MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS
OF VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY
September 16, 1976
A regular meeting of the Board of Visitors of Virginia
Commonwealth University was held on Thursday, September 16, 1976,
at 9:00 a.m. in the Sanger Hall Board Room on the MCV Campus.
Present were Drs. Blanton, Gayle and Gwathmey; Messrs. Dabney,
Grey, Norris, Scott, Seaborn and Shumate; and Mesdames Satterfield,
Stone and Thalhimer. Absent were Messrs. McGehee, Morgan and
Obenshain. Also present were Drs. Brooke, Neal, Temple and Willett;
Mr. Holmes and Mesdames Kincannon and Price.
Dr. Blanton called the meeting to order. Dr. Temple introduced
to the Board Miss Ann L. Cosby who will be joining Dr. Temple's
staff as Assistant to the President.
On Page 3 of the Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board
of Visitors held on May 20, 1976, the last sentence of the fifth
paragraph will now read: "On motion made, seconded and unanimously approved, the administration was requested to ask the
Richmond Academy of Medicine to install their own electric meter
and pay the subsequent charges." On motion made and seconded,
the Minutes of a Regular Meeting of the Board of Visitors, held
May 20, 1976; a Regular Meeting of the Board of Visitors, held
July 15, 1976; a Special Meeting of the Academic Policy Committee,
held July 15, 1976; a Special Meeting of the Property Committee,
held August 6, 1976; and a Special Meeting of the Board of Visitors,
held August 13, 1976; were unanimously approved.
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The Report of the President followed.
Dr. Temple introduced the VCU CASE program which will be
presented to various State officials and to members of the General
Assembly across the State. Mr. James L. Dunn, Mr. William O.
Edwards and Mr. Ralph M. Ware joined the meeting at this time.
The slide show and the oral presentations by Drs. Brooke and Neal
and Messrs. Cribbs and Holmes followed. Following the presentations,
the Board suggested that the use of the term "urban university"
not be excluded from the CASE presentation.
Mrs. Karen C. Kincannon presented her report at this time.
She reported to the Board that Mr. Kramer's attorney had asked
that the University pay his legal fees. Mrs. Kincannon indicated
that it was possible, due to recent Supreme Court rulings, that
the award of attorney fees would be made by the courts. The Board
indicated that they wished to continue with the case. Mrs.
Kincannon also reported that the members of the Board should have
been or would be served with papers concerning the Oslund case.
Mrs. Kincannon presented to the Board three resolutions which
need Board approval dealing with the authority to sign contracts,
agreements, etc. On motion made and seconded, the following
resolutions were unanimously approved:
RESOLVED, that the President and Vice President
for Finance be and they are hereby authorized and
empowered to sign and enter into agreements on
behalf of the Board of Visitors, provided such
contracts and agreements are in furtherance of
established policies of the Commonwealth and of
the University and meet all requirements thereupon
and provided such documents have been reviewed in
advance by the University's Legal Adviser. All
such contracts and agreements shall thereafter be
brought to the attention of the Board at its next
meeting for ratification thereof.
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RESOLVED, that the Provost for Health
Sciences be and he is hereby authorized and
empowered to sign contracts and enter into
agreements on behalf of the Board of Visitors
dealing with the administration and operation
of the Health Sciences Campus and of the MCV
Hospitals, provided such contracts and agree-
ments are in furtherance of established policies
of the Commonwealth and of the University and
meet all requirements thereupon.
and
RESOLVED, that the Associate Vice President
for Research and Graduate Affairs or his delegate
be and he is hereby authorized and empowered to
sign and enter into agreements on behalf of the
Board of Visitors dealing with the application for
and the award of grants and contracts to the
University for research, development, and training,
and performance thereunder; the award of grants and
other monies to other institutions for such research,
development, and training; the securing of patents;
and the award of any other monies to the University
from outside sources, provided such contracts and
agreements are in furtherance of established policies
of the Commonwealth and of the University and meet
all requirements thereupon.
Dr. Gwathmey, Chairman of the Hospital Committee, reported
that the first meeting of his new committee took place earlier.
He indicated that the committee would be working on objectives
and purposes under the Board's new By-Laws.
The Board adjourned for lunch at 12 noon.
Following lunch, Dr. Harland W. Westermann, Dean of the
School of Community Services, joined the meeting for a presentation
of the proposal to create a Center for Public Affairs. Mr. Seaborn
reported that the Academic Policy Committee had met and reviewed
this proposal and recommended it to the Board. Following a discussion, on motion made and seconded, the Center for Public Affairs
was approved with Mrs. Satterfield abstaining.
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Mr. Scott reported on the status of the Audit Review Committee.
Mr. Scott reported that the State Auditor of Public Accounts had
agreed that VCU could employ outside auditors to review present
audit practices and procedures. Mr. Tribble, the State Auditor,
recommended that VCU use the services of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell
and Company since they are currently working on the MCVH accounts.
On motion made and seconded, the Board unanimously approved the
hiring of outside consultants. The "Report on Internal Auditing
at Virginia Universities" is attached to these minutes.
On motion made and seconded, the Report of Gifts, Grants
and Contracts was unanimously approved.
Following a discussion, on motion made and seconded, the
Faculty Appointments and Changes in Status were unanimously
approved.
A discussion on the Special Services program followed.
