Collegiate Times

With the approval of the Higher Education Restructuring Act, the Board of Visitors will be able to accelerate needed projects that are currently on hold. Steps were taken to deal with campus climate as well as university expansion, but other projects on the back burner will benefit from the administrative restructuring.

The board met in full session for its quarterly meeting yesterday afternoon in Torgersen Hall to discuss this and other matters.

According to the BOV, the Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act grants an institution the highest level of autonomy. Virginia Tech now has the authority to govern the acquisition and disposition of property, the undertaking and implementation of capital projects, and the sole authority to establish tuition, fees, and room and board.

The new level of control gives the BOV the ability to deal with all concerns without further bureaucratic intervention by the state.

At the BOV meeting, the Surge Space Building was approved to be temporary housing for administrative buildings. The project will be in place for 10 to 15 years until renovations and ?on hold? projects are complete.
According to the BOV, projects that are ?on hold? include a proposed parking structure, a new residence hall, and more research facilities.

Denny Cochrane, an assistant to the vice president for business affairs, said there are always long-term projects like parking structures in the works. He also said he was encouraged by the attention the board members gave to the committee hearing.

?A new residence hall was proposed and approved 5 years ago and hopefully within the year it can start,? said Edward Spencer, the associate vice president for student affairs.

Spencer said the proposed building not only contains dorms and private bathrooms but office space for residential services and Judicial Affairs. Board members cited ?siting opportunities? for the delay, but with the new administrative structure that gives the administration the ability to govern all capital projects, those concerns would be dismissed.

Provost Mark McNamee said that there is a strategy to provide new research space at the Corporate Research Center in a more timely way than it can be provided on campus; however, projects are still being designed for campus as well. According to the BOV, a Building Construction Learning Laboratory could be placed adjacent to Cowgill Hall, and a renovation of Henderson Hall is being designed.

Regardless of the new management structure the BOV continued to give its attention to diversity issues. McNamee specifically stated the recent meeting with the LGBTA in which the issue of harassment was raised.

In response to these concerns Benjamin Dixon, the vice president for multicultural affairs, introduced the SAFEWATCH project. Dixon said that the project will enhance current climate improvement activities and communicate to the community that there is a zero-tolerance policy in matters of discrimination and harassment.

?SAFEWATCH will begin within the month by providing a central phone number for concerns as well as an informative website,? said BOV member Sandra Stiner Lowe.

What the new management agreement does do for campus diversity is require Virginia Tech ?to provide need-based grant aid for middle and lower income Virginia students in a manner that encourages student enrollment and progression, regardless of potential increases in tuition and fees.?

More financial aid will become available for students after a finance committee reported that there is unawarded money in the university?s scholarship fund. Lowe asked for a more detailed report by the next BOV meeting to determine how much money could be awarded to students.

According to the management agreement between the commonwealth of Virginia and Virginia Tech, ?the Board of Visitors of the University shall now at all times be fully and ultimately accountable.?