Collegiate Times

Rocovich, right, talks with Steger, left, during a 2003 BOV meeting.

Former Virginia Tech Board of Visitors rector John Rocovich, who many speculated would be re-appointed to Tech’s BOV this July, after serving a controversial 1997-2005 term, has been appointed to a commission that will help Gov. Bob McDonnell decide on new members to join the Boards of Visitors for all state universities.

The Virginia Commission on Higher Education Board Appointments, to which McDonnell recently added both Rocovich and former Republican Attorney General Jerry Kilgore, will have a say in not only the appointment of four members to Tech’s BOV this July, but will also have influence in all Boards of Visitors across the state.

The commission’s function is to vote on candidates they feel would be appropriate for different governing bodies of state universities. McDonnell can then choose to take their advice or not. The governor can replace members at will at any time, though typically commission members serve four-year terms.

Other members of the newly formed commission are Wilbert Bryant, former Virginia secretary of education and former U.S. deputy assistant for higher education programs, and Susan Genovese, a trustee at Randolph College and a former member of the state board of education.

A final member, who must be a former college president, has not yet been added to the commission.

The idea of the commission, created by former Gov. Mark Warner, was to add some objectivity to the selection process. However, the members’ strong Republican ties, especially those of Rocovich and Kilgore, have some questioning the objectivity of the commission and whether many conservative and party-loyal Republicans could be popping up in Boards of Visitors across the state.

In spring, before the members of the commission were established, speculation began around the Tech community that McDonnell’s election alone would be enough to put a conservative tilt to Tech’s BOV and others around the state. With two vacant seats and two BOV members up for re-appointment, Tech could see as many as four new members.

It was initially speculated that Rocovich could be returning to Tech’s BOV. 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.

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 in an interview with the Collegiate Times on April 5 (“March letter recalls 2003 BOV spat).

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 in April.

But Rocovich, along with Kilgore, was also at the center of a controversy in 2003, when Rocovich was the rector of the BOV, as reported by the CT in April (“March letter recalls 2003 BOV spat,” April 5).

The current BOV did not act upon Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s March 5 request to remove sexual orientation from the school’s discrimination policy. Several days after Cuccinelli sent the letter, McDonnell issued a directive that stressed against engaging in discrimination in employment searches.

In a similar incident in 2003, the board had a different reaction when then-Attorney General Kilgore attempted to ban affirmative action.

Kilgore’s office sent a letter to the board, led by then-rector Rocovich, in 2002. The letter suggested that Tech discontinue the use of affirmative action when selecting employees and students and opt for “race-neutral” policies.

Instead of denying Kilgore’s request, the board attempted to comply with it.

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A version of this article appeared in the Jun 17 issue of the Collegiate Times.