Next Monday and Tuesday, the University's Board of Visitors will meet in the Rotunda for one of its four annual meetings. Like a corporation's board of directors, the Board is the University's governing body. Comprised of sixteen members appointed by the governor of Virginia and one student member, the Board of Visitors is responsible for the University's academic and financial well-being. In addition to long-term and strategic planning, the Board approves the University's annual budget - including tuition and fees - and is entrusted with preserving the University's rich traditions. From approving construction projects to supporting the honor system to creating AccessUVa, the Board plays a meaningful and powerful role in shaping the student experience.
Much of the Board's work is carried out in committees that cover every facet of University life. For instance, the Medical Center Operating Board is responsible for managing and operating the University's Medical Center. It may come as a surprise to many, but nearly half of the University's $2.4 billion budget relates to the Medical Center. The Academic Division - which includes all the schools at the University - accounts for only 56 percent of the University's budget. Despite the breadth of the Board's responsibilities, the student experience - both in and outside the classroom - is an ever-present priority. The vast majority of Board members were themselves students at the University, and they remember fondly their time on Grounds.
The issue the Board will discuss next week with the greatest potential to affect the student experience is enrollment growth. Gov. Bob McDonnell has set a goal for Virginia's colleges and universities to award an additional 100,000 degrees during the next fifteen years. As a public university, the University is expected to bear a fair share of these additional degrees. Enrollment growth gives rise to many concerns. Classes could be become more crowded and harder to get into; opportunities for research and working directly with faculty could decrease; student self-governance could become less effective and viable.
Despite these concerns, we face a difficult reality: If the University refuses to increase enrollment, the state legislature will likely mandate enrollment increases and will do so on its own terms. The state might provide little additional funding to match the increase in enrollment. Even more worrisome, the state might set the ratio of in-state to out-of-state students at 75/25. The current ratio of 70/30 creates a unique environment on Grounds in which students not only from across Virginia, but from across the country and across the world join and live together on Grounds. Furthermore, maintaining the 70/30 ratio is vital to the University's financial health because out-of-state students contribute a significant portion of the Academic Division's budget.
The most important thing we can do as a community is to manage our growth. This management requires that we, as a community, identify those aspects of the University that we most cherish in order to preserve them as the University grows. We must maintain the current in-state/out-of-state ratio. We must ensure that additional resources - more faculty, more financial aid, more recreational facilities - are in place before additional students arrive on Grounds. And we must preserve this University's most prized asset: the student experience. Preserving and enhancing the student experience will require hard work, but smart growth will allow us to meet this challenge.
Enrollment growth is not the only issue the Board will consider next week. The Board will discuss the implementation of a non-binding Early Action admissions process that will afford admitted students more time to evaluate and negotiate financial aid packages, and the Board will vote on the approval of the design for the Ruth Caplin Theatre, a thrust theatre that will add a vibrant and engaging space to the Arts Grounds. I encourage you to visit www.virginia.edu/bov/upmeeting.html to view the schedule of the Board's upcoming meeting as well as the agendas for each committee. In addition, I hope you will share with me your thoughts and concerns about enrollment growth and any other issue coming before the Board. You can e-mail me at sha3q@virginia.edu, or you can find me in my room at 34 East Range.
Stewart Ackerly is the student member of the Board of Visitors.
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