<p>To make it easier to email Bob McDonnell, here is the direct link:</p>
<p>[Official</a> Site of the Governor of Virginia](<a href=“http://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm]Official”>http://www.governor.virginia.gov/AboutTheGovernor/contactGovernor.cfm)</p>
<p>I hope the people attending today show class and respect for this institution. Painting graffiti is not the answer. What a mess this has turned out to be. :(</p>
<p>Dragas should be making her way to Galt’s Gulch. </p>
<p>There is no need to panic. The vast majority of the people out there have no idea that this is going on. It is human nature to be hyper sensitive to something that affects us directly and forget that others are paying no attention at all. Heads will roll and things will settle. </p>
<p>William and Mary went through something similar several years ago in which a few ultra conservative donors held the BOV hostage for a lot less money. </p>
<p>In state supported schools, problems almost always revolve around money and politics. The Governor is not going to bite the hand that feeds him. He will choose corporate interests over the citizens of Virginia and the students at UVA any day because that same source will be crucial to his bid for the presidency. He has the headlights on the White House and Virginia in the rear view mirror. He will only get more involved when future contributions tip in favor of that.</p>
<p>blueiguana "I don’t know what she could possibly say with the exception of “I was wrong, I’m resigning and moving to Siberia, and Dr. Sullivan has graciously agreed to stay on”. </p>
<p>What she should do is present her vision for the university; explain why there are difficult choices that must be made; apologize for handling the transition poorly; reiterate that there were philosophical differences between Sullivan and the board; explain that the board is not going to disclose specific issues of contention, nitpick or otherwise bad-mouth Sullivan; wish Sullivan well in her next endevour; assure all in the UVA family that they’ll select a qualified President as soon as possible; and re-assure everyone that the high educational standards will continue.</p>
<p>Anita Kumar of WaPo has tweeted (and Larry Sabato confirmed) that several members of BOV have asked Sullivan to reconsider resignation. I’ve seen nothing in print yet.</p>
<p>Here’s the story, just online: </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/former-u-va-president-john-casteen-urges-board-to-meet-in-public/2012/06/18/gJQAYO4BlV_story.html[/url]”>http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/former-u-va-president-john-casteen-urges-board-to-meet-in-public/2012/06/18/gJQAYO4BlV_story.html</a></p>
<p>Dragas would be well advised to explain herself as TDK suggests.</p>
<p>But you all are barking up the wrong tree by suggesting that Dragas should go, Sullivan should come back and that the Gov is the guy to fix this whole thing.</p>
<p>Dragas and Sullivan are not the problem or the solution here. They are both stuck playing (as best they can) the hands dealt to them by Richmond. That hand stays the same regardless of whether one or both of them stay or go.</p>
<p>The VA voters have elected a Gov and legislature whose agenda is to put UVA in the whipsaw of decreasing state money and increasing state operating mandates and restrictions. Richmond is the one that is putting UVA in the position where it needs to make big cuts and raise huge private money. </p>
<p>Since it doesn’t look like Richmond is going to change the agenda for UVA, then the BOV needs to have the right person in place to do that job. If that’s not Sullivan, then they did what was necessary (albeit in an kluge-ey way). </p>
<p>Sullivan’s last employer was 40% OOS enrollment and 17% state budget support. UVA is 30% and 10%. That is 100% what this is all about and that is coming from Richmond not the BOV.</p>
<p>Maybe I am naive (or stupid), but how does one determine if a major or program is “underperforming”? When programs like the classics, or German are singled out as not pulling their weight, is it that they have too many profs vs the number of students or what? I don’t get from a business perspective how a program loses money.</p>
<p>There is a theory that Dragas wants Sullivan to raid efficiently run programs to support the more favored ones in today’s economy. Sullivan instituted an eat what you kill structure so each department lives within its means. It is much easier for History and English to live within their means than the med school, physics department and other STEM departments. Dragas and her cohorts wanted to be able to raid the more stable departments in order to pump more money into the ones that drain more resources but are at the top of the heap right now.</p>
<p>When I visited UVA this spring no one mentioned hostile takeovers, closing departments, reputation gaps, or faculty leaving. It makes me sick to think of the schools I turned down for this mess. This should have happened in the spring to give incoming 1st year students a chance to go elsewhere.</p>
