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RICH SUGG/MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Friday, March 19, 2010
An independent, student-run newspaper serving the Virginia Tech community since 1903
www.collegiatetimes.com
COLLEGIATETIMES 107th year, issue 32
News, page 2
BOV to consider Oak Lane expansion GORDON BLOCK news reporter An expansion of the Oak Lane community, along with changes to Virginia Tech’s weapons and interim suspension policies, are on the agenda as the university’s Board of Visitors meets this weekend. The Finance and Audit Committee and the Buildings and Grounds Committee are considering approval of a new Phase IV space to the Oak Lane community. The cost of the houses would be split between the Greek chapters and university. Greek chapters will pay about a third of the cost of the project to the Virginia Tech Foundation, while the university would take on the rest of the cost. The proposed houses would range in cost from about $2 million-$4 million each. “We won’t actually know that until the designs are completed, and we know what the corporations want to build,” said Sherwood Wilson, vice president of administrative services. Ed Spencer, vice president for student affairs, said that the expansion could be seen as a discount for the university. “It is the same thing as building a new residence hall,” Spencer said. “Instead of having the whole cost of project, we’ll save a third of the costs of each house.” Funding for the project will come from auxiliary revenue from Tech’s residential programs. The university hopes to get the Board’s approval for $23.5 million in support for the project. Tech would own the new houses, and the Greek chapters would be the primary residents of the houses. While a chapter losing its charter would lose its house, it would have the ability to regain it own house upon it reapproval. Currently, the three Greek chapters that have signed onto the space are Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Chi, and Beta Theta Pi. Robert Sowell, a junior economics major and president of Tech’s chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, said the proposed move to an on-campus residency has sparked much debate between fraternity brothers. “There’s a lot of push back,” Sowell said. “We’ve been in our house for 40 years.” Sowell said the house’s age has impacted its value. “Being so old, it’s hard to justify continually putting money into the house,” Sowell said. “It’s like putting money into a black hole. We’re just not getting as much return out of it.” While only three chapters have formally expressed interest in the first space, the new Phase IV area at full capacity could hold 17 chapter houses. The proposed expansion of the Phase IV housing area may threaten the existence of the Virginia Tech Golf Course. While the newly proposed space can sustain five houses, any additional houses would stretch over to land used by the golf course, effectively ending the course’s use. “We’re trying to avoid doing that until we have to,” Spencer said. A member of Sigma Chi, Spencer said the proposed addition would bring a short-term increase in quality of life for Greek students, along with a longterm increase in alumni loyalty and contributions. “Greeks are the biggest donors of all,” Spencer said. The Student Affairs and Athletics Committee will consider two changes to university policy for students, one regarding the storage of ammunition in on-campus residence halls and the other based on the administration of interim suspensions. The proposed change to Tech’s weapons policy would bar students from storing ammunition in oncampus residence halls. Currently, students are not allowed to store firearms. The proposed change for ammunition would leave exceptions for the storage of BBs and paint balls. The resolution would also prohibit the storage of stun weapons, defined as “any device that emits a momentary or pulsed output... designed to temporarily incapacitate a person.” Rohsaan Settle, associate director for the Office of Student Conduct, will make the proposal to the board and said it could be considered a matter of see BOARD / page two
Features, page 4
Opinions, page 5
Sports, page 8
Classifieds, page 6
Sudoku, page 6
