99-04-23:  CASTEEN BACKS AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, LIVING WAGE IN ANNUAL ADDRESS




By Dan Heuchert




University President John T. Casteen III again put himself squarely
behind the University's admissions policies and gave organizers of the
Living Wage Campaign some sympathetic advice in his April 14 State of
the University address.

Casteen gave a broad overview of activities on Grounds and a
retrospective of the past year's events in the low-key, 90-minute
address, touching on the work of the four Virginia 2020 planning
commissions, capital campaign progress and a host of faculty and
student achievements.

Expanding upon views expressed in an April 2 letter to faculty and
staff in Inside UVA and remarks to the Faculty Senate, Casteen referred
to Virginia's relatively recent history of massive resistance to
integration of its public schools in his support of affirmative
action.

The commonwealth closed its schools in 1958 rather than open their
doors to black students, and some remained closed for more than six
years. Parents and grandparents of today's students were directly
affected, he said.

"The state assumed a legal obligation when they elected to close the
schools. Until we address that, no other discussion is relevant," he
declared. The remarks drew applause from an audience of about 100
people.

Casteen credited the Living Wage Campaign -- an effort to raise the
salaries of the lowest-paid University employees to at least $8 per
hour, the federal poverty line for a family of four supported by a
single earner (see related sidebar, page 3) -- for raising
consciousness on Grounds and in Richmond. "Obviously, I would like to
see that [effort] succeed," Casteen said.

He reiterated the University's stance that any such wage increase would
have to be approved by the General Assembly, and said that U.Va. backed
a bill that called for a study of the living wage issue. The bill
failed, but Casteen noted a commission is already in the second year of
a two-year study of the statešs classified compensation system.

He advised members of the Labor Action Group -- founded by U.Va.
faculty, staff and students -- to work more closely with legislators
from outside of the Charlottesville area. He also suggested that the $8
figure is misleading because it does not refer to a typical situation,
and suggested the group pursue a broader statistical argument for its
position.

In updating the year's activities, Casteen reported that the four
planning commissions, charged with improving the University's standing
in Science and Technology, the Fine and Performing Arts, International
Activities and Public Service, have all completed work plans, which
were distributed at the door. Casteen said that he expected their
efforts would continue through about 2001.

He also suggested that a fifth commission, to deal with University-wide
issues like technology and libraries, could be comprised this spring.

The University is gaining self-sufficiency, thanks to generous donors
who have contributed more than $852 million to the capital campaign,
"but it hasn't been a self-sufficiency that has in any way made us less
accountable for what we do," he said.

"We are first and foremost a public institution, and that element in
our nature is as important as it has ever been."

In conclusion, Casteen said, "This was never designed to be a modest,
complacent or self-satisfied institution. When your founder defines
university by saying it's to be the bulwark of the human mind in this
hemisphere, you donšt get to sit back and say, 'that's it.'

"And you haven't. I think that is the best news of the year."