The Board requested that the administration present a status
report on the Special Services Program at its next meeting.
On majority vote of the Board, an Executive Session was
held.
Dr. Neal presented a status report on the construction and
renovations of MCVH. Following Dr. Neal's presentation, Mr.
James Reynolds, Mr. George Cate and Mrs. Lorena Lemons joined
the meeting and presented the report entitled, "Cost/Benefit
Analysis of Booz, Allen & Hamilton's Assistance to MCVH."
The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m.
REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT
September 16, 1976
1.
University Libraries' Funding
Dr. Temple reported that the University Libraries are the
heart of the University -- library materials serve the vital
needs of the students at the University. For fiscal year
1976-77 VCU Libraries budget totals $2,166,680, down 14
percent from the fiscal year 1975-76 budget total of
$2,522,840. Dr. Temple continued that we had no choice
but to cut the FY 1975-76 funding level for library
materials by 36 percent from $1,042,480 to a FY 1976-77
level of $672,271. Dr. Temple reported that he has had
a conversation with the Secretary of Education and he
believes that VCU Libraries will be exempt from the five
percent reduction.
2.
Commitment of VCU to Young People
Dr. Temple reported that 91 percent of those students
enrolled at VCU are Virginians. In addition, we have
53 foreign students and eleven exchange visitors from
27 countries on both campuses of VCU. These students
come from such countries as Sweden, Nigeria, India, Brazil,
England, etc. Dr. Temple also reported that he had re-
cently met with the MCV Campus Student Government Associa-
tion and they had had a very rewarding meeting.
3.
Annual Fund
Dr. Temple reported that at the beginning of the 1975-76
Annual Fund Campaign, 29,478 VCU alumni were solicited
for contributions to the University. Of these, 1,701 or
5.77 percent responded favorably with contributions totaling
$62,640.29. The average gift from these alumni was $36.83,
while the median gift was $15.00 and the mode $25.00.
4.
Enrollment
Dr. Temple stated that the preliminary fall enrollment on
the Academic Campus is 16,031 or a 3.1 percent increase
over the Fall of 1975. On the MCV Campus the Fall enrollment is 2,377 or a 1.2 percent increase over the Fall of
1975. The total enrollment for the University for the Fall
of 1976 is 18,583 or a 3 percent increase over last fall.
5.
Housing
Dr. Temple reported that we have 196 students housed in
Governor's Square, 85 housed on two floors of the William
Byrd Hotel, 106 housed in the Jefferson Hotel and 45 student
Report of the President (continued) Page 2
5. Housing (continued)
in Rhoads Hall lounges. The students in the Rhoads Hall
lounges have since been moved to fill vacancies in Rhoads
Hall. The toal of student housed on campus (both the Academic
and MCV Campuses) is 2,490. The total number of student
housed off-campus (Governor's Square, etc.) is 297.
6. Evening College Enrollment
Dr. Temple stated that we are on the verge of being the
largest Evening College in the country. We have 6,000
adults in the Evening College and 5,000 day students in
over 900 classes. Registration is in excess of 18,000
students.
7. Merged Computer System
Dr. Temple reported that the conversion and operation of
the merged facility has gone well. Several weeks ago the
no major complaints, Dr. Hamel indicated that he has seen
no major improvement in the service as State ADP indicated
Policy Board of the Merged Facility met and while there were
there would be.
8. Continuing Education Program
Dr. Temple reported that through the continued development
of the Office of Continuing Education and the Capital
Consortium for Higher Education, the University is still
expanding its operations and responding more and more to
continuing education needs. Dr. Temple stated that more
than 22,000 participants were involved in the three areas
of continuing education -- off-campus credit, professional
non-credit and non-credit general public offerings.
REPORT ON INTERNAL AUDITING AT VIRGINIA UNIVERSITIES
As a followup to the actual request by the Audit Review Committee,
I can report the following additional information:
1. The State Auditor of Public Accounts has agreed that VCU
may employ outside auditors to review present audit practices
and procedures. Mr. Tribble reported that following the
audit at the University of Virginia, he has agreed to bringing in outside auditors to be used on audit and internal
control procedures. The accounting firm recommended that
among other things the auditors for the University of Virginia
and VCU be a certified public accounting firm and that they
address their report to the Board of Visitors.
2. Recruitment efforts to staff the internal auditing department
have been intensified. We have two applicants for a Senior
Auditor position and two for the Junior Auditor position.
However, the preferred candidate in the Senior Auditing
position has refused the job on the basis of the salary
ceiling. We plan to seek some upgrading of this position
to thereby make it easier to fill.
3. The procedural recommendations contained in Mr. Holmes'
recommendation to the Audit Review Committee of the Board
of Visitors are being implemented.
4. The Board has requested that a check be made on other
institutions around the State to determine the audit
procedures and what they are doing to insure tighter
control. The University of Virginia and VCU each have
five on the internal auditing staff. Both of these
staffs have been engaging in auditing and specific projects.
There are two auditors at VPI but the staff there is engaged
solely in auditing. Old Dominion has two auditors. They
engage primarily in special projects. William and Mary
has a staff that would equal to three auditors. They solely
engage in auditing with the exception at William and Mary
where the internal auditing staff reports to the President
though the outside auditing staff reports to the Central
Finance Officer or Controller.
September 15, 1976
Approved:Page 5
