October 5, 2004

From staff reports

The accolades were soaring across the oval table at the Rotunda Board Room Saturday during the early morning meeting of the Board of Visitor’s Special Committee on Diversity.

In describing the final report of the Commission on Diversity and Equity to the board, President John T. Casteen III called the 51-page, orange-bound document “smart and pragmatic.”

Board member John O. “Dubby” Wynne, of Norfolk, deemed it to be “great”; committee chairman Warren M. Thompson, of Herndon, “tremendous”; and rector Gordon F. Rainey Jr., “an extremely important piece of work.”

What distinguished the commission’s report from past reports of University groups investigating comparable topics was that it recognized “the University cannot simply declare that changes will be made,” Casteen said. “Rather, the commission report requires the action of essentially everyone in the community — administration, faculty, staff and students — to ensure that this is a welcoming environment in which all persons thrive.”

Photo by Tom Cogill

Angela Davis (left) and Michael J. Smith

In June, Davis and Smith presented the commission’s preliminary findings to the Board of Visitors, and in September, they submitted their final report to the president. In it, they described the commission’s 20 recommendations as “an integrated package — a road map … to change the culture and to create a community that embraces the principles of mutual respect, civility and understanding.”

The commission’s recommendations, they wrote, intended not only to address immediate issues, but also to continue progress and enable U.Va. to become an academic leader in preparing students “for the global challenges of the 21st century.”

Many of the recommendations built upon and leveraged existing best practices in diversity and equity already taking place at the University. “While there is good work in these areas going on all over the University, much of it does not reach its potential because of a lack of coordination, communication and transparency, and some of the problems go unnoticed because of a lack of clear criteria of assessment and clear lines of accountability,” they wrote.

In discussing the final report with the board on Saturday, Casteen highlighted some of the most innovative recommendations, including the appointment of a Universitywide chief officer for diversity and equity, the creation of a “Community Engagement” academic program, the expansion of the first-year residential experience to include Sustained Dialogue discussion groups on race relations, and the development and implementation of a clear “incident-reporting” system that allows community members to report cases of inappropriate and/or disrespectful behavior and provides a way to address such cases.

He noted that some of the recommendations were already moving forward. The search for the chief diversity officer, for example, has begun, as has the creation of an incident-reporting protocol.

Casteen also outlined a preliminary budget to fund the various recommendations. Funds will be drawn from a variety of sources, including central reserves, state appropriations, and possibly fund raising. A total of $4.19 million is needed to implement 10 of the most critical recommendations; of that, $3.375 million has already been requested from the state general fund and the rest — some $40 per full-time-enrolled student — will be drawn immediately from tuition and fees. Three of the recommendations require no funding. Eight are expected to cost another $614,000, and will be phased in after review by the vice president charged with determining the appropriate action steps, and three recommendations, which were referred to administrators for additional study, have not yet been assessed a cost.

Before adjourning the meeting of the Special Committee on Diversity, Rainey reiterated the board’s enthusiasm for the commission’s final report. “Surely there cannot be any doubt that this institution is committed to effecting cultural change,” he told those in attendance, including several concerned students who had risen early to witness the proceedings. “Let me assure you that you have the full commitment of this board — both in terms of financial resources and moral leadership. We are all united in our commitment to see change.”

Faculty salary rankings improve

The Board of Visitors also met Oct. 1. During that day's series of meetings, it was noted that U.Va. jumped up six spots in both the salary and total compensation rankings released annually by the American Association of Universities.

A report to the board attributed the improvement to the board’s decision to supplement state salary increases with funds from the University’s endowment.
With an average increase of 4.33 percent, U.Va. moved from 30th to 24th in the salary rankings, jumping over Vanderbilt, University of California branches at Davis and Santa Barbara, and the universities of Rochester, Michigan and Minnesota.
When all forms of compensation are included, U.Va. moved from 33rd overall to 27th. Faculty’s total compensation increased 6.6 percent.

Marcia Day Childress, chairwoman of the Faculty Senate, cheered the news.
“I hope this pleases the board and shows this kind of investment is worthwhile,” she said.

She noted, however, that only seven public institutions were among the top 25 of the salary list.

“It doesn’t surprise me that the number of public institutions in the top 25 was so small, because it reflects the state funding problems that public universities have faced,” she said. Private universities set the market, she said, “and that’s who we are competing against.”

