AS A MEMBER of the Board of Visitors, I feel it is important to my understanding of student opinion that I read The Cavalier Daily's editorials and I manage to do so online almost every day. I do not always agree with the opinions of The Cavalier Daily's Managing Board, but I do find them to be a useful gauge of wider student opinion. And, that is why I feel compelled to respond to the Valentine's Day lead editorial - "Warner? You must be joking" - in which the decision to invite Gov. Mark R. Warner to be the speaker at Final Exercises was roundly criticized.
The long-time chair of the committee who invited Warner is Sandy Gilliam, the Secretary to the Board of Visitors, and one of the most dedicated servants to the University one could ever hope to find. Sandy Gilliam also is the Board's unofficial historian and a fervent believer in the continued observance of the University's traditions. One of those traditions is that a new governor automatically is invited to speak at the first Final Exercises of his term. One must assume (because it was long before my time) that the tradition originated in a desire on the part of the University to curry favor with each new governor.
And so, when the committee extended the invitation to Warner, it was merely observing a long-standing tradition that they felt honor bound to continue despite their personal feelings about the governor. I do not believe that they should be faulted for that.
As The Cavalier Daily points out, however, there may be reasons for the University to depart from this tradition on occasion. Thus, The Cavalier Daily proposed what is, in effect, a "Yankee Carpetbagger Exception" to this tradition. As The Cavalier Daily points out, Warner was not born in Virginia, did not attend the University and received no degrees (even honorary) from the University (although he did have the common sense to marry a U.Va. woman, which should count for something). And, these criticisms are accurate, Mark Warner was born in Indiana, attended George Washington University and - horrors - Harvard Law School. To synthesize The Cavalier Daily's editorial, why the heck is this "yankee carpetbagger" being invited to speak at U.Va. even if he happened to be elected governor (albeit principally because of voters living north of the Rappahannock in Union-occupied territory)?
Indeed, The Cavalier Daily even skillfully rebuts the argument that the University must curry favor with the new governor. After all, what sense does it make to curry favor with a governor who wants to (1) levy a 5 percent "brain tax" on all University students; (2) eliminate the 2 percent pay raises due to University employees; and (3) cut $343 million in state support for Virginia universities and colleges over the next biennium budget. How much more damage could Warner do to the University if we did not invite him to speak? (I guess he could close the University, but somehow I think even the current General Assembly, in between purging former Gov. James S. Gilmore III's friends from various boards and commissions, would stop that).
Of course, the problem with the "Yankee Carpetbagger Exception" to the general rule that the University invite new governors to speak at Final Exercises, is that every now and then, the Commonwealth might get one that, for various reasons (such as marriage to a U.Va. graduate or having a child at U.Va.), is favorably predisposed to helping the University. The problem is being able to recognize such a governor when he or she is coming along.
Thus, I propose the "Ross Rule" as a corollary to The Cavalier Daily's "Yankee Carpetbagger Exception" to the general rule that the University invite new governors to speak at Final Exercises. The "Ross Rule" would trump the "Yankee Carpetbagger Exception" whenever a new governor who has never attended the University commits at least $20 million in general funds revenue, previously uncommitted to the University, for purposes of constructing a new building in the College of Arts and Sciences. I intend to propose at the next Board meeting that the Board accept The Cavalier Daily's criticism of this particular University tradition and formally amend the tradition to incorporate the "Yankee Carpetbagger Exception" as modified by the "Ross Rule."
Do no let it ever be said that the Board of Visitors does not listen to student opinion.
(Terrence P. Ross is a member of the Board of Visitors.)
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