University of Virginia Library

Stone Commission

The recommendations,
pending approval by the
legislature and the governor,
were prepared for State Sen.
William F. Stone's legislative
study commission on higher
education, and unanimously
endorsed by the Council of
Presidents of state-supported
schools of higher education last
month.

Under the plan, the State
Council would prepare an
overall capital outlay budget
for the Governor and General
Assembly, listing the projects
by priority.

State institutions, however,
would continue to submit their
own operations budgets, under
State Council review.

"For the most effective
communications, the
representative of the individual
institutions should continue to
be able to provide information
about budget requests to the
members of the General
Assembly," the Council
recommendations stipulated.

This represents a significant
departure from Sen. Stone's
views on how the State
Council should supervise
budgets and operations, which
he outlined in a November
address to the Faculty Senate
of Virginia.

"In my opinion," he said,
"the college and university
administrators should stop
their lobbying efforts and,
instead, go before a qualified
and impartial board and justify
their requests."

Sen. Stone said he believes
if lobbying continues, the large
schools will keep receiving
more than their fair share of
state money, and the smaller
schools will continue to receive
a disproportionate amount of
state support.