NATIONAL Vol. 13 No. 3 Summer 2005 Published by The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education Virginia Tries FOR CROSST DENNIS BRACK, BLACK STAR, Restructuring Financial stress leads to new arrangements between state and campuses By Robert A. Jones dent described the state as delivering ALK RICHMOND,VIRGINIA “grievous wounds” to the campuses. The HROUGH MUCH of the last director of the state’s Council on Higher decade, Virginia’s public universi- T ties have served as a kind of Virginia Governor canary-in-the-coal-mine for higher educa- tion systems undergoing financial stress. Mark Warner recently Few have suffered as much as Virginia’s, signed legislation and many watched to see if the canary would wither under the strain. reconfiguring the Beginning in the ’90s, the state legisla- entire relationship ture repeatedly cut financial support to the campuses, once whacking 22 percent from between Virginia’s State Senator John H. Chichester, a Republican, worked with Democratic the higher education budget in a two-year Governor Mark Warner to restructure Virginia higher education. period. Governors alternately froze and public universities then rolled back tuition, occasionally using and the state. sane, ideological, odd thinking” in Rich- tween the campuses and the state, offering the universities as a political whipping boy. mond. new financial formulas and giving un- Virginia’s reputation as a nurturer of Education departed his post, saying any Now, however, there are signs that the precedented autonomy to some institu- excellence in higher education teetered on more time on the job would amount to poisoned atmosphere of the last decade tions. It has been heralded by some as a collapse. “cruel and unusual punishment.” A dean may be lifting. This spring Governor Mark potential model for other states facing The despair expressed by education at the University of Virginia said the starv- Warner, a Democrat, signed legislation re- similar dilemmas and has inspired the first officials was notable. One college presi- ing of public institutions represented “in- configuring the entire relationship be- continued on page 14 ROBIN NELSON, BLACK STAR, FOR CROSST ROBIN NELSON, BLACK STAR, Georgia’s Odd Couple In This Issue Can two foundations share a university without driving each other crazy? AXEL KOESTER FOR CROSST By Don Campbell Foundation, appears to be more firmly ensconced than ever. He has taken a direct ATHENS, GEORGIA hand in choosing trustees for the new 30- IGHER EDUCATION’S ver- member Arch Foundation, even as ALK sion of the Hatfields and McCoys trustees of the old foundation debate their Hmight be over. After two years of future. ALK relentless warfare, the University of Geor- A university with two major founda- gia and the UGA Foundation that had tions is an unusual arrangement, and the served it for 68 years have divorced —this way it came about is a case study in how time for good. The university has taken a communications and cooperation can get new partner, called the Arch Foundation, trampled in a power play. A university gov- to raise money for the university’s acade- erning board smacked down a foundation that was attempting to exercise authority it Although squabbles didn’t have, and the best efforts by outside parties to mediate were largely ignored. University of Georgia President between universities Although squabbles between universi- Michael Adams survived an ouster ties and foundations are not unusual, the and foundations are attempt by the university’s foundation. outright firing of a foundation apparently is not unusual, the unprecedented, prompting Tom Ingram, er persuading his boss, the board of re- outright firing of a the president of the Association of Gov- gents, to do his bidding. erning Boards of Universities and Colleges The truth is probably somewhere in foundation is (AGB), to call the Georgia situation “an between, but it is hard to find anyone in HE SUCCESSFUL fundraising unprecedented. aberration—thank goodness.” Georgia who is both informed and objec- Tefforts of Steve Sample, USC The players in this long-running saga tive. The mood of those who will talk president since 1991, have enabled the tend toward two extreme views: 1) It was a about it runs to anger, disappointment, Los Angeles institution to move into mic programs. Meanwhile, the old founda- case of a small group of foundation frustration and weariness. the front rank among American tion will continue to manage the univer- trustees with money or connections and a While Adams and the regents may research universities. Sample also has sity’s $475 million endowment and share a penchant for secrecy trying to topple a uni- have come out winners, the full cost of the stressed improvements in USC’s staff with the new foundation. versity president; or 2) It was a case of a controversy may not be known for years. undergraduate program. (See page 3.) UGA President Michael Adams, the profligate and manipulative university pre- The fight has already cost the UGA Foun- target of