Gov. Bob McDonnell will appoint at least two new members to Virginia Tech’s Board of Visitors this spring, potentially adding a conservative tilt to the board just months after the university faced the highly charged issue of sexual orientation and discrimination protection.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s March 5 letter advised Virginia’s public universities to remove protections based on sexual orientation from their non-discrimination policies to comply with Virginia law, saying authorization to add protection would require approval from the Virginia General Assembly.
The current BOV did not act on Cuccinelli’s recommendation of removing discrimination protection based on sexual orientation. However, this isn’t the first time Tech has grappled with discrimination policies.
In 2003, the board complied with a suggestion from then-Attorney General Jerry Kilgore to ban affirmative action. Following a month of public outcry, the university administration called an emergency BOV meeting, and the decision was reversed.
Now, the rector of the 2003 board, Roanoke lawyer John Rocovich, could be a potential candidate to rejoin the board as McDonnell makes his first appointments later this spring.
Rocovich, a Blacksburg native who has a history of providing major financial backing for both the university and the Republican Party, left the board when his term expired in 2005, after he served the maximum continuous term of eight years.
Under the BOV bylaws, there is no reason Rocovich could not return to the board if he were appointed, since it has been more than one year since his last term of service.
While serving on the BOV, Rocovich’s financial influence benefited the university. Two notable projects completed during his 1997-2005 term were the construction of ICTAS and the Edward Via School of Osteopathic Medicine.
“I’d been serving on a sort of study committee since the middle ‘90s, so we finally got that ICTAS started while I was on the board and that’s a very instrumental part of a major research institution,” Rocovich said.
He was also involved in the process of Tech’s admission to the Atlantic Coast Conference.
“I was very fortunate to serve on the board in a period of time when we were able to start a lot of new initiatives and do a lot of things that I think helped to propel the school forward. And we, for the most part, had a pretty aggressive board that was far-seeing,” Rocovich said.
Rocovich also spread his financial assets to the Virginia Republican Party.
According to the Virginia Public Access project, Rocovich contributed a total of $63,000 to McDonnell’s campaigns for attorney general and governor between 1996 and 2009, including $53,000 for travel expenses during both campaigns.
“I admire the governor greatly,” Rocovich said. “He, in my mind, has all the right stuff to be perhaps the best governor we’ve ever had. I’m a great supporter of his, and he’s certainly a very able and sensible, capable man.”
Rocovich had also been a strong supporter of Kilgore. He donated a total of $53,850 to Kilgore’s various political campaigns for both attorney general and governor between 1996 and 2009, $10,850 of that before 2003. During his run for governor, Rocovich paid $40,000 of Kilgore’s travel expenses.
Although Rocovich expressed his enthusiasm for Tech and noted that he enjoyed his time on the BOV in the late ‘90s and early 2000s, he said he has not currently been contacted by representatives from either Tech or McDonnell’s office about serving on the board in the future, or about serving on any type of selection committee for future board members.
The current status of the governor’s decision-making process is unknown. A brief statement from McDonnell’s office to the Collegiate Times said that new board appointees would be announced “in the coming months.”
Rocovich said he doesn’t yet have any knowledge of the governor’s plans.
“The governor hasn’t approached me,” Rocovich said. “It’s a little early.”
Tom Tillar, vice president of the alumni association, acknowledged that political affiliation “typically has a strong influence” on who the governor ultimately appoints.
“There is no strict rule of thumb, but if you look across, there is a close alignment to the governor’s party,” Tillar said.
A version of this article appeared in the Apr 6 issue of the Collegiate Times.
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