The first five in the salary list: Harvard, Stanford, Pennsylvania, California Institute of Technology and Princeton. The top public school, California-Berkeley, checked in at No. 12.

Universitywide code of ethics passed federal law in the post-Enron era requires that business adopt certain business practices. So why not universities?

That question was on the minds of Board of Visitors members and Barbara Deily, the University’s director of audits. The result? A new board-approved code of ethics, which outlines 10 rules for the conduct of University business.

“It is one of the basic good business practices,” Deily said. “We probably should have had it all along, but we never pushed it. … We have a code of honor for students, but not one for faculty and staff.”

Until the board meeting, that is.

The University’s new code is essentially a compilation of existing policies, now written down in one place, Deily explained.

A draft of the code went before the Audit and Compliance Committee in July. As a result of board input, Deily added an equal opportunity, non-discrimination and harassment clause.

The code soon will be posted on a Web site and disseminated to new employees, Deily said. Health System development plan laid out A new physical planning document adopted by the Board of Visitors promises to change the face of the Health System.

The document, developed by the Office of the University Architect and presented Friday to the Buildings and Grounds committee, lays out a “flexible” plan for development in the next 15 to 20 years.

The plan was developed with input from a series of workshops held over the summer, said University Architect David J. Neuman.

Some of the plan is already under way. A 20,000-square-foot “swing space,” which will first house the Medical Center’s core laboratories, is under construction near the corner of Lee and West Main streets, as is a new 1,000-space parking facility.
The completion of the parking structure will allow the razing of the 330-space parking garage at the corner of Lee and Jefferson Park Avenue, which also hosts branches of the U.Va. Community Credit Union and Cavalier Computers.

That will be replaced by a new clinical cancer center. The board approved the concept, site and design guidelines for the building on Friday, and also selected the Zimmer-Gunsul-Franca Partnership of Washington as the architect for the project.
Future plans include a children’s hospital at the southeast corner of Jefferson Park Avenue and West Main Street; an addition to McLeod Hall, the home of the School of Nursing; and a new medical education facility.

Casteen on charter, Darden dean In remarks to the board, University President John T. Casteen III said a proposal led by U.Va., the College of William & Mary and Virginia Tech to create “Commonwealth Chartered Universities” has been fairly well-received by state legislators.

Under the proposal, the three universities would agree to forego some increases in future state funding and to expand enrollment in exchange for greater operational autonomy.

“We’re not seeing principled objections to charter,” Casteen said.

Casteen also gave an update on the search to replace Darden School dean Robert S. Harris, whose resignation was announced in September and whose term as dean will end July 31, 2005. A search is underway for his replacement and is expected to take three to four months.

In a similar vein, board member John O. “Dubby” Wynne told the board that the search for a new leader of the University of Virginia Investment Management Company, or UVIMCO, may be nearing an end.

“We’re in the final stages of the search, and it’s been a long search,” said Wynne, who is leading the search committee. The committee is negotiating a contract with a candidate, he said.

UVIMCO has been without a leader since former University Treasurer Alice W. Handy stepped down at the end of 2003.

College at Wise commended After being entertained — and moved — by former U.Va.-Wise chancellor “Papa” Joe Smiddy, the board passed a resolution honoring the former Clinch Valley College on its 50th anniversary.

Smiddy, a folksy biology professor (and part-time banjo player) who was one of the college’s original faculty members before becoming chancellor, expressed his gratitude to the college’s parent institution in an often-humorous speech during the board’s College at Wise Committee meeting.

But he turned serious. Referring to coal companies’ sway over all aspects of life in the region, he said, “You gave us the first institution that was truly free to search for the truth.”

Ernie Ern, the longtime U.Va. faculty member and administrator who is now serving as interim chancellor in Wise, was equally effusive in his praise of Smiddy.

“[The College of Wise] is what it is because of Joe Smiddy — now, 50 years from now, 100 years from now,” he said.

He, too, expressed appreciation for the college’s ties with Charlottesville.
“We’re proud down there,” he said, “and we hope and pray you’ll be proud up here, too.”

Remembering Hereford

The board passed a memorial resolution on honor of Frank L. Hereford Jr., the University’s fifth president, who died Sept. 21. Expressing its “profound sorrow,” the resolution stated that Hereford was “by every measure, … a distinguished and effective President, strengthening and advancing the excellence of this institution.”

— Anne Bromley, Dan Heuchert and Kathleen Valenzi contributed to this article.