Arts center tops new building list
By Jane Ford and Dan Heuchert
The Board of Visitors’ Buildings & Grounds Committee has approved a pair of high-profile building projects that may significantly alter the University’s eastern and western approaches by 2010.
The two buildings, an arts center and a multi-level Health System parking facility, were among five construction projects totaling $140.1 million that the committee advanced at its Dec. 8 meeting. The panel also added $15.1 million to two utility projects after bids came in over budget and approved a new home for Varsity Hall. Full story
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Andrew Shurtleff |
Happy holidays!
People and puddles filled the Academical Village for as far as the eye could see at the fourth annual Lighting of the Lawn ceremony on Dec. 9. Despite the cold and rain, the community warmed at the site of the Grounds, aglow with thousands of twinkling lights — 3,000 linear feet of them to be exact. The Lawn will remain illuminated until the first week of January. Look for the next issue of Inside UVA in the new year as well, on Jan. 14. |
Why charter status for the University? By John T. Casteen III
The effort to secure formal charters for the University, the College of William & Mary, and Virginia Tech has been much in the news this fall. After operating for almost 15 years under radically reduced state appropriations, the three universities have made what is for Virginia a major move. They have asked for charters that spell out the terms of the deal, that make clear who is responsible for what and that free them from costly, often pointless bureaucratic constraints.
U.Va. was cut no less than $52 million in 2004 as Gov. Mark Warner balanced the state’s budget. The landmark 2004 session had only $7.5 million to add back, coming to us over a two-year period. Since the late 1980s, state tax support has dropped from 28 percent of the University’s general operating budget to an historic low of 8 percent. Today, U.Va., Virginia Tech and William & Mary are together under-funded by no less than $89 million. Our shortage alone amounts to $39 million this year. No other state’s legislature has ever let support for its flagship university slip so low. Full story
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