In my opinion, all of this mess going on at William and Mary is ridiculous. For those of you who are out of the loop, W&M’s president, Gene Nichol resigned last week after the Board of Visitors declined the renewal of his contract. This all comes in the wake of some poor decisions Nichol has made during his tenure at W&M, as I have alluded to in the post I made on Feb. 7th (removing the cross from the Wren Chapel and approving the Sex Worker’s show) as well as the general lack in essential qualities a college president should have. Sure, he was charