Goals 2000?

When Bill Clinton called for Congress to "leave the partisan politics at the schoolhouse door" at last week's State of the Union address, even Alfonse D'amato offered grudging applause. After years of relatively meaningless debate on gun control, abortion, and family values, it seemed that finally, maybe, please?, an issue of importance was being addressed by our elected officials.

So why isn't Virginia getting the message? With each legislative session, the state demonstrates its apparent lack of concern for the quality of higher education. On one hand, the General Assembly demands that the University charge less, accomodate greater numbers, and accept more in-state students. But on the other hand, Governor Allen consistently proposes massive cuts in the funding of state colleges and universities. Recently, when President Casteen and other college administrators from around the state went to Allen to beg for more funding, they received the monetary equivalent of a pat on the head for a wayward child; Allen added a total of $116,000 to the University budget.

Some may be surprised to learn that the state of Virginia has a balanced budget, and occasionally even operates at a surplus. I'm sure Virginians are appreciative of our state government's tight-fisted hands and penny-pinching ways. But is it too much of a good thing? Ask yourself if you want their bony, arthritic hands on your shoulder.

Education in Virginia is beginning to show the strain. As most students stairmaster away in Aqua Gym #1, blissfully unaware of the university's balance sheet, administrators find it harder to recruit prestigious faculty, asbestos-filled hallways are converted into classrooms, first years are led in discussion by second years, and whole departments, say, music, or maybe rhetoric and communication, find they are no longer listed in the Fall Œ98 Course Offering Directory. Perhaps people will notice when our U.S. News and World Report ranking drops two spaces next year.

In an effort to avoid that particular catastrophic situation, U.Va. is compensating for the state cuts (their monies now account for less than 40% of the operating budget), unfortunately, by following in their parent's footsteps, simultaneously raising more money than ever in the history of (the school? capitalism? time?) but still without enough money to complete an access ramp to central grounds. The administrators have probably squirreled the money away in an offshore account, invested in a golf course, or buried it behind Pavilion 8 for a "rainy day". What difference does it make? The state has taught the university a lesson it has learned well -- it simply doesn't pay for students (or citizens) to see their tuition (taxes) returned in actual services.

Maybe I was wrong before. Maybe education will never be an important issue to our elected officials. It certainly seems easier to boast about a school's quality than to provide the resources to ensure it. That may not seem like a big deal, but you'll be singing a different tune when your major choice is between commerce and science. Of course, at that point I'll just laugh.

Better take advantage of Aqua Gym #1 while you can.

Kate Zimmerman

Viewpoint consists of the majority opinion of the managing board of The Declaration and is written by the executive editor on a weekly basis.