Alumni and Friends of VMI:
Cyber Corps Numbers: 591
VMI panel won't act until after police probe
Friday, August 27, 1999
BY CALVIN R. TRICE
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
LEXINGTON -- A member of the Virginia Military Institute board of
visitors groused yesterday about sitting on a committee called
Audit, Finance and Planning and having little knowledge about
audits of the school's finances.
At a scheduled committee meeting, Waite Rawls insisted on an
explanation of how the school is audited and urged the committee
to set up its own accountability system.
"We need an auditor who audits . . . and reports to
us," Rawls said.
Like the rest of VMI, the committee is waiting on the conclusion
of the Virginia State Police investigation into expenditures
authorized by Superintendent Josiah S. Bunting III from his
discretionary fund. A probe conducted last month by the state
auditor of public accounts into the six-figure allotment
automatically triggered the state police investigation.
Although committee Chairman Robert Copty brought the matter up
for discussion, members decided not to take action on it pending
the release of the auditor's report, which will be made at the
conclusion of the state police investigation.
"It's hard for us to talk about a cure or a need for a cure,
or change or a need for change if we don't have the report,"
Copty said.
Records in the school's business office indicate that since
Bunting assumed leadership of VMI in 1995, he authorized the use
of funds to purchase alcohol for entertaining school guests and
the use of thousands of dollars to buy books, flowers and gifts.
Before the committee can address the subject, members need to
know which, if any, of the expenditures might have been
inappropriate, Copty said.
The small portion of the fund considered public money -- about 6
percent of it -- is not taxpayer generated but comes from
auxiliary funds raised through campus activities such as
concessions and book sales. State law requires that the money be
used to further the school's mission and not for personal gain.
One of the ideas considered during yesterday's committee
discussion was to employ a school auditor who reports directly to
the board. VMI had an internal auditor until the position was
phased out under former Gov. George Allen's initiative to trim
the state work force, explained John Rowe, the school's business
executive.
School officials have been looking at how other public colleges
and universities charge expenses in the "gray area,"
Copty said. He brought up the idea of asking the private VMI
Foundation to foot the bill for expenses currently paid with
auxiliary funds.
"I think it would be appropriate for us to review all
that," he said.
In unrelated action, the committee agreed to recommend to the
full board a $2.93 million budget request to the General Assembly
for the next fiscal biennium, which will run from July 2000 to
June 2002.
Trolling the Electronic Turnouts: I noticed the
following on the Electronic Turnouts bulletin board. It provides
some interesting insights into the capacity of barracks, future
related plans, etc.
The Barracks is upside down with regard to supply and demand for
rooms ... we have essentially two stoops for Firsts (the 1st
stoop and the sinks/concourse/"Band Well" rooms) to
house about 300 Firsts. The Rats don't all fit on the 4th and 5th
stoops. We matriculated 430 Rats this year compared to 442 and
458 in the last two years. Next year the goal is 410-415, and the
year after that 400, holding at 400 +/- 5 in perpetuity.
That doesn't allow the Business Exec to sleep too soundly ...
from his perspective, 500 Rats all from Massachusetts would be
lovely ... but that's where we are going over the next couple of
years.
Our application numbers this year were almost 30% higher than
those for the just-graduated Class of '99, and thus our
selectivity was better and the acceptance rate was able to be
significantly lower ... fewer Rats accepted from a larger pool.
So basically, Cadet Anonymous has his'her head locked and loaded
... you see things in a distorted way when your are peering out
of your own navel with only one eye.
THOSE are the facts.
Yes, Barracks is crowded. Yes, there are some 5th-year cadets
TEMPORARILY in BOQ-type rooms on the uppewr floors of the
Hospital. Yes, we are coirrecting that as fast as space becomes
available.
BofV has seriously considered expansion of Barracks at two levels
... to reduce crowding and to increase size of Corps
(theoretically to about 1500). Neither idea flew in final
analysis ... solution is to gradually REDUCE Corps size by
heading for matriculating classes of 400 ... 452, 441, 430 ...
410 +/- next year, 400 +/- the year after and from then on. Supe
initially wanted to go to 400 all at once, but it caused heart
palpitations and fiscal emphysema in the Business Office, who
still prefers a Rat Class of 500, all from Pomona.
Several variations on the expansion theme considered:
1) Construct a full Fifth Stoop. REjected on structural grounds.
Foundation and load-bearing columns won't bear the added dead
load. We'd end up with a disaster that looked like something from
Izmit.
Build a separate building to house the (5th year
cadets)(women)(athletes)(squat-butts)(flankers)(Rifle
Team)(English Majors)(Yankees) .... (choose your favorite
oppressed minority). Rejected. "Since 1839 we've lived in
one building, and By the Beard of Francis Smith, we'll continue
to do so into eternity !!" Tradition wins the day. We live
together in one Barracks.
3)Extend Barracks back of the "Coal Pile" area
("Ghetto," to you callow youths from the
post-coal-fired-boiler era) over the Burma Road and onto the Nile
Valley slope. Rejected for cost and engineering difficulty.
Massively complicated foundation design. Unstable slope. The
structure would almost certainly end up sliding down into the
Nile Valley and annoying the tennis coach. Or maybe even damming
the Nile (can you say "Aswan ??") and eventually
annoying the baseball coach and then the soccer coach and then
the lacrosse coach. The silly thing in design looked like a
Sandbridge Beach house up on stilts at best ...
