Category: Education (higher ed)
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Somebody Call a Waaambulance!
by James A. Bacon Four students who participated in the pro-Gaza encampment protest May 4 are complaining that the University of Virginia is withholding their degrees pending the outcome of University Judiciary Committee hearings into their cases. Go ahead and berate me for my cold, cold heart but I feel zero sympathy for their plight.…
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Ryan’s Testimony All Over the Map
by James A. Bacon Testifying under oath several days ago in a Daily Progress lawsuit to pry open a report into the slaying of three UVA football players, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan elaborated upon his official explanation of why he decided to withhold the report until after the trial of the alleged shooter…
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Youngkin Appointees Now a Majority in Virginia University Boards
by James A. Bacon With the announcement of his third round of appointees to the governing boards of Virginia’s public universities, Governor Glenn Youngkin has ushered in a new era for higher education in Virginia. For the first time in his two-and-a-half years in office, he will enjoy board majorities to back his priorities of…
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Is Something Wrong at UVA Health?
by James A. Bacon An anonymous group of Charlottesville residents has organized to bring attention to issues troubling the $3.3 billion UVA Health division of the University of Virginia. Calling itself Parrhesia — Greek for speaking candidly and freely — the group of “concerned citizens of Charlottesville and patients of UVA Health” portrays the healthcare…
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Lawsuit Details How VMI Has Captured Its Alumni Association
by James A. Bacon Twenty-nine Virginia Military Institute (VMI) alumni have filed suit in federal court against the VMI Alumni Association, alleging that the organization is entwined so tightly with the VMI administration that it operates for the benefit of VMI and not its alumni members. The lawsuit recapitulates numerous controversies between dissident alumni and…
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The Cost of DEI? That’s the Easy Part.
by Dick Hall-Sizemore This whole argument over the cost of DEI at UVa. is a tempest in a teapot in budget terms. Even if one accepts the inflated figure of $20 million put forth by Open the Books, that is less than one percent of UVa.’s adopted budget of $2.40 billion for the academic division…
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Another Rubber-Stamped UVA Budget, But Some Useful Discussion This Time
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia Board of Visitors unanimously approved a $5.9 billion budget for UVA in 2024-25. The $2.4 billion budget for the academic campus in Charlottesville represents a 6.8% spending increase over the current year. The budget also includes $3.3 billion for the UVA medical center and $76 million…
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Acampora Previews Religious-Diversity Recommendations
by James A. Bacon The University of Virginia’s task force on religious diversity and belonging won’t issue formal recommendations until the end of the month, but task force chair Christa Acampora gave the Board of Visitors a preview today of the topics it likely will address. At the top of the list will be integrating…
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Acorn to Oak: “Free” Military Dependent Tuition
By Steve Haner Virginia’s political leaders are embarked upon another of their occasional efforts to clean up their own mess, in this case scrambling to restore a generous tuition waiver at Virginia’s public universities for family members of certain veterans. It is being touted as a benefit for Virginia “gold star families” of the fallen.…
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The Open the Books Webinar
In a recent post Dick Hall-Sizemore, a retired Virginia budget analyst, critiqued the Open the Books methodology for calculating the size and cost of the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion bureaucracy at the University of Virginia. He based his observations in part upon Open the Books CEO Adam Andrzejewski’s explanation provided in the Jefferson Council webinar…
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Study of DEI at UVa is Shoddy Work
by Dick Hall-Sizemore Today I participated in a Zoom webinar with our Jim Bacon and Adam Andrzejewski of Open the Books. The title of the session was “How the Open-Government Movement Can Revolutionize Public Policy At UVA.” In reality, it was a rant against DEI and how UVa is “pushing this radical ideology.” The focus…
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Up, Up, and Away
by James A. Bacon Brace yourselves for another blast of UVA-centric articles, Baconoids and Baconauts. The University of Virginia Board of Visitors meets this week, and I’ll be covering the deliberations. If you’re not interested in all things Wahoo, this might be a good time to take a vacation. On the other hand, if you…
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DePasquale Owes an Apology
by James A. Bacon A year ago, University of Virginia Board member Bert Ellis was called to task for referring — in private text to two fellow board members — to his UVA critics as “numnuts.” He also referred to unnamed employees in President Jim Ryan’s office as “shmucks,” and expressed disappointment in the leadership…
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University of Lynchburg Bites the Bullet
by James A. Bacon In anticipation of shrinking numbers of college-bound students, the University of Lynchburg has taken proactive steps to reduce its cost structure. A small private institution affiliated with the Church of Christ, the university has announced that it is cutting employee headcount by 10%, with further reductions over the next three years.…
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BoV Secretary Edited Board Member’s Scathing Rebuke of Foe
by James A. Bacon Thomas A. DePasquale, an eight-year veteran of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors, is very unhappy with board colleague Bert Ellis. A dogged defender of President Jim Ryan, he took it upon himself in April to write a missive to other board members criticizing Ellis, who has made no secret…