Professors lecture lawmakers on higher ed issues - Christine Stoddard, Virginia Gazette

One day after the General Assembly opened, 36 professors and 12 students from colleges and universities in Virginia came to the Capitol to encourage legislators to better meet higher education’s financial and policy needs. Led by faculty from Virginia Commonwealth University, the participants had six hours to push for more money for higher education, lower tuition for in-state students and greater compensation and benefits for teachers at the state’s public colleges and universities. Dr. Patricia Cummins, professor in the VCU School of World Studies and organizer of the event, embraced the symbolism of Virginia Higher Education Advocacy Day by likening the mission to a post-WWII mentality. “The GI Bill helped produce 30 years of the greatest prosperity the U.S. has ever known," Cummins said. "Back then, people realized that higher education serves both the social and individual good. “More recently, there’s been a shift in philosophy that higher education is more of an individual good than a societal good. We’re trying to swing the pendulum."