2008.07.28
The governor at RU
You've got to believe Gov. Tim Kaine didn't learn a whole lot, basic facts-wise, on his recent trip to Radford University. After getting a Highlanders hat and polo shirt from Coach Brad Greenberg, Kaine saw a condensed version of the university's plans for new buildings. The board of visitors got the extended version last month.
The university likes to call it a $211 million building campaign, and it is -- sort of. To get to that number, you have to count buildings approved and funded before the current president arrived, buildings that haven't gotten approval from the state and buildings that the state has said RU can build if it can find the money on its own.
But the meat of the visit was a golf cart tour of the campus.
The governor's ride was a stretch limo among golf carts, complete with a one-man security detail and cold water. The press buggy was not nearly so luxurious. But all the carts careened around campus, stopping outside buildings undergoing renovation, at the nearly complete Douglas and Beatrice Covington Fine Arts Center and near spots where buildings may sprout one day.
President Penelope Kyle, who served as the governor's tour guide, seemed convinced that getting Kaine on campus and showing him what's going on and what she and the board of visitors want to do -- well, that will make the governor all the more likely to support that vision.
Perhaps.
In the bond package passed during the most recent General Assembly session, Radford got $34.2 million toward a building projected to cost $44.2 million and $1.5 million to begin planning another $37 million building. A third building on the university's wish list got invited to try again next year.
The university's take on the governor's visit -- complete with photos -- is here.
-- Tim Thornton
