Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 11, 1990 TAG: 9005110159
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE and DANIEL HOWES NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Citizens for Regional Progress, a coalition of real estate developers, bankers and other business people, wants the university to boost enrollment from its current 23,000 students to 30,000 within the next 15 years.
The 21-member group plans to lobby the General Assembly for funding and legislation that would help Tech expand in Blacksburg, restaurateur Bill Ellenbogen said.
But Tech officials, citing a worsening space crunch and tight budgets, have said repeatedly that they can not handle more than 25,000 students in Blacksburg.
Officials from the University of Virginia and Tech have proposed building an undergraduate college in Northern Virginia that would emphasize global issues and public service in its curriculum.
Woodrow Wilson College would help state education planners cope with a projected increase of 36 percent in college-bound high school graduates by 2004.
The proposed school also would raise Tech's profile in the state's fastest-growing area, a top priority of President James McComas.
"Some people in the community don't believe the university is necessarily doing the right thing," Ellenbogen said. "We're not a rabble-rousing group. We have an intellectual disagreement with Tech over its future growth."
The group sees Tech's land-grant mission as educating more students at the Blacksburg campus.
"We feel an institution like Tech can't become too exclusive. If it does, it no longer fulfills its mission," Ellenbogen said.
Tech, however, sees its mission more broadly - to serve the entire state through such new ventures as the Hotel Roanoke, the Graduate Center of the Roanoke Valley and a reorganized extension division, as well as ongoing research in water resources, coal and agriculture.
Ellenbogen said he has met several times with McComas about the group's plans and will present Tech with a formal position paper Monday. The group will unveil its plans at a May 18 dinner to be attended by Tech and Blacksburg officials.
"What these people don't understand is that Tech is going to grow," one Tech administration official said. "McComas has said that. So Tech wants to grow . . . but in different ways than we have in the past."
The largest employer west of Richmond, Tech is a major economic force in Southwest Virginia, with an annual payroll of some $275 million.
As such, Ellenbogen said, decisions about the university's future should not just be left to "a few in Burruss Hall," but should involve the entire community, including town residents and Tech's 2,000-member faculty.
"They have called for input into the process, and we hope they truly want it," he said.
Darrel Martin, a Tech spokesman, said the university welcomes talks with the group about Tech's future, but "whether or not we reach consensus remains to be seen."
Pointing to Tech's broad student-teacher ratio, Martin said the university is committed to containing class size - already the largest in the state - to achieve the best possible education for the students.
Instead of increasing enrollment, Tech officials first want to gain funding for new academic buildings and additional faculty and staff. This year, officials asked the legislature for the go-ahead to hire 108 more professors, but only eight were approved.
"We want Tech to grow," Ellenbogen said. "But we want Tech to have the resources to grow. We don't want them to just stick [students] out on the lawn and educate them."
That's where the coalition of New River Valley business leaders comes in.
Earlier this year, the General Assembly passed legislation allowing state colleges and universities to lease property to private businesses to develop university-related facilities. Ellenbogen, citing the new law, said the private sector can develop buildings for Tech more cheaply than the state.
Harry Hunt, president of Snyder Hunt Corp. said his company would be interested in erecting office buildings on Tech's campus.
"Sure, we're willing to do anything that's positive, and something like that, sure," said Hunt, whose company is Blacksburg's largest developer.
In December, Tech officials said Hunt - who plans to build another 700 apartments in Blacksburg over the next 15 years - suggested the university convert its dormitories to office space and house its students off campus.
Thursday, Hunt acknowledged that many businesses, including his company, would benefit from student population growth in Blacksburg, but dismissed contentions that was the group's goal.
"That's bunk. We're just good businessmen doing basic Economics 101."
Citizens for Regional Progress, he said, is simply joining other organizations which promote economic development in Southwest Virginia. He said the new group has been in touch with such groups as the Regional Partnership of Roanoke Valley.
by CNB