The Function of the BOV
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Part two in a three part series on the Mary Washington College Board of Visitors
The present day Board of Visitors of Mary Washington College was created on April 10, 1972, when Virginia Governor Linwood Holton signed into law Senate Bill 433. This legislation provided for the separation of the College from the University of Virginia and the establishment of MWC as an independent institution with its own governing body: “The Rector and Visitors of Mary Washington College.” The legislation further provided that the Board “shall be subject at all time to the control of the (Virginia) General Assembly.” The twelve members of the Board would be appointed by the Governor, subject to confirmation by the General Assembly. At least nine of the Board's members must be residents of Virginia, and they may serve a maximum of two consecutive four-year terms.
The General Assembly gave the Board broad powers: the 1972 law specified that “the Board shall control and expend the funds of the college and any appropriate hereafter provided, and shall make all needful rules and regulations concerning the College; appoint the president, who shall be its chief executive officer, and all teachers, and fix their salaries, and provide for the employment of other personnel as required and generally direct the affairs of the College... fix... the rates charged the students of the college for tuition, fees, and other necessary charges.... have the right to confere degrees.”
There, then, are the broad parameters within which the Board of Visitors must operate. But the Visitors found them too general to serve as a guide for the direction of a College; so the Board, at its organizational meeting in September 1972, approved a proposal that a BOV Manual be prepared which would serve “as the official expression of Board policy... the purpose of The Manual is to give interested persons particularly new members of the Board an insight and understanding of the Board functions and its relationships to the administrative officers.” This Manual is probably the best available insight into operations of the Board of Visitors of Mary Washington College.
The Manual begins with a statement of Institutional Purpose. This declaration of College goals, which was ratified by the faculty in 1970 and re-affirmed by the Board of Visitors in 1973, states that “As a liberal arts institution, Mary washington College is convinced that a broad education in the arts, the sciences, and humanities, complemented by intensive study in a particular field of interest, constitutes an excellent preparation for life and citizenship. The College upholds the values of freedom of inquiry, personal responsibility, and intellectual integrity.”
The Board of Visitors, as “the governing body of Mary Washington College,” is responsible for the effecting of these goals. To this end, the Board holds a regular annual meeting on the second Saturday of September at the College. At that meeting, the Board elects from its number an Executive Committee, which consists of the Rector, the Secretary of the Board, and two elected Board members. The Manual states that “The Executive Committee shall meet upon the call of the Rector. It shall consider all matters referred to it by the Rector or the President, and shall, in the interim between meetings of the Board, be vested with the powers and authority of the full Board and shall take such action as in its judgment is required.”
The Executive Committee, as well as the Board of Visitors as a whole, is presided over by a Rector. The Rector, who serves two-year terms, is “especially charged” with the duty of “wise planning for the future, intelligent and considerate observance of the rights of the faculty and student body, including the preservation of the Honor System, and the maintenance of the independence of the Board.” The Rector presides over all Board meetings; he fixes the agenda and appoints committees (other than the Executive Committee).
The Board of Visitors has within its numbers a host of consultative committees. The Rector appoints the standing committees (Finance, Building and Grounds, Alumni and Student Affairs, and Academic Affairs), and their chairmen every year at the annual meeting. The Manual states that the Rector is also “an ex officio member of all standing and special committees; the Rector and President may attend, and one or the other is expected to attend, all meetings. No committee is vested with any authority except the Executive Committee... All other committee recommendations are to be presented to the Board or, if appropriate, the Executive Committee.”
The Visitors duties include the selection and appointment of the President of the College, and on February 8, 1974, the Board elected Prince B. Woodard to succeed the retiring President Grellet Simpsori. In a RESOLUTION, the Board stated that Woodard is to “serve at the pleasure of the Board of Visitors... he shall enjoy full faculty status and the rank of Professor of Education. The President shall be the chief executive, administrative and academic officer of the College, and as such, he is hereby directed, authorized and empowered to appoint and employ, upon such terms as he shall think best, such administrative and staff personnel as he shall deem proper for the administration and operation of the College, to fix their duties and functions, and to discharge any such appointee or employee; to receive, handle, and disburse the funds of the College from whatever source derived, and to authorize the execution of, on behalf of the College or of The Rector and Visitors of Mary Washington College, such documents as shall be necessary and proper for the operation of the College, the conduct of its business and the carrying into effect of its programs; to provide for the admission of students, for student discipline, including suspension and dismissal, and for the regulation of the various aspects of student life at the College; to make interim faculty appointments pending formal appointment by the Board; to fix, and from time ti time, to change the curriculum and academic requirements of the College, including those for the granting of degrees, and to authorize and grant degrees in the name of The Rector and Visitors of Mary Washington College; and to exercise such general authority and control over the assets, affairs and programs of the College as shall be desirable for its proper operation.”
Three more aspects of the Boards operation, as outlined in The Manual, are of interest. First, “all communications directed to the Board shall be channeled through the office of the President. All communications from the Board shall be similarly channeled.” Second, “the Board at its discretion or upon recommendation of the President, shall consider appeals which may arise from the administration or operation of the College.” Third, “the minutes of the Board shall be open to inspection of any citizen in accordance with the law.” These minutes may be found in Dr. Woodard's office, and may be inspected by students during regular business hours.
This discussion of the Board of Visitors of Mary Washington College is, of course, incomplete. Board meetings are not open to the general public (to say nothing of students) , so it is difficult to glean a penetrating understanding of what they are, what they do, and why they do it. But we are granted fleeting glimpses; in their Manual, in their Minutes of their meetings. These glimpses are better than nothing; but they are not sufficient to either give us a real understanding of the Board.
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