University of Virginia Library

Gathering Moss

There are few public servants as protective
of the public purse as State Senator William
Stone. Dedicated to the education of
Virginians, he has repeatedly chastised
University officials for their hesitancy to
drastically curtail the enrollment of
non-Virginians in Virginia's public schools.

Sen. Stone may very well reflect the
attitudes of his constituents in Martinsburg; in
which case he is serving as a responsive and
responsible legislator. But his deprecatory
tone in addressing university presidents as
"you educators" sets him by choice in
opposition to those officials, as if declaring a
"them against us" war to protect the public
interest.

While the unmistakable trend is in the
direction of short-sighted provincialism,
universities can still resist, as President
Shannon and other presidents have done to a
fair degree, intimidation by Sen. Stone and
his colleagues to force still greater declines in
non-resident admissions. A major state
university is a center for scholarship which,
while heeding the needs of its state, must
maintain a large national and international
population if it is to fully realize its potential.

While we share Sen. Stone's belief that the
state should provide every qualified Virginian
with the chance for a quality education, we
do not necessarily concur that that education
has to be at this University. We would rather
see a strengthening of other state-supported
institutions, so that there are viable
alternatives for qualified students within the
state. Of course, the University should
continue to serve Virginians, but only the
most qualified Virginians, combined with the
most qualified students from all parts of the
country. In this way the University can serve
the state by being an institution of national
repute and acclaim.

By citing North Carolina and other states as
examples of strict quotas (as low as 15 per
cent) on out-of-state enrollment, Sen. Stone
has merely illustrated the epidemic
proportions of the trend; he has in no way
justified it. Virginia should continue to resist,
not endorse, Sen. Stone's selfish inclination to
"let those people from Pennsylvania stay
home."