Softening the crash University alters investment plan, withstands economic downturn CALEB FLEMING news staff writer Virginia Tech’s endowment performance saw a $78 million decline in assets, or 14 percent, despite being labeled as one of the nation’s best-managed endowments. Tech’s performance was ranked second in the country behind Washington State University, according to John Cusimano, Tech’s associate treasurer for investments and debt management. Endowments become especially important in times of financial distress when they are often used to offset some potential tuition increases. The ranking is a product of an analysis conducted by 24/7 Wall Street, a financial blog. The blog used figures released by Commonfund, an investment firm for universities and other nonprofit organizations, and the National Association of College and University Business Officers to compute its rating system. As of December 31, 2009, the preliminary market value of all endowments held by the Virginia Tech Foundation totaled $470 million. Furthermore, the $470 million consists of 34.4 percent Global Equities, 10.5 percent Real Assets, 24.6 percent Marketable Alternative Assets, 14.2 percent NonMarketable Alternative Assets, 10.9 percent U.S. Fixed Income and 5.4 percent cash. Tech’s high ranking, in conjunction with its 14 percent decline in endowed assets, is indicative of a national trend in which both public and private universities have been hurt by the nation’s recession. “In the past several years we have seen a significant drop in the value of endowments with the drop in the economy and the market,” said Paul Hassen, vice president for public affairs of the Association of Public and Land Grand Universities. The average investment return in uni-
versity endowments was a negative 18.7 percent in the 2008-2009 fiscal year that saw endowments nationwide experience their worst losses since the Great Depression. “All sources of revenue pretty much dried up at once and still are dry,” said John Griswold, executive director of Commonfund Institute. “Many bonds basically stopped trading, and even if you had liquid treasuries, not many endowments carried those kinds of investments so they were depleted pretty quickly to transfer money over to the operating budget.” Griswold noted that the decline of endowments, while serious, is not catastrophic. “Endowments are there to provide annual steady income, hopefully growing overtime,” Griswold said. “They are often there as rainy day funds, and (last year) it was pouring. It was a very difficult year in all areas.” Universities tap into their endowment funds during a recession at the same time one would see tuition raised, much like Tech has been forced to do in recent years. At Tech, Cusimano said shifts in investment strategy, or diversification, minimized risk and maximized return. “We resisted the urge to leverage the fund during an extended period of low return expectations,” Cusimano said. “We maintained a relatively small amount of illiquid assets, and we converted our fixed income allocation to all U.S. Treasury and Agency securities prior to the market correction.” Leveraging the fund during an extended period of low return expectations could have given the university more bang for its buck, but also runs the risk of the investment moving against the university and creating a loss much more significant than if the investment had not been leveraged. Illiquid assets are investments that are difficult to sell and must be converted into cash quickly because of uncertainty surrounding its value and infrequent trading.
Best and Worst University Endowments
2010
TOP 10 BEST Institution
Percentage Loss
1. Washington State 2. Virginia Tech 3. University of Utah 4. NC State 5. College of William and Mary 6. Pepperdine 7. Dalhousie 8. Georgia Institute of Technology 9. McGill 10.University of Missouri
Absolute Dollar $59 million $78 million $81 million $81 million $85 million $27 million $50 million $27 million $118 million $143 million
9 14 14 15 15 14 14 8 13 14
TOP 10 WORST Institution
Percentage Loss
1. Harvard 2. Yale 3. Duke 4. Brown 5. Syracuse 6. University of Minnesota 7. Cornell 8. University of Southern California 9. California Institute of Technology 10.Grinnell
30 29 28 27 33 27 26 26 26 27
Absolute Dollar $10.9 billion $6.5 billion $1.7 billion $730 million $327 million $312 million $1.4 billion $918 million $483 million $396 million SOURCE: 24/7WALLSTREET.COM
By maintaining a standard of liquidity, the university was hurt less by the market failures in 2008. U.S. Treasury and Agency securities are often safe investments because they are debt obligations backed by the United States government for a specified time period. Treasury securities are considered to be very safe, and essentially guarantee that interest and the original amount of the investment will be paid on time. By making changes to investment plans, Cusimano said the university should be able to effectively capitalize on future opportunities and continue its relative recent invest-
ment success. And in its method of diversification, Tech is not alone. Griswold said in the last decade, Commonfund has seen many universities make moves in this direction. “The purpose is to find a strategy or asset class that doesn’t move at the same time in the same direction as stocks and bonds,” Griswold said. “Now, you still have to do all the usual work on monitoring and performing good risk management so you don’t fall prey to unusual risks, particularly fraud and also risks you didn’t anticipate.” see ENDOWMENT / page two
