University of Virginia Library

THE PRESIDENT AND THE LEGISLATURE

The new President's duties will certainly be many and varied, but none will be more important than his relationship with the state legislature. The demands on state funds by the community college system and four-year institutions will be great in coming years. Justifiable efforts to raise the funding levels of these institutions could result in decreased funding for the University. The President must be an articulate spokesman in Richmond to prevent such a decrease as well as an able fund raiser within the private community.

Perhaps the greatest attributes that the new President can have in regard to his duties in Richmond as well as to money raising in the private sector are personal integrity and articulateness. The individual legislators must respect the President, and they must know that his budget requests represent fairly the needs of the University. If the President can engender the trust and respect of the legislators, then they will be much more willing to listen to his requests and to expend the funds needed for the continued improvement of the University.

In the past, the President's duties required that he present to the legislature a very detailed report of the necessary allo for the University. The future, however, will no doubtand a different kind of presentation. The detailed work will still be necessary, but that will be done mainly by the Vice-President for financial affairs and his staff. The University's requests will be forwarded to the State Council of Higher Education, and there will be less chance for a detailed presentation by the President.

The new President, therefore, will have to be an advocate of the University's needs publicly rather than in his presentation to the legislature. The image that the President portrays of the University will be largely responsible for the funds that the University receives from the state. He must assure the legislature that the University is known throughout American colleges and universities as an excellent academic institution. He must convince the legislature that if the University is to remain nationally renowned, the State must give a financial fair share to it; at present state appropriations as a percentage of total University revenues are well below the national average for public universities. Equalization of Virginia's colleges and universities, achieved by averaging appropriations for all institutions, can only result in mediocrity; the President should work for the goal of increased appropriations for all institutions of higher learning.

The new President must be active in a number of other issues with which the legislature is concerned. He must strenuously oppose any attempt to legislate a limitation on the number of out-of-state students which we can admit. He must also fight a disturbing legislative trend toward equalization of per capita expenditures for graduate and undergraduate students; legislators must be convinced of the tremendous benefits which accrue to the state through strong graduate programs, benefits which fully justify adequate funding. Finally, while duplication of programs and resources must be avoided, the new President must resist attempts to centralize decision-making powers in the State Council of Higher Education and other state agencies. The traditional autonomy of educational institution in Virginia must be preserved.

In conclusion, the need for a President, gifted with the ability to publicly articulate the University's position, will become even more necessary as the state's bureaucracy becomes more complicated and the political leadership of the state becomes less stable. The President must be able to put forward a well-thought out program of development for the University with continued emphasis on the University's role as the leader of higher education in the State.