Gov. Bob McDonnell appeared yesterday for a question and answer session in Politics Prof. Larry Sabato's introductory U.S. government and politics class.
"We're always delighted to host the governor, and Gov. McDonnell's eight immediate Virginia predecessors have also guest lectured in the class," Sabato said. "Students can ask anything they want and often get very frank answers."
Before opening the floor to student questions, McDonnell briefly discussed the challenges facing the state of Virginia and his goals moving forward. He emphasized a need to decrease the state's high unemployment rate and reform the public education system.
The governor devoted the bulk of his time, however, to student questions about a variety of topics.
When one student asked about decreasing America's reliance on foreign oil, McDonnell discussed the potential of all different types of renewable energy that Virginia can use, including nuclear energy, natural gas, biofuels, solar and offshore wind energy.
"When you're at a time with a tough economy, where you've got significant challenges in everything from transportation to energy, resources, to things like that, you have a great opportunity to improve the opportunity for your citizens across the board," he said. "So I intend over these next couple years to lay out a pretty broad agenda to reform government [and create] jobs."
Another student, who said she aimed to become a teacher, expressed concern about job security for public school teachers because of the recent budget cuts and low salary of the profession. McDonnell encouraged her to pursue her career goal, telling her not to be discouraged "based on short-term information" and expressed optimism for the Virginia economy.
"We are the eighth most prosperous state in the USA," he said. "We will recover."
One student asked about the controversy that occurred last week when Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sent a letter to Virginia's colleges and universities advising them to remove sexual orientation from their non-discrimination policies. McDonnell issued a separate order claiming the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protected such guarantees, and students' rights were not at risk. Changes to Virginia law, however, still need to come from the Virginia General Assembly, he said, as "only they are allowed to amend the [Virginia] Human Rights Act." His orders, he said, cannot override the assembly's authority.
First-year College student Alex Kent said afterward that because McDonnell needed prompting to address the discrimination controversy, his aim in the lecture seemingly was light-hearted.
"He seemed not to be there on a political agenda," he said. "In fact, he didn't even address the discrimination bill until he was asked about it. If he had a political agenda, it would have been the first thing he talked about. Instead, he focused more on his background and kept it very light and entertaining."
Other students found McDonnell's avoidance of tough issues frustrating. Second-year College student Hannah Donald, for example, said she was "unsatisfied" with the talk.
"He could have answered questions more directly," she said. "I agree with him on a lot of views but I felt he was still in campaign mode."
The governor was not entirely indirect with the students regarding certain pertinent issues, though, addressing the state's recent budget proposal. It is crucial, he said, that the state not make any further cuts to higher education, which has seen a 40 percent decline in public funding during the past decade. The University, McDonnell added, serves as a model nationwide. Problems the University faces thus are mirrored at colleges across the country, he said, expressing sympathy for prospective students and parents in counties that see many competitive applicants to the University each year, as several of these high school students are not accepted, despite having high SAT scores and impressive GPAs.
He also addressed the rising cost of a college education. He invited the audience to compare Virginia's "great deal," whether in-state or out-of-state, with private universities like his alma mater Notre Dame, the tuition of which now stands at $38,477.
"That's a quarter of a million dollars to get you through college, and if you had to borrow it all, you're in debt for 10 years," he said.
He added that he will look to curb college costs in upcoming years and will form a commission to handle the issue.
"We're going to put together [a commission] on higher education and bring in presidents and students and people from across the state and find out how can we increase access, reduce costs, [and] make universities work more efficiently," he said. "I'm looking forward to doing that."
-Radina Belberova contributed to this article
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