Young college student prevented from studying abroad KATHLEEN MEGAN mcclatchy newspapers HARTFORD, Conn. — To Colin Carlson, it’s clearly a case of discrimination. As a double-degree honors student with a 3.9 grade point average at the University of Connecticut, he was a natural candidate for an African ecology course offered this semester that involved a summer field study in South Africa. In fact, when he decided to go to UConn, it was partly because this course particularly addressed his interests in the interplay between culture and the environment. However, Colin, a prodigy, is 13 years old. And he believes that the professor who is teaching the course turned him down last fall because of his youth. His mother, Jessica Offir, offered to pay her own way on the trip to chaperone Colin and to release the university from any liability, but the university response remained a firm “no.” Colin, who plans to earn a doctoratedegreeandthenalawdegree, says, “If you don’t feel comfortable taking a 13-year-old just because you don’t, then it’s the same thing as if you don’t feel comfortable having a black student on your trip or having a woman on your trip. “If you can’t teach any student that the university deems capable
MICHAEL MCANDREWS/MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS
Colin Carlson claims age discrimination is holding him back. of taking your class and teaching them, then you shouldn’t be teaching. You can’t pick and choose your students based on personal comfort.” Colin and his mother, Jessica Offir, contend that the decision violates the university’s anti-discrimination policy and state and federal civil rights law. The Coventry family has filed a complaint with the university’s Office of Diversity and Equity and with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. Mike Kirk, spokesman for the university, said he can’t comment
on cases where litigation may be involved. However, he said, when it comes to trips abroad, “generally speaking, student safety is our number one concern.” If his mother accompanies him on the trip, Colin doesn’t see any reason for the university to worry about his safety any more than other students. “Yes, something could happen,” he said. “I could get eaten by a lion, but I am at just the same risk as any other student.” If the university believes it’s unsafe for him, Colin said, “by that logic, no one should be going on the trip and UConn should
not be offering a study abroad program.” Colin started taking courses at UConn at age 9 and matriculated as a freshman last year. He has excelled at UConn, and professors who have worked with him have nothing but praise for both his academic talents and his ability to get along easily with other students. His lawyer, Michael H. Agranoff, said that although it appears that Colin’s age was the reason he was not allowed into the course, it is not clear exactly why his age is a problem. “Given the fact that UConn did accept him,” said Agranoff, “I’m not sure yet what UConn’s problem really is.” After he was turned down for the African field ecology course, Colin was admitted to another ecology and evolutionary biology course that also involves field study in South Africa. But that course focuses on plants rather than animals, which are his greater interest. In addition, because he applied late for the course — delayed while waiting to hear whether he was accepted into the African field ecology course — there was no grant money left. He expects that his family will have to pay his way at close to $4,000, plus the cost of his mother’s travel expenses. Colin fears now that the uni-
versity might find a way to keep him from going on this field trip, as well. Offir said, “We are willing to do anything and everything to assuage their fears on the liability front.” Colin said he also fears that his financial aid might be in jeopardy. Until now, Colin said, his education has gone smoothly at UConn, and he has enjoyed it greatly. “I’d like to say that I am really shocked that the university would behave this way. I don’t go looking for fights. I’m generally a very agreeable person,” he said. Professor Carl Schlichting, the professor who has agreed to have Colin in his class and on the South African trip, said in an e-mail that he “easily qualifies for inclusion” and is “a fine student.” Professor Isaac Ortega, the professor who was teaching the class to which Colin was not admitted, was out of the office and could not be reached for comment. Chris Simon, a professor in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology and Colin’s adviser, said that he is a “fantastic student” who “asks the kinds of questions that usually come from graduate students or a colleague” and is “very mature.”