
Yesterday's conference was the first time all three of the candidates focused specifically on higher education during the campaign.
"[Higher education] hasn't been a major topic in the campaign," Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato said. "Maybe it should be, but it hasn't been so far. They all three are for higher education. I suppose that the differences would be in part how they propose to finance state services like education."
Sabato cautioned, however, that the time between Labor Day and Election Day is when most of the intensive campaigning takes place, so candidates could still propose further higher education initiatives.
"Let's give them some time to roll out their proposal so we hope that they will propose something dealing with higher education," Sabato said.
The forum presented an opportunity for students to directly hear the views of the candidates on higher education.
For students, yesterday was "an amazing opportunity for all of us to hear and get to know a little more about the candidates for governor
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