When I asked if a reader would be willing to compile the educational background of Virginia’s House of Delegates members, Carol Bova responded to the call. Thanks, Carol! This list is meant to accompany a list, published yesterday, of state senators’ school ties.
Here is the logic behind my color coding. Light blue indicates that a delegate has attended a private Virginia college or university, hence has had at least a tangential involvement with Virginia higher ed. The medium blue indicates that a delegate has attended a public university, reflecting a deeper connection to Virginia’s state-supported system of higher education. The dark blue indicates undergraduate attendance at a Virginia college or university. In my experience people feel the strongest ties to schools they attended as undergraduates.
Elaborating upon the hypothesis advanced in “Legislators, School Ties and Funding,” that legislators are more likely to approve state support for higher ed if they attended a public university, I would expect, all other factors being equal, the strongest support to come from elected officials with the strongest ties to the institutions receiving the funding.
If anyone has any ideas of how to correlate these school ties with critical votes cast, let me know.
