BOV Member Quinton Elliott '85 states his priorities to the Corps.

After their appointment, The Cadet contacted the new Virginia Military Institute (VMI) Board of Visitors (BOV) members with a set of questions related to numerous topics important to the Corps and the VMI Family. Mr. Quinton Elliott '85 was gracious enough to provide an initial response with the promise to address The Cadet's other inquiries as he gains more experience on the BOV. His recognition of The Cadet as the independent student newspaper at VMI and his willingness to respond and engage with the Corps on these issues represents a new connection between Corps and BOV sure to promote growth and provide a positive avenue for Cadets to engage with the BOV to provide their suggestions and voice concerns as a means to inform BOV decisions. In his response to The Cadet, Mr. Elliott covered his focus on providing cadets the highest quality education in a way cadets can afford. Mr. Elliott, similar to Hon. Mr. Janis' views expressed to The Cadet, firmly believes in empowering the Corps to run barracks with a strong and challenging cadet-run ratline and unwavering honor system. He also calls for greater transparency by the administration. From Mr. Elliott: I am honored to be selected to serve on the VMI Board of Visitors (BOV). Being able to give back and make a positive impact on others' lives is such a rewarding feeling. Throughout my career, I have focused on doing good for others and in doing so it has also helped me to grow as a person. Serving others has given me a sense of purpose as a human being. Being a member of the BOV allows me to continue helping others and hopefully make a positive impact on the Institute, Commonwealth and Nation. As a member of the VMI Board of Visitors, my responsibility is to the Commonwealth and its citizens. I spent 32 years serving this great Commonwealth and our Nation. I have always placed the wellbeing of our citizen first. I think one of the reasons I have had a successful career is I have never shied away from making the hard decisions; even decisions that may not have been popular with those I was given the responsibility to lead. I have seen work units get paralyzed because individuals would not make the hard choices for fear of failure or upsetting others. I am an outcome-based person, I look at the facts in totality and base my decisions on those facts. One of my weaknesses has been grasping the emotional aspects that play a part in any discussions. I grew up in a family that rarely expressed emotions but always dealt with the harsh realities that were a part of our day-to-day lives. After many years in leadership roles, I have learned to evaluate those emotional aspects that exist in the decision-making process and use them along with all the facts to ensure my final actions are clearly communicated. I plan to take a very active role working with all members of the BOV to ensure VMI provides the best education and training to all cadets. The education and training provided must help ensure the cadets success in the military or businesses they will be asked to serve upon graduation. Part of the BOV's responsibilities is to ensure education is affordable and will allow those who meet the strenuous requirements of admission to attend. The education provided must meet the core requirements needed to ensure the future success of its graduates. We must discontinue those programs that are not achieving the desired outcomes established by the Board. The degrees and classes offered should align with the workforce needs of businesses and the military. VMI must have a strong code of ethics which all members of the VMI community must be committed to if we are to achieve our mission. Honor is one of the most important tenants of VMI's code of ethics. The VMI Honor Code must be protected and embraced by all members of the VMI community when they are representing VMI. Unless you have lived the honor system at VMI it may be hard to understand why it is so very important to the institute and those that attend. The VMI regimental system, to include the ratline, is so very important in the development of citizen soldiers. Ask any graduate if they enjoyed the ratline and I think you would get a resounding no. Ask most alumni if the ratline played a key role in their development as a person and a leader, you would probably get a majority response of yes. The ratline taught me a lot about my myself as a person, as well as a leader. It helped me to deal with all types of people I would have to enter act with by being able to control my emotions. I learned discipline, how to overcome fear, how to respect others and their time by being on-time. I learned to respect and trust my brother rats. No one treated me differently because of my background. We were all treated equally, which is something I did not always experience growing up. From this, I learned to judge people on their character and I strongly believe this is how all other members of the Corp felt about me and each other. VMI's regimental system and ratline brings cadets together and does not divide. If the BOV and administration are going to achieve our stated mission there must be strong accountability. We must be strong fiduciaries of all of VMI's resources. We should reevaluate the current metrics used to ensure we are achieving outcomes that guarantee all resources are being used appropriately. These results should be made public and found easily on the VMI/BOV website so the citizens we serve can evaluate our successes and failures. We should measure outcomes at the lowest level so every member of the VMI staff can highlight the great achievements they are making, as well as, identify areas that can be improved upon. Overall VMI's success is the responsibility of the entire VMI community. Transparency is also vitally important within the VMI community. We all serve the Commonwealth and its citizens deserve the right to know what is happening with the resources they are entrusting us with at VMI. The citizen which includes alumni should be allowed to voice their views openly yet respectfully. My goal as a BOV member is to listen to all sides of the issues that come before the board and give fair consideration to all before I make a final vote. I must consider the pros and cons and ask as many questions as needed to ensure I am comfortable with every vote I cast. It is also important that we hear from the cadets and staff to ensure we are achieving the desired outcomes and getting an accurate picture of what is actually happening on post. One of the things I would do throughout my career is to walk around and speak with people at all levels of the organization. I would ensure those I spoke with our conversations would be protected and our conversations would not be disclosed unless they authorized it. What I learned from others was repackaged to ensure no one could go back on those I met with. I have shared this with your readers because I want them to know that I want to hear from them. I believe The Cadet paper has played an important role in keeping its readers informed on what is happening at the Institute. I would like to see this continue but, in order for the paper to continue to be successful it must be truly independent. With independence comes great responsibility on the part of The Cadet staff. The staff must be fair and balanced allowing all points of view to be heard, the editors have a responsibility to ensure individual biases are not impacting what is written. Present the facts and allow the readers to draw their own conclusions. Throughout my career in either state Government or the military I have taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Commonwealth of Virginia. As a member of the Board of Visitors I took the following oath: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States, and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and that I will faithfully and impartially discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as member of the VMI Board of Visitors, according to the best of my ability (so help me God)." These are not just words to me because I truly do believe in both constitutions, this great nation and extraordinary Commonwealth that I have lived in since birth and served. VMI is Great and has been good to me. Quintin Elliott The Cadet looks forward to Mr. Elliott's responses to our other questions and will provide them to the Corps once received. Hon. Mr. Janis' responses are also published in this edition. Cadets are encouraged to contact these new BOV members through the cadet chain of command or, if that fails, directly or through The Cadet to make their views known and better inform the work of the BOV.