<p>I think it is important to note that SEAS is already taking steps to address the additional costs associated with educating their students. For each credit hour in the e-school, students will pay an additional $32 an hour. That adds up. They’ve also launched an aggressive fundraising campaign. In fact, I’ve heard more from SEAS about fundraising than either D or I have heard about Sullivan’s resignation and the impact it will have on SEAS. So I don’t necessarily agree that Dragas was looking to the English department to support STEM majors.</p>
<p>TV4caster "how does one determine if a major or program is “underperforming”?</p>
<p>Underperforming probably is not the best terminology to use in a university setting as one might conclude that underperforming refers to below par quality of teaching or research.</p>
<p>I believe “underperforming” refers to the total cost of the program not being representative of the number of students graduating with that degree. I’m not an expert at it but I’m pretty sure that for there to be a degree program it requires additional overhead for the university, e.g., perhaps an extra department chair, minimum number of faculty, etc. I do know that some schools will decide to offer a minor in a subject but not bump it up to a major unless they can attract sufficient students and funding to support the program. If you are teaching a foreign language as part of a broad education, but not offering it as a degree, the university may be able to use non-tenure track professors or simply master degree instructors.</p>
<p>Certainly it would make sense for UVA to come up with an overall plan for the university before cutting individual programs. A program may be small but critical to the broader objectives of the college. On the other hand, instead of accumulating a catch-all group of majors universities need to rationalize their operations and focus on the areas that they can do best.</p>
<p>That is the key thing about measuring cost-efficiency of academic departments - the STEM fields that most people want to expand are often the most expensive, while the humanities classes can often be profitable to a university, except for the smallest classes.</p>
<p>Nationally, I read that history is one of the most profitable majors for all colleges. </p>
<p>UVa’s Board has already increased the tuition for incoming Commerce school students to 4K above the price for other undergrads - that is now $42K for tuition and fees for out of state students. The price differential will go up another 1K in the near future. </p>
<p>At the same time, UVa does offer excellent need-based financial aid, but some of the boardmembers have tired to slash that. An outside study was prepared. So far, that study did not recommend any major changes in need-based financial aid, which may have angered some of the board.</p>
<p>This is, of course, exactly right. People like to complain about humanities departments not pulling their financial weight (as though that were the most important criterion)-- but even by that intellectually bankrupt measure, humanities departments do much better than lab-based research departments and medical schools, which are money losers. Indeed, it is the money for enrollments in “useless” low-cost humanities departments that cross-subsidizes expensive STEM fields.</p>
<p>“When I visited UVA this spring no one mentioned hostile takeovers, closing departments, reputation gaps, or faculty leaving.”</p>
<p>No, but I’m sure they gloated about UVA being the number two ranked public school at USNWR. :-(</p>
<p>anabel1 and rjkofnovi, this all started last Sunday.</p>
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<p>Sullivan’s budget would not allow for raiding the more profitable humanities/arts for science/math/engineering.</p>
<p>“anabel1 and rjkofnovi, this all started last Sunday.”</p>
<p>Publically yes.</p>
<p>In the meantime Dean J; What do you think is going to happen in the near term?</p>
<p>Cartera, that’s not even remotely possible. The “every tub on its own bottom” model that Sulllivan proposed does not take into account cross-subsidization of the ordinary kind, and does not prohibit it. In fact, no university could function without it-- it is equally true, for example, at the University of Chicago, where that kind of policy has been in place for a long time.</p>
<p>[Rector</a> Helen Dragas Releases Statement at Board of Visitors Meeting](<a href=“http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Rector_Helen_Dragas_Releases_Statement_at_Board_of_Visitors_Meeting_159469725.html]Rector”>http://www.newsplex.com/home/headlines/Rector_Helen_Dragas_Releases_Statement_at_Board_of_Visitors_Meeting_159469725.html)</p>
<p>What utter consultant-drafted crapola!</p>
<p>Total form over substance. I could have written that, except I wouldn’t say someone had given all of something - and then some. That is impossible.</p>