A 2-Year College Seeks to Break Free

Richard Bland College of William & Mary is an anomaly in Virginia higher education.

The public two-year college is slightly more selective than its peers across the commonwealth; it is not a member of the Virginia Community College System, and it is the only junior college in Virginia with residential housing. Most notably, it has a unique governing structure: Richard Bland shares a board of visitors with the College of William & Mary and is governed by a committee of William & Mary board members.

That governing structure is a historical artifact—a throwback to the 1960s, when other junior colleges were also connected to William & Mary. The others eventually broke away. But Richard Bland College, while autonomous, continued to be governed by William & Mary’s Board of Visitors.

Now that arrangement may be nearing an end: legislation designed to give Richard Bland its own board is currently winding its way through the Virginia General Assembly.

It’s a move that both institutions support—and one that Richard Bland leaders say is long overdue.

The Legislative Push

When Richard Bland College was established in 1960, it was one of four extension campuses in the William & Mary university system. The other three, though they bore different names at the time, eventually emerged from the system as Virginia Commonwealth University, Old Dominion University and Christopher Newport College; Richard Bland never fully did.

While the two-year college has long been independent—William & Mary’s leaders can’t dictate decisions to the campus some 75 miles away—the shared governing body means that Richard Bland ultimately follows the whims of William & Mary’s appointed board members.

Richard Bland president Debbie Sydow noted that some trustees are even surprised to learn about the junior college when they first join the William & Mary board. Since Richard Bland is more focused on technical and vocational education, she said, its needs differ from those of William & Mary, a well-resourced research university founded in 1693.

“This is a case of Richard Bland College having evolved to the point that it needs a dedicated governing board, not a fraction of a governing board,” Sydow told Inside Higher Ed, noting that its resources, challenges and student demographics diverge from William & Mary’s.

Legislation to give Richard Bland its own governing board passed in a 39-to-0 vote in the Virginia Senate and has been referred to the Virginia House’s Education Committee, which is expected to approve it. If the full General Assembly also approves the bill before the spring legislative session concludes later this month, the change would become official on July 1, and a 12-member board would be appointed.

The move has the support of the trustees who oversee the institution; in November, the William & Mary board signed off on a resolution to supplant themselves with a new governing body at Richard Bland.

“Though we would typically not comment on pending legislation, the university supports the Board action,” Suzanne Clavet, spokesperson for William & Mary, wrote in an email.

William & Mary trustee John Rathbone, who chairs the Richard Bland College committee, suggested in an email to Inside Higher Ed that the lack of a dedicated board is not ideal for a growing institution.

“Today Richard Bland is overseen by a committee of the Board of Visitors of William & Mary,” Rathbone said. “This divides the attention of the board and does a disservice to both institutions.”

He added that the legislation was “long overdue,” noting that “Richard Bland has been caught in a time warp for 50 years.”

Rathbone pointed to recent initiatives, such as a collaboration with Drone-Up—a Virginia-based drone manufacturer that plans to build a multimillion-dollar training, research and development center on the RBC campus—as one reason the college should have its own dedicated board, pointing out that such projects reflect the differing missions of the two institutions.

For Sydow, the Drone-Up partnership is just the type of initiative that Richard Bland should be focused on: one built on cutting-edge innovation and workforce development. It’s what she hopes a new, independent board will emphasize if lawmakers establish the new governing body.

“Governance matters, especially at a time when higher education is changing so dramatically,” Sydow said.

An Uncommon Structure

While it is not unheard-of for two-year colleges to be governed by boards at four-year institutions, it is rare, explained Josh Wyner, founder and executive director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute.

He noted that a trustee appointed at William & Mary would likely have a different profile than a Richard Bland board member, considering the varied purposes of the two institutions. For example, the board at a two-year college should be more focused on “the needs of the local labor markets,” he said, as well as on building out transfer pathways.

“It is absolutely true that if you have a STEM-focused community college and a broad liberal arts university, then you want different criteria for board members of those two types of institutions,” Wyner said.

In addition to establishing a board to focus solely on the mission and needs of Richard Bland, Sydow believes that dropping the “William & Mary” part of RBC’s name will help clear up misperceptions about the junior college down the road.

“There’s a lot of confusion about our financial resources. There’s an assumption that Richard Bland College somehow benefits from the resources of William & Mary, but that’s not accurate,” Sydow said. “So we believe that this separation will help to address some of the misperceptions and inaccuracies in the understanding of Richard Bland College and what we have to offer.”

Sydow noted that conversations about an independent board have been positive but slow-moving, dating back to 2014, which she attributes to the college doing its due diligence on the move. However, after nearly a decade of conversation, this is the first time the Virginia General Assembly has taken up legislation to provide Richard Bland College with its own board.

With the General Assembly due to conclude its spring session on Feb. 25, Sydow is closely tracking the progress of the legislation. “It’s coming down to the wire,” she said.