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Section II: COC Core Requirement

2.2 The institution has a governing board of at least five members that is the legal body with specific authority over the institution. The board is an active policy-making body for the institution and is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the financial resources of the institution are adequate to provide a sound educational program. The board is not controlled by a minority of board members or by organizations or interests separate from it. Both the presiding officer of the board and a majority of other voting members of the board are free of any contractual, employment, or personal or familial financial interest in the institution. (Governing Board)

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JUDGMENT OF COMPLIANCE

 √ Compliance             Partial compliance          Non-compliance

NARRATIVE

The Code of Virginia, Statute 23-41, specifies that the Board of Visitors of The College of William and Mary be comprised of seventeen members, who are appointed by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia and serve without compensation. Each board member is appointed for a four-year term, and the terms are staggered to ensure continuity. A board member may serve a maximum of two terms.

The current board members for 2007-2008 are:

Banks, Charles A.
Blair, Robert A., Esquire
Brashear, Janet M.
Capps, Thomas
Gerdelman, John W.
Gore, Sarah I.
Herget, R. Philip III
Hornsby, Kathy Y.
Matthews, Suzann W.
McWaters, Jeffrey L.
Plumeri, Joseph J. II
Poston, Anita O., Esquire
Powell, The Honorable Michael K.
Thomas, The Honorable John Charles
Trammell, Jeffrey B.
Ukrop, Barbara B.
Wolf, Henry C.

The Board is the legal body responsible for the institution as defined by the Code of Virginia, Statute 23-49.1. “The College of William and Mary in Virginia, in Williamsburg, and the Richard Bland College, in Petersburg shall be subject to the supervision, management and control of the board of visitors of The College of William and Mary in Virginia. Such colleges shall be separate from each other and each college shall report directly to the board of visitors.…”

The powers and duties of the Board are described in the Code of Virginia, Statute 23-44. “The board of visitors shall be vested with all the rights and powers conferred by the provisions of this chapter….The board shall control and expend the funds of the colleges and any appropriation hereafter provided, and shall make all needful rules and regulations concerning the colleges, and generally direct the affairs of the colleges."

The Board is not controlled by a minority of members or by organizations or interests separate from it. It operates through a set of bylaws, which can be amended only by a two-thirds majority vote as provided in Article I, Section 1. As provided in Article I, Section 3 of the bylaws, an Executive Committee of seven board members “shall exercise the powers and transact the business of the Board of Visitors between meetings of the full Board as needed. All members of the Board shall be informed promptly of any action taken."

The Board has the authority and duty to see that the mission of RBC is implemented. Article II, Section 11 of the bylaws states, “Policies for the governance of The College of William and Mary and Richard Bland College as made from time to time by the Board of Visitors shall be binding on the appropriate college communities.…”

None of the board members has a contractual, employment, personal or familial interest in Richard Bland College. The Code of Virginia contains statutes that apply to conflict of interest including board members of higher educational institutions. Statute 2.2-3100 states, “that the citizens are entitled to be assured that the judgment of public officers and employees will be guided by a law that defines and prohibits inappropriate conflicts and requires disclosure of economic interests." The Commonwealth of Virginia requires the annual filing of a financial disclosure form by all Board of Visitors members to verify that none of these conflicts exist. On this disclosure form the board members must include reports of familial financial relationships, business and financial associations, personal liabilities, gifts, salaries, ownership of real estate and contracts with governmental agencies. The “Financial Disclosure Form” must be filed with the Secretary of the Commonwealth and is maintained as part of the public record for five years.

The Board of Visitors meets four times a year. One of the meetings is usually held on the Richard Bland College campus every other year. The other meetings are held on the campus of The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia—about fifty-two miles from RBC. All of the board meetings are attended by RBC administrative officers, faculty representatives, and student representatives.

One of the committees of the Board is the Richard Bland College Committee. The Committee is composed of five board members and the non-voting advisory student and faculty representatives from Richard Bland College. The faculty representatives from Richard Bland College form the Faculty Liaison Committee. Three faculty members are elected by the Richard Bland College faculty to serve staggered terms on the Faculty Liaison Committee which represents the faculty on the Richard Bland College Committee of the Board of Visitors. The faculty members elected for 2007 – 2008 are: Ms. Alexandra Duckworth, Assistant Professor of English; Ms. Rachel Finney, Associate Professor of Spanish; and Mr. Roger Franklin, Jr., Associate Professor of Computer Science. The Richard Bland College student body is represented by a student chosen by the President of Richard Bland College. The Richard Bland College Committee of the Board of Visitors serves as the primary board contact with the faculty and student representatives. It is also charged with “considering and making recommendations [to the Board] concerning the financial and academic affairs of Richard Bland College, reviewing the submission and approval of all budgets and administering the academic and financial policies and procedures of Richard Bland College.”

As described in the Preamble to The College of William and Mary Board of Visitors Bylaws 2007, the President of Richard Bland College annually nominates and the Rector appoints a student and a faculty member from RBC to the position of non-voting, advisory representatives to the Board of Visitors. The President of RBC nominates one of the faculty members elected to the RBC Faculty Liaison Committee. Faculty members from Richard Bland College are eligible to serve two consecutive one-year terms. The Preamble also describes terms of office and replacement appointments for these RBC representatives. For 2007-2008 Mr. Roger E. Franklin, Jr. is the RBC faculty representative and Ms. Yvonne M. Rosa is the RBC student representative.

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Page updated February 8, 2008  | Questions or comments? Email sacsparc@rbc.edu

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Petersburg, Virginia