Baffling holdup on light rail at NSU

At this late date and with light rail construction crews already at work, Norfolk State University has mystifyingly reopened issues settled years ago.

The university appears at once alarmist and flighty. Officials have questioned whether two proposed stations will threaten safety - even though the urban school is an open campus, accessible to anybody. Bus stops near the school don't inspire fear; why should light rail?

Three dorms housing 600 students are close to the Ballentine stop, but that makes them convenient, not imperiled. Bobby Vassar, rector of the Board of Visitors, says, "We'll have to beef up security just in light of the proximity."

Perhaps, but that's hardly a new problem, if, in fact, it is one. Most university administrators would love to have this worry. Just ask Old Dominion. HRT says at least 18 colleges nationwide have tie-ins with rail lines on or near campus. It's not as if Norfolk State would be a guinea pig.

But still, NSU quakes at the prospect of more convenient commuting, like suburban activists worried about what bike paths will bring.

NSU President Carolyn Meyers wrote in a letter to city leaders that "many on this campus question its benefits to NSU," according to an article by The Pilot's Debbie Messina.

It's hard to square such comments with ones like this, from Vassar to The Pilot this week: "We're totally supportive of the light rail project."

Both positions came as news to the city and HRT.

The university's new and flaky change of heart contradicts a "memorandum of understanding" that former President Marie McDemmond signed in January 2004. Much of the light rail project was predicated on those deals.

But that was apparently before Meyers arrived and decided she didn't want a maintenance yard - sited off campus - cluttering the view from the president's house.

If NSU's past agreements are worthless, then nobody is likely to trust them about anything.

While other businesses and colleges would jump at the potential spinoff of economic development connected to light rail, NSU seems uninterested, even unwelcoming. That lack of vision should be especially troubling to students and alumni and benefactors who count on the president to guide the school into the future.

The delays caused by this public spat may increase the city's $33 million share of the $232.1 million project. The city and HRT are trying to get authorization for easements and land transfers that the rail line needs for construction.

The city has tried to accommodate Norfolk State's bizarre requests. The city agreed to eliminate a planned walkway onto campus from the Ballentine station park-and-ride lot. It has moved the Brambleton Avenue station across the street, farther from the campus and the administration building, making it less convenient for people who might actually use it.

Still, though, NSU has done itself major damage, both as a citizen of Norfolk and as a responsible party to major agreements. Whatever happens with The Tide, whether its maintenance yard is within sight of the president's house, or wherever they decide to locate the stations, the reliability of NSU's word will remain in doubt.