"Reading between the lines, it appears from Sullivan's strategic plan that one of the things she wanted to do was to "implement a budget system" that would "get the resources re-aligned properly" by re-allocating a higher percentage of profits from the "silos" (read Darden and the law school) back to the College."
100% wrong. Whatever Sullivan was referring to had nothing to do with Law and Darden.
The law and biz schools have had their own signed contracts about the details of their financial self-sufficiency deals for years now. Both of those schools have raised money and completely re-jiggered their enrollments, tuition levels and capital projects on the basis of those agreements. Part of those deals is the revenue stream that those schools pay UVA, which have been paid for many years now. In the law school's case, it pays 10% of tuition to the University. There's no other "profit" that the University can try to clawback from the professional schools.
Last edited by northwesty; 06-15-2012 at 03:31 PM.
yes, the alumni association sent out a notice saying they had set up a site where alums could provide comments, which they will forward to the Board. the site crashed because it was overwhelmed with comments.
There is a hilarious tumblr that just got posted on my facebook news feed. I obviously can't link to it here, but it's a "Final Exam for University of Virginia Board of Visitors"... you can google that to get there
Also, I know that this thread is mostly/entirely people upset with the decision, but has anyone heard of positive support for the ousting? I had 1 friend on facebook post about how great Casteen was and such linking to an article, but other than that none of my friends have been supportive of it. To be fair, I lived in Brown College, and at my time there, BC wasn't a big Casteen fan. So I have a skewed set of friends. But I wonder if anyone is seeing a different reaction?
The link to the Alumni comment page just worked from this site, also.
hazel, my experience in situations like this is that those in agreement largely keep quiet. When, as here, the likelihood of the decision being overturned is so slight, most don't see a need to go public with their views. Also, with the reasons for the decision largely unknown, there is little to agree with. Many of the complaints being voiced are with the procedure used and not the substance of the decision.
The Honor Men
by James Hay Jr.*
The University of Virginia writes her highest degree on the souls of her sons. The parchment page of scholarship-the colored ribbon of a society-the jeweled emblem of a fraternity-the orange symbol of athletic prowess-all these, a year hence, will be at the best mementos of happy hours-like the withered flower a woman presses between the pages of a book for sentiment's sake.
But...
If you live a long, long time, and hold honesty of conscience above honesty of purse:
And turn aside without ostentation to aid the weak;
And treasure ideals more than raw ambition;
And track no man to his undeserved hurt;
And pursue no woman to her tears;
And love the beauty of noble music and mist-veiled mountains and blossoming valleys and great monuments-
If you live a long time and, keeping the faith in all these things hour by hour, still see that the sun gilds your path with real gold and that the moon floats in dream silver;
Then...
Remembering the purple shadows of the lawn, the majesty of the colonnades, and the dream of your youth, you may say in reverence and thankfulness:
"I have worn the honors of Honor, I graduated from Virginia"
The personal attacks on some of the members on the BOV and others, the accusations of greed, and the conspiracies espoused here and in the greater media are very troubling.
The decision was nothing less than a coup. Faculty leaders were all kept in the dark about it, no one in the community was consulted, a formal boardroom vote was never even called-- an entirely un-Jeffersonian thing to do -- I think we have every right to accuse the BoV of cowardice and malice.
oldgrad -- when Casteen's predecessor was ushered out, were there prior discussions with the faculty? Was the action otherwise "transparent"? I don't know and am wondering if you do.
At this point, there is absolutely no basis on which to form an opinion on whether Sullivan should/should not have been fired.
She had a great resume, the circumstances are strange and the BOV has not (and likely will not and cannot) say what the actual reason was. I will have an opinion once I know (i) what the reason was and (ii) who the permanent replacement is.
I'd speculate that (i) I'd tend to agree with Sullivan's circa 2010 agenda/vision for UVA, (ii) the BOV fired Sullivan because that agenda/vision wasn't practical/realistic circa 2012, and (iii) the reason why that wasn't realistic wasn't because of the BOV but because of the realities being imposed on UVA by Richmond -- no more state money (even though UVA gets less state support than its peers), no more OOS enrollment allowed (which is how UM, UCLA and Cal are getting by), more in-state enrollment required, no tuition increases, grant more degrees, focus on STEM. So I blame this on Richmond's agenda; the BOV was just the messenger.
All of those requirements cut against a lot of what UVA (and also W&M) traditionally has been. As compared to most state flagships, UVA has been relatively small, more national, more selective, focused on the humanities more than engineering and science. UVA has been a "public ivy" with the emphasis (at least in the eyes of UVA grads) on the ivy part. Awesome at lacrosse but lousy at football.
Tech, in contrast, seems to be more in line with Richmond's agenda and is more typical of what most state U's look like -- bigger, less expensive to attend, more local/regional, land grant/ag school heritage which translates today into more of a focus on STEM. And good at football...
Last edited by northwesty; 06-15-2012 at 04:57 PM.
"Friday 6/15 update: Things continue to go badly with the Sullivan firing. Apparently the University Board was pressuring Sullivan to allocate more financial resources to the Medical School and the Business School, and to spend less money on classes in the Humanities area."
It appears the BOV isn't as concerned about humanities undergraduates as in professional education. Perhaps UVA is about to make a big change in it's focus?
^ Not to be rude, but that doesn't look like an exceptionally reputable news source.
Quote:
Gather is the place where millions of people come for a fresh perspective on what's happening now. Gather members can share their own views and join in conversations with others who share their interests.
