University of Virginia Library

Plan 'A'

In approving the celebrated "Plan A" for
University growth the Board of Visitors has
finally closed the book on this decade's
expansion debate–that is, unless outside
pressures force a reevaluation of statistics
before 1980.

Now that the planning is completed,
we have only to survive the implementation.
There is just cause for relief that the new
figures to be presented to the State Council
on Higher Education are drastically below the
1969 estimate of 18,000 by 1980. There is
also, however, legitimate cause for
disappointment in the Board's approval of
Plan A instead of Plan B.

The many ramifications of expansion have
been thoroughly cited here and elsewhere in
the past and we will not drag them all out
again. But there are two depressing aspects of
the whole issue of expansion which are
especially evident in the Board of Visitors'
statement of Friday.

One is the rather arbitrary and unfortunate
decision to limit the out-of-state enrollment
to its present level of approximately 1,465.
Given the attitudes of certain legislators, the
drastic cutback in out-of-state admissions over
the past two years and projected until 1980 is
not surprising. But, despite our generally
becoming accustomed to it, this short-sighted
approach to "fulfilling our obligation to the
Commonwealth of Virginia," still elicits our
vehement disapproval.

The second, and broader, area of concern
to us is the concept of the University's
"historic role as the capstone of education in
the Commonwealth" being interpreted as
demanding that the University admit "all
qualified Virginians." First, "qualified" is a
vague term subject to an infinite number of
interpretations depending on future
circumstances. Second, it is never going to be
true that the University can commit itself to
such a goal because the institution is not so
elastic as to be able to expand and contract to
accommodate year-to-year changes in applicant
pool size and qualifications.

What Thomas Jefferson meant by "the
capstone of public education in Virginia" was
not that the University should grow
commensurate with every increase in
population, but that it should always
maintain its status as an institution for quality
education. Regardless of our present
commitment to a particular plan of
expansion, we need in the future to stress our
commitment to the quality, personality, and
potential of the University rather than its size.

For now, we have a plan we can live with if
the Board of Visitors, the Administrator,
faculty, and students, remain active
effort to obtain more and better faci
to protect what is left of the Universs
distinctive atmosphere among state
universities.

Having declared what depresses us about
all this, it is pleasing to us to point out what is
the most encouraging sidelight of the entire
issue. That is the level of cooperation and
mutual concern among all segments of the
University community throughout the
expansion debate.

The Board's acceptance of the majority
report of the Future of the University
Committee shows concretely that we have all
had an opportunity to supply input to the
eventual outcome. Hopefully, this open and
cooperative approach will continue to be
utilized in other University-wide
concerns.