4) Extend New Barracks North side in the direction of ... and
maybe even join up with ... LeJeune Hall, filling the area now
occupied by the Cincinnatus Monument (which has another, somewhat
rude, name I won't quote). Hey, not a bad idea !! That could work
!! Let's see a concept design drawing ... whoa, not all bad !! We
could gain a couple hundred spaces here !! OK, let's run it by
Richmond. REJECTED. Based on the "Thou Shalt Not Diddle With
The Look Of A National Historic Landmark" syndrome. Changing
footprint of Barracks was bad enough ... adding to the West face
was anathema aesthetically ... idea expired from lack of oxygen.
5) What we are doing. REduce size of Corps gradually. BofV
approved. In execution.
Maury-Brooke NEVER, conventional wisdom aside, EVER had a plan to
be cadet housing for ANY oppressed minority ... at one point we
were going to move the medical support facility up there and
reduce the overnight bed capacity to about 2 ... but that died an
unnatural death also, and we are VERY happy with M-B as it now
exists ... a large classroom on the 100 level, Band and Glee Club
rehearsal halls and offices on 200 level, cadet publications
(Bomb and The Cadet) plus a shared darkroom on 300 level, and a
state of the art Honor Court facility on the 400 level.
Basketball Challenge Fund Established:
Jim Chapman, Class of 1969 and John Kemper, Class of 1968 have
established a challenge fund to assist in taking the already
successful VMI basketball program to the next level. Chapman and
Kemper have each contributed $15,000 to establish the fund and
have issued a challenge to all Alumni and friends of VMI
basketball to match that total. The funds raised will be utilized
by VMI Keydet Club and Head Basketball Coach, Bart Bellairs for
various programs necessary to build on the current successful
basketball program and take it to the next level (conference
championships and trips to the NCAA post season tournaments).
Several events have been scheduled to assist in this fund raising
effort. The following is an initial list of major events planned:
The Roundball Club has been reestablished and will be headed by
Bill Talbot. Bill and Coach Bellairs are hard at work on a
schedule of events and activities that will be sponsored by the
Club during the upcoming season.
Midnight Madness Weekend will be held on October 15 & 16,
1999. Friday's events will included a dinner and night golf at
the Lexington County Club followed by the Midnight Madness
practice by the 1999-2000 Running Roos at Cameron Hall.
Saturday's events will include the Hall of Frame/Alumni
Basketball game and Basketball dinner.
A special trip for VMI Alumni is being arranged for the Hawaii
Tournament that the Running Roos will be playing in on November
26-28, 1999.
Special events will be held around key games such as the
University of Virginia on November 21st; University of Notre Dame
on December 18th; VCU on December 21st; College of Charleston on
January 8th to name a few.
In addition to the supporting the events listed above, proceeds
from this Challenge Fund will be utilized to support the
following improvements:
Cameron Hall improvements to include the installation of instant
replay boards and a message board outside of Cameron Hall.
Creation of the Running Roos Den on the locker room level of
Cameron Hall. This will include coaches' offices and locker room
improvements.
The establishment of a Hall of Fame Wall near the main entrance
of Cameron Hall.
For more information on this Challenge Fund and the Roundball
Club, contact Betsy Nicely at the VMI Basketball Office
(540-464-7384) or John Kemper at 804-343-0172(e-mail jkemper@wramdams.com).
(Cyber Corps Editor's Note: I spoke with Coach
Bellairs about this challenge. It sounds very exciting. A couple
additional things that Coach Bellairs asked me to pass along:
1) The night golf on Oct. 15 is limited to 60 slots. This is also
Parents' Weekend. So, make your reservations early.
2) The basketball program will be putting out a basketball update
entitled Roos News (you gotta love the title). You can call Betsy
Nicely (number provided above) for your free subscription.
I heartily recommend that we all get behind the Running Roos.
Cyber Gear: A couple folks have posed some good
questions about the Cyber gear. For example:
What material is used in the gear? polo and t-shirts are 100%
cotton. Baseball cap is 6 panel washed cotton with leather strap
Are you, oh great Cyber Corps commander making any money off of
this endeavor? (OK, so I embellished the question a bit). The
money I'll make off this enterprise is zip, zilch, zero. Any
money in excess of costs incurred will be donated to the VMI
Cadet newspaper for its discretionary use (purchase of equipment,
etc.) For the veterans in the Cyber Corps you'll remember that we
raised and donated several hundred dollars to the VMI Cadet
effort a couple years ago for purchase of a scanner.
Exactly what does the Cyber Corps logo look like? I've attached a
picture of the logo for everyone's perusal. Still some debate
about what color the lightning bolt should be in terms of what
color would show up better. I'll let everyone know what the
fashion police decide.
Inquiring Minds Wanna Know: Do
you ever toss and turn at night wondering whether it's a first
class privilege to wear civilian clothes uptown? Are stick checks
still around? If so, send me your clothers and I'll contact some
folks at the Institute and post the answers in future Cyber Corps
updates.
That's it for this week.
Yours in the Spirit,
RB Lane '75
Last Updated: October 11, 2009
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