Old Dominion University - Troubador Yearbook (Norfolk, VA)

Page 15 text:

The university can give to the community a number of things. Primarily it has given to the city of Norfolk a very valuable industry. . . It's really pumped a lot of new dollars into Tidewater. Secondly, the atmosphere of an academici community brings a type of intellect that is desirable in many cases. In some cases it brings an undesirable who is more interested in stirring up controversies than in finding solutions to problems, but you'll find that in any college. Those type of people seem to migrate to the academic world, but the bringing together of nine to ten thousand young people into our community is good for the community life. It gives an approach to a community that is desirable. Beyond that, you have established certain things that have been beneficial to the city—the police academy, for example. . .The community can give to the university support both through finincial assistance and through the moral support in the halls of the legislature . . . It's a two way street: I don't think you can expect the college to do everything for the community or vice versa . . We've got to work together. The university's biggest problem isthesame as facing the city of Norfolk: money. If you had the funds that have been requested by President Bugg for the expansion of your facilities and the increasing of your faculty and the raising of your faculty salaries, your major problems would be gone. The same is true for the city of Norfolk: If we had the dollars, we could do so many of the things that are necessary. Money is the primary problem, but after you get the money, you've still got the human element to work with . . . After you get the dollars, then the concern comes to a mutual understanding between the faculty, the administration, and the student body. One thing I wish Old Dominion would do, and I am confident I’ll never live longenough to see it, is get a football team that would be a winner.

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Mayor Itoy B. Martin Old Dominion wouldn’t be what it is today if it hadn’t been for the city of Norfolk.” The role of an urton university, primarily. Is to give the educational services and fill the needs of the young people in the immediate area . . . Old Dominion's come a long way ... It has always been a very good school and today I think It Is recognized academically as having come ahead tremendously. If we can continue to encourage the state to put funds into it, there's no limit to what Old Dominion can mean, not only to Tidewater Virginia, but to the entire Commonwealth. . . Of course, Old Dominion wouldn't be what it Is today if if hadn’t been for the city of Norfolk. For years Norfolk would buy land for Old Dominion expansion and hold it until the state legislature would break loose with a few dollars to pay for the land. The city and the taxpayers of Norfolk have put untold thousands of dollars into Old Dominion and lost interest on money that the state has never recoupered. This was done because we felt that the university would mean so much to Norfolk and to all of Tidewater. The state appreciates Old Dominion more, but the demands for higher education by all of the universities and colleges that are supported by the state are greater; and for Old Dominion to get its share It is going to have to continue to fight for it. Per student allocation by the state to Old Dominion is so much smaller than, for example, from where I graduated, University of Virginia, that It is ridiculous. Especially when you see what Old Dominion is doing. . . So, I don’t think the state of Virginia is really being fair in its allocation of funds to Old Dominion. When Old Dominion was put in that location, no one could conceive that Norfolk and all of Tidewater would be what it is today. I don’t think it would ever have been considered to put it right there in the middle of an already pretty densely populated area without any real room for growth as far as a campus is concerned. . . But I think we’ve been fortunate in being able to, through the city’s participation and through redevelopment programs, acquire the land and expand the campus the way we have. . . From a traffic point of view, it certainly would have been more desirable to have Old Dominion more towards the center of the city rather than right on the western fringe of it, but we can’t have everything, and basically you’ve got a good facility there. . . The biggest problem I’ve heard from people out there as far as traffic is concerned is the lack of parking. And this is not a city problem; it’s one that belongs to the university, which I understand is providing more spaces now.

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Professor A1 Teich: It’s growing pains, that’s exactly what we have.” I don't believe that the community gives the respect to the university that it deserves. . . . Maybe I can give you another illustration . “Expert is always someone from out of town but we have persons over here who can conduct many of the surveys and the research programs that the university and business firms in the area hire other people outside to conduct. From time to time this university has tried to get these projects and lost them. We've made tremendous strides at Old Dominion in earlier years. . . but I don't think you find this spirit of dedication any more. . . You know there are two ways to quit: one is to leave, and one is to stay--but do nothing. And I believe that unless the administration finds a means of approaching the faculty, that a good number of the faculty will quit in one way or the other. The role of an urban university should be to supply the educational needs of the people living in the urban university. The problems of being an urban university as far as Old Dominion is concerned are great. The first thing of course is the financial problem, which basically comes around from the political problem. . . . The problem we've had at Old Dominion ever since if started is the same problem that Norfolk has had as far as the rest of the state is concerned. We’ve just been sort of the outcast historically speaking: the aristocracy lived up river, lived in Richmond or on the James plantations. Down here we had the merchant seamen and the maritime trade, and the plantation class always looked down on the merchant class. And so, as the power has shifted they’ve always looked down on us. . . . We concentrate to serve the needs of the people in this area, and so therefore we don’t have a good political base around the rest of the state. And since we don’t have that good political base, we don’t get the money we need. They’re not as sympathetic. ... Of course, one way to solve that is to establish a law school. And if you ever established a law school then you’d bring people in from outside and they, lawyers (since over half the General Assembly is made up of lawyers), are going to run for the General Assembly so we’ll not only have the votes in Norfolk . . . . we’d- have people from the rest of the state being interested in us.