Study Would Ponder: Does Beach Need New College?
By MATTHEW BOWERS
BY MATTHEW BOWERS
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
RICHMOND – The dream of some Virginia Beach leaders for the city’s own public four-year college made some official progress Tuesday when the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia voted to support a study of whether the school is feasible.
The council unanimously agreed to back a legislative resolution calling for a needs-and-costs analysis of higher education in Virginia’s most populous city. The resolution, HJ625 , was filed Monday by Del. Bob Tata, R-Virginia Beach.
Tata’s proposal initially called for a study committee, including college presidents and lawmakers. A fter the council’s vote Tuesday, however, he said he would amend his proposal to call for the staff of the State Council to conduct the study. If the General Assembly approves his measure, the council could move faster, he said.
If approved, the study could take six to nine months, said Kirsten Nelson, a spokeswoman for the council. Many more political and financial hurdles would have to be cleared before a new school could become a reality.
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf praised Tata for proposing the study.
“I think Bob Tata is responding to the grass-roots effort of the city of Virginia Beach,” Oberndorf said Tuesday.
She said she hoped “the entire delegation will back him on this and lobby the other members of the General Assembly to make sure justice is done for higher education.”
Virginia Beach officials have complained in recent years that the city, which has a population of about 440,000, deserves a full- fledged public university. Virginia Wesleyan College and Regent University are based in the city, but both are private. Old Dominion and Norfolk State universities are among other schools that offer classes at Beach facilities.
ODU, however, met resistance over the past year when it moved to expand into lower-level undergraduate classes at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center . Tidewater Community College, which has a branch next door, argued that most of the new ODU classes unnecessarily duplicated classes it offers at the Beach. ODU eventually moved seven of 11 lower-level courses it had proposed at the Beach this semester to the Norfolk main campus.
The “acrimony” between the two colleges helped spur him to propose the study, Tata said.
“I just want to get it done, to see if there’s a need at the Beach” for a new four-year school, he said.
TCC President Deborah DiCroce welcomed a study but said she’d like to see it expanded “to include all of Hampton Roads.”
If a need is shown for a new or branch college in Virginia Beach, Tata said, ODU should get “first crack at it,” depending on circumstances.
“It’s pretty fertile ground out there,” the Beach delegate said. “It may be others will be interested.”
The process for creating new public colleges varies, said Alan Edwards, the State Council’s policy studies director.
The council must approve branch campuses of existing schools, Edwards said, but the General Assembly must pass legislation to create a new one.
Staff writer Deirdre Fernandes contributed to this report.
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Reach Matthew Bowers at (757) 222-3893 or matthew.bowers @pilotonline.com.
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