Tag: James A. Bacon
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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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Bad Blood in the Virginia Beach GOP
by James A. Bacon I was fully prepared to believe the worst when I dipped into a Virginian-Pilot article about an indictment filed against Laura Hughes, chairwoman of the Virginia Beach Republican party. According to the Pilot, she was charged with the felony of “intercepting wire communications.” Another case of politicians behaving badly! It has…
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Virginia’s Interstate Hell Hole
At a meeting this week of the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), reports Radio IQ, Director Justin Brown brought up what the radio station deemed a “troubling” point regarding the horrendous, worst-in-the-country traffic congestion on Interstate 95 between Northern Virginia and Richmond: the express lanes designed to alleviate traffic are run by a…
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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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Auditing AI
by James A. Bacon This is an issue that every university, corporation or government entity, not just the University of Virginia, should be thinking about: How will Artificial Intelligence affect their accounting, finances, and operations? AI overlords aren’t likely to enslave the human race any time soon. But the technology is progressing at a logarithmic…
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Cell Phone Ban Working in Chesapeake
by James A. Bacon Chesapeake public schools banned cell phones and tablets in school for most of the school day and now report to The Virginian-Pilot that students are less disruptive and paying more attention in class. The rule enacted this year requires devices to be stored in a bag, locker or vehicle during school…
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UVA as Entrepreneurial Hub?
by James A. Bacon Does the University of Virginia have what it takes to become an engine of technological innovation and entrepreneurial wealth creation? Mike Lenox, professor of entrepreneurship at the Darden School of Business, thinks that it does. James Murray, a venture capitalist specializing in telecommunications and information technology, isn’t so sure. They engaged…
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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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Anarchy Is Loosed Upon the World
by James A. Bacon Everything that’s wrong with politics in America has been on display in Central Virginia this past week. Militants from the deep-blue Peoples Republic of Charlottesville and activists from one of the reddest congressional districts in the country collided like flint and rock. Republican candidates for Congress continued their fratricidal struggle over…
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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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So Much Privilege, So Much Self Pity
Sometimes schadenfreude is the best freude of all. It seems that the Democracy-dies-in-darkness people are feeling a little darkness themselves. Since 2020, The Washington Post has experienced a 50% decline in its audience, and the enterprise lost $70 million last year. Seventy-million dollars? Hey, that’s real money even to WaPo owner Jeff Bezos, one of…
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The Economic Value of Living Shorelines
by James A. Bacon Every so often I find myself in agreement with new environmental initiatives. Not those relating to climate change that require the re-engineering of Virginia’s energy economy in the vain hope of slowing down global warming. And not in zero-risk regulations such as the landfilling of coal ash at a cost of…
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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…