by James A. Bacon
Bert Ellis was mad as hell and wasn’t going to take it anymore. He didn’t reenact Peter Finch playing Howard Beale in his famous rant in the movie “Network.” In fact, he was very calm and deliberate. But he made it clear to the University of Virginia Board of Visitors Thursday that he had run out of patience.
He would refuse to vote in favor of any new spending project until the University got serious about cutting costs, Ellis said.
He proceeded to vote against approving the schematic design for a $50 million parking garage for the University’s Ivy Corridor expansion…. and against approving the addition of a $150-million to $160-million expansion of student housing to the University’s capital spending plan… and against adopting a schematic design for a $315 million center for the arts.
All three proposals were approved overwhelmingly by voice vote. Ellis was the only board member to vote nay, although from my vantage point in the cheap seats it appeared that a couple other board members declined to give their approval, effectively abstaining. Individual votes were not recorded.
“I’m voting no on this project and all other projects presented at this committee meeting,” Ellis said. “Furthermore, I’m going to vote no on any expenditures to be brought to this board until I have seen a ’25-’26 budget for this university that includes significant cuts in administrative expense.”
He’d like to see $200 million slashed from the academic division’s budget, Ellis said. The current budget is about $2.3 billion. He wants to use the resulting savings to lower tuition and fund the university’s athletic programs which are trying to find a way to deal with the NCAA’s settlement to pay college athletes.
Other board members sat in stunned silence. No one responded to Ellis’ remarks, and the presentation of the Buildings & Grounds Committee proceeded as normal.
Ellis and other board members have pressed behind the scenes for cuts to the academic division’s budget, which they say has been afflicted by out-of-control bureaucratic growth. They have been unable to open up a discussion in the Finance Committees, much less in the full board. Despite a majority of board members having been appointed by Governor Glenn Youngkin, the Board agenda is controlled by Rector Robert D. Hardie and Finance Committee Chair Robert M. Blue, who are both Northam-era holdovers. So far, Ellis and other budget hawks have been unable to convert the Youngkin board majority into budget-cutting action.
Although Ellis was the only one to vote against the half-billion-dollar package of building proposals, there was modest pushback from the board.
The student-housing proposal generated considerable discussion, though no outright opposition. The administration proposes building three new dormitories housing 750 to 800 students. The main issue raised by board members was whether there was sufficient student demand to justify building dormitories that would be farther from the university center and student nightlife.
Colette Sheehy, vice president of operations, assured board members that there would be significant demand for the units. Off-grounds student housing is scarce and expensive and puts students under heavy pressure to commit to year-ahead leases. Student housing is 99% occupied. President Jim Ryan added that the new housing would advance the longer-term plan to make student housing mandatory for all second-year students.
The proposal for the center for the arts got a more skeptical reception. The proposal would create a new facility to consolidate the performing arts center, the music department, the Fralin Museum of Art, and the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection. Development of the Center was contingent upon receiving $200 million in state funding, which Sheehy was optimistic would be approved. The balance would be made up from a $20 million donation already committed and additional fundraising.
Provost Ian Baucom argued that the Center would create positive “externalities” — benefits to the community. A high-quality arts center, he said, would help the University and other employers recruit talent who might otherwise be reluctant to move to a small city. Rector Hardie agreed that the facility would be a positive for regional economic development.
However, other board members asked if the arts center was a “need to have” or a “nice to have.” Over and above the up-front capital cost, how much would it add to ongoing operating costs? Baucom responded that sales of tickets and concessions could be expected to cover 60% to 70% of the operating costs, which could run up to $18 million annually.
The biggest surprise to this observer was a comment from John Nau, chair of the Buildings & Grounds Committee who backed the Ryan administration in the controversy over renaming the former Alderman Library. The massive scale of the arts center seemed to conflict with every other building in the Ivy Corridor except a parking garage, he said. “It seems to me the scale is really big. Between now and the next meeting, I’ll be looking for ways to scale this down.”
Board member David Okonkwo said he had concerns about the pedestrian traffic generated by the project across two of Charlottesville’s busiest streets, Ivy Road and Emmett Street.
The Ivy Road Corridor, which encompasses the art center, the Karsh Center for Democracy, the football training facility, the Data Sciences Center, and the proposed dormitories, will create lot of foot traffic, Ryan acknowledged. “It’s inevitable that we’ll need a pedestrian bridge.”
“I don’t think we can take it for granted that the state will dump $200 million into this project,” said board member Stephen P. Long of the art center. The Board, he said, “is responsible for containing costs.”
James A. Bacon is contributing editor of The Jefferson Council. Bert Ellis was a co-founder and president of the Council before he joined the UVA board.
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