As usual, there are almost 3,000 bills filed for consideration by the Virginia General Assembly. And as usual, a couple dozen of those bills would directly affect the University of Virginia.
 Delegate Steve Landes is fighting for “academic freedom” and no instate tuition for illegal immigrants. |
Two of the biggest issues surround access to health and court records, brought on by the Virginia Tech tragedy, and illegal immigrants (or undocumented residents, depending on your orientation on the topic), and whether they ought to receive instate tuition benefits or even admission to state universities. Some bill restricting the access of illegal immigrants to higher ed—basically requiring further documentation—in Virginia is likely to get out of committee, says Delegate Steve Landes (R), vice chair of the education committee whose district includes western Albemarle.
“The house and the house education committee, and I would include myself among those members that feel this way, that higher education should be accessible to everyone, but having the benefit of instate tuition should be available only for legal residents of Virginia.” He says that George Mason has expressed the strongest opposition to such a bill, but that UVA doesn’t seem to be as concerned.
Landes himself introduced a bill requiring state schools to report annually on “academic freedom” to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV), which would issue a report every other year. Last year, he proposed a similar bill that used the phrase “intellectual diversity,” which to some sounded too much like affirmative action for conservatives.
“Everyone seems all right with the way we have it structured this year,” Landes says. “We had incidents that happened last year where students basically said the professor was biased on this or that. The university handles those things, but we don’t always know about them until someone brings it to our attention.” Another bill introduced by Landes would exempt a university president’s working papers and correspondence from the Freedom of Information Act, while another bill would exempt certain fundraising records.
Much of the proposed legislation stands little chance of getting out of committee. HB1011, for instance, would require that 75 percent of students “admitted and enrolled” to state universities have state residency. The bill’s patron, Republican Delegate Tim Hugo, represents Fairfax, and probably wanted to earn points with upper crust parents there frustrated that their little darlings aren’t guaranteed a slot in Charlottesville.
What does UVA have to say about these bills? The University does have staff in Richmond to monitor legislation and speak up if necessary, but spokesperson Carol Wood says via e-mail, “We do not generally comment on legislation that is being presented to the General Assembly.”
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