Ouster of UVa's President and the Future of Public Higher Ed

The question is not "is the university wasting money?" But "What is the university wasting money on this semester?"

 

Interesting you mention that. Sullivan pointed to the University's "reputation gap" in a memo she wrote for the board earlier this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2012/06/14/Education/Graphics/Strategy%20rev[3].pdf

 

Major donors at UVa seem to be somewhat split. The man who named the basketball arena after his father wrote an op-ed for the Charlottesville paper essentially saying Sullivan had to go and it was what Thomas Jefferson would have wanted.

The widow of the man whose name is on the complex that houses the football stadium said it was "disgraceful" and she's done donating money until the board of visitors is replaced.

 

This is fairly accurate.

Although some public education institutions -- especially universities -- have earned some of the starving.

 

I agree, but is that happening here?

 

Interesting that someone should say that the University of Michigan is a shining example of higher education and finances. When I worked a couple blocks from campus before a certain daily newspaper was shut down, U-M was building like there was no tomorrow. Recession in Michigan? No, not us. Not at all.

Yes, I understand some building, but to U-M's extent, no. One project was a high-rise dorm with all the creature comforts, and then some.

Universities waste so much money, it's obscene.

My son is getting a perfectly good education at our local community college, and saving a boatload of money.

 

Interesting that the influential people you cite gave to the school's athletic programs.



Ivory for the tower ain't cheap.
Elite or not UVA is a public school and receives taxpayer support. It, like all state-supported schools, should be subject to financial responsibility. And oversight.

 

Well, they are probably the two highest-profile donors UVa has, unless you count John Grisham. (As an aside, Sullivan was extremely popular with the athletic department.)

And UVa would go private in a heartbeat if they could work something out with the land the university sits on.

 

Just one more comment ... whenever you hear an academic arguing that a university can't be run like a business, watch out ... often there's a different argument that's actually being made, and it's not nearly as heroic as you might think.

 

Doc, I'd suggest the corollary is also true. When you hear a businessman claiming a university should be run like a business, often the argument being made is that the university should enrich that businessman. That may well be the case with the Goldman Sachs element referenced in the slate.com article. Always follow the money. Who stands to gain from this?

 

Wait, so you are a Republican only when they are not standing in your backyard?

 

Students in Virginia who want jobs when they graduate go to Tech.