several trustees on the UGA sident obsessed with salary, perks and pow- continued on page 6 Page 2 CROSSTALK NEWS FROM THE CENTER SPECIAL New Board Member INSERT AXEL KOESTER FOR CROSST Board of Directors oanne Corday Kozberg, a James B. Hunt Jr. member of the University “State Capacity for CHAIRMAN Jof California Board of Garrey Carruthers Regents, has joined the board of Higher Education Policy” VICE CHAIRMAN directors of the National Center —the insert enclosed in this Patrick M. Callan for Public Policy and Higher PRESIDENT Education. ALK issue of National CrossTalk— Robert H. Atwell Ms. Kozberg is a partner in Dennis A. Collins was approved by the Board of Ramon C. Cortines California Strategies, a public Dolores E. Cross affairs consulting firm. From 1999 Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr. through 2002 she was president Directors of the National Center Virginia B. Edwards and chief operating officer of the for Public Policy and Higher James M. Furman Music Center of Los Angeles Matthew H. Kisber Charles E.M. Kolb County. From 1993 to 1998 she Education in June 2005. Joanne C. Kozberg was California’s secretary of state Arturo Madrid and consumer services. She has Robert H. McCabe been a UC regent since 1998. Jack Scott Ms. Kozberg received her Thomas J. Tierney Uri Treisman bachelor’s degree in history from Deborah Wadsworth UC Berkeley and earned a mas- Harold M. Williams ter’s degree in public policy from Virginia B. Smith Occidental College. N FOUNDING DIRECTOR Patrick M. Callan President Joni E. Finney Vice President William Trombley Senior Editor Daphne Borremeo Assistant to the Vice President for Communications LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Jill A. De Maria Privileged lords of the students at Medgar Evers are enrolled in has not been eliminated. Of the many Director of Publications and Web Production associate’s degree, not bachelor’s degree, studies on achievement gaps, one re- Jennifer Delaney universe? programs.” In fact, student enrollment for search finding remains constant: Minority Policy Analyst Editor—Your article in the Spring 2005 the Spring 2005 semester totaled 5,321 stu- students bear an inordinate share of the Holly Earlywine issue of National CrossTalk —“Where the dents, with 1,521 students—approximately burden of inadequate schooling. As a Accounting Manager Boys Aren’t”—was an eye-opener. I sug- 28 percent—enrolled in four-year pro- minority-serving college, we support our Young Kim Policy Analyst gest one reason why Tom Mortenson’s grams. This error of fact misrepresents the “highly nontraditional” minority student Gail Moore campaign to draw public attention to this deep commitment of the faculty, adminis- population by designing and implement- Director of Administration and Special Projects issue has had so little response. tration and staff of within CUNY, without ing multiple programs that promote stu- Sue Murphy Mortenson’s data on the declining rep- regard to the challenges it may face as an dent success. Our College of Freshman Assistant to the Vice President resentation of young males in higher edu- institution serving a historically under- Studies is one such example. Its success Mikyung Ryu Senior Policy Analyst cation are of the kind that often inspires served population. has been acknowledged by our selection loud allegations of discrimination and Todd Sallo The creation of Medgar Evers College as one of twelve “Founding Institutions” Editing and Production, National CrossTalk oppression. The identity of the alleged is unlike that of any other college within participating in the national “Foundations Noreen Savelle oppressors depends on the nature of the the City University system. Established in of Excellence in the First College Year” Executive Assistant victimized group, but at the intersection of response to a unique coalition of commu- project. Sponsored by the Policy Center Michael Usdan most sets of oppressors lies the set of nity leaders, educators and local politicians, on the First Year of College and AASCU, Senior Fellow straight, white (and, for the French, the College has continued its mission of the project will develop a national model Andrea Venezia Senior Policy Analyst and Project Director Anglo-Saxon) males who are commonly meeting the educational and social needs of excellence for the first college year. Shawn R. Whiteman thought of as the privileged lords of the of central Brooklyn, characterized as a Emphasizing “traditional” indicators of Assistant Director of Administration and Assistant universe. It is thus awkward, to say the low-income, minority area, with low educa- success without understanding the com- Production Manager least, to find that set comprising a major tional attainment rates and high unemploy- plex relationships between income, race, segment of a group that clearly needs pub- ment. The college has a proud history of first-generation students, and other factors National CrossTalk is a publication of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education.