 | Board of Visitors minutes December 8, 1956 |  |
NORTHERN VIRGINIA COLLEGE SITE
The problem of a suitable location for the proposed Northern Virginia College was considered
by the Board in open session from 10:00 A.M. until 12:45 and again during the final hour of the
executive session in the afternoon.
After laying before the Board approximately fifty resolutions, petitions, and letters from
local governments, clubs, civic organizations, and individuals on behalf of various sites, the
Chairman pro tem welcomed the representatives from Northern Virginia and requested that each
delegation limit its spokesman or spokesmen to fifteen minutes.
Pursuant to a ruling by the Chair that group representatives and individuals would be heard
in the order in which they had nade application, as listed by the Secretary, but that the Advisory
Council, in view of its semi-official status, would be allowed to present two additional spokesmen
at the end of the hearing, the following persons, in the order named, addressed the Board.
Mr. Joseph L. Vaughan, who read a statement by Dean George B. Zehmer in regard to the
problem.
Mr. Shelley Krasnow, offering a choice of Prince William County sites on behalf of a
County Committee.
Mr. A. B. Rust, Jr., on behalf of the Prince William County Supervisors and in support of
Mr. Krasnow's proposals.
Mr. Clarence A. Steele, representing the Advisory Council to the Northern Virginia Extension
Center in support of Ravensworth.
Mr. Joseph Basilone, of Springfield, on behalf of the Ravensworth site.
Mr. Joseph L. Duvall, a student at the Northern Virginia Extension Center, who presented
452 mimeographed statements, signed by Extension students and teachers, requesting the
Board's approval of the Advisory Council's choice of Ravensworth.
Mr. Henry Glasse, who spoke on behalf of the Bowmans' Sunset Hills tract near Herndon.
Mr. Cooper Dawson, who spoke on behalf of University of Virginia Alumni at the Episcopal
High School and elsewhere in Northern Virginia in support of the Herndon site.
Mr. W. V. T. Justis, who introduced to the Board Messrs. Wallace Carper, Maurice Fox,
William Keys, Lewis Moore, and others present who joined him in support of the
Herndon site.
Mr. Joseph Freehill, who spoke on behalf of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors,
generally in support of the Ravensworth site, but without specifically rejecting the
Herndon or other sites.
Judge Carleton Penn, of Loudoun County, who appeared as an Alumnus and on behalf of the
County Board, and introduced Messrs. Newkirk, J. T. Hirst, Sterling M. Harrison, and
J. D. Nichols, who shared his support of the Herndon site.
The Rev. John B. Shinberger, who discussed the rising population of the Vienna area and the
advantages of the Herndon site.
Mr. Shawn, who favored the Herndon site.
Mr. Lucas D. Phillips, who supported the Herndon site.
Mr. Egbert Thompson, who offered his farm in Prince William County, on the Shirley Highway
near Woodbridge.
Mr. Harrison Mann, who explained the intentions of the Virginia Advisory Legislative Council
and of the General Assembly, which he interpreted as favoring "only the Tenth District",
and hence the Ravensworth site.
Mr. Richard E. Shands, like Mr. Mann a member of the Advisory Council, and former member of
the Fairfax School Board, who analyzed the elements favorable to the Ravensworth site.
Mr. John Ticer, representing the City Council of Alexandria, which favors the Ravensworth
site and is prepared to give financial support.
Mr. Cash (?) of Herndon, in support of the Sunset Hills tract.
At the conclusion of these arguments, at 12:45 P.M., the Chairman directed the Secretary to
take charge of the maps, charts, petitions, and other exhibits, and thanked the groups and
individuals from Northern Virginia, who then withdrew from the room.
During the concluding hour of the afternoon session, the recommendations were reviewed and a
general discussion of the problem was held in executive session. To correct the record as
misstated in certain newspaper accounts, attributed to Advisory Council members, and published
following release of the Board's Committee Report in September, members of the former Committee
briefly reviewed their work. It was pointed out that the Committee had begun by studying the
legislative background of the project, had notified all members of the Advisory Council and
Northern Virginia members of the General Assembly, and had consulted with them in open meetings of
the Committee. No closed session had been held by the Committee except when the final decision
was reached, at which time the presence of the Advisory Councillors would have seemed partial in
the eyes of the public. Maps showing population trends and school locations were studied, and it
was pointed out that competition by other colleges coming into the urban area was not a potential
threat, being already present in the form of several large city universities which are more
accessible to students in the Alexandria-Arlington area than either of the proposed Ravensworth and
questioned in the light of some of the current local attitudes towards the University's
participation in the choice of a site.
The Board resolved to defer action on a site until the March 9th meeting and at that time to
reconsider the entire problem of the advisability of establishing a college of the University in
Northern Virginia.
| Board of Visitors minutes December 8, 1956 | |