Board of Visitors meets with administration, students

Erica Terrini

News Editor

The VCU Board of Visitors held the first of two quarterly meetings Wednesday in the University Student Commons to discuss the overall state of the university. The second meeting is scheduled for Thursday morning.

The board’s Executive and Standing Committees (Special Awards, Audit and Compliance, Academic and Health Affairs Policy, Finance, Investment and Property, External Relations and Student Affairs) met with VCU administration. They concluded their visit with a tour of the Monroe Park Campus.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Stephen Gottfredson said reports from the Student Affairs Committee and student representatives give the board a chance to understand students’ perspectives and what needs to be done to accommodate them.

“The entire goal is to improve the student experience,” Gottfredson said. “The reason we are here is because of the students … Otherwise we’d be at a think tank some place.”

John Doswell, the secretary of the Executive Committee and chair of the Student Affairs Committee, said based on results from the Noel-Levitz Student Satisfactory Inventory survey, students’ needs are being satisfied but says students reported some areas were unsatisfactory.

“You’ve got some wonderful administrators and support staff here that want to make sure that in areas that are slightly deficient … we’ll be able to achieve what your hopes and expectations are,” Doswell said.

Doswell said before changes in policies are made, university administration will explore the areas with reported deficiencies and decide whether the area is truly lacking.

“The university is a living animal,” Gottfredson said. “It changes all of the time. What I do is foster change–that’s my job as provost.”

Gottfredson said the discussions aim to inform the board of administrative actions and to provide a forum for the board to make suggestions about general policy regarding student needs.

According to the Office of The President’s Web site, the Board of Visitors and the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia govern the university. Regular meetings of the Board of Visitors are held no less than four times each year.

Meetings among the board members create an open forum to discuss challenges and progressions in different areas of the university. Reports from committees factor into decisions proposed and made by the board.

The board plans to meet Thursday morning at the Critical Care Hospital from 8 a.m. to noon in the Benjamin Board Room.

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PULL QUOTE

“The university is a living animal.” — Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Stephen Gottfredson