General Assembly puts pressure on U.Va. to account for $2.3B

WASHINGTON — The call is growing for the University of Virginia to explain its $2.3 billion investment fund.

“I thought, ‘Well that can’t be possible. That’s triple the state’s own cash reserve,” Fairfax City Sen. Chapman “Chap” Petersen said, recalling when he first heard the number.

Last month, he co-wrote a letter asking how the university came by the money and the response was weighty.

“I’ve received several hundreds of pages of documents,” he said.

Petersen is one of 11 members who followed the so-called data dump with a demand the school respect the outraged assembly’s request.

“[T]he university’s less-than-adequate response — much less Rector Goodwin’s carefully crafted public commentary — has done nothing to alleviate our mounting concerns,” the members’ letter read in part.

“At end of the day, I’m not accusing anybody of wrongdoing. I just think the Board of Visitors has to be accountable for this policy of what is effectively overcharging the customers of the university,” Petersen said.

The University of Virginia defends its documented response, releasing this statement, in part:

“The university’s thorough response includes a financial breakdown of funds as far back as 2007, and explains how the university’s prudent financial management of these funds were accounted for and publicly reported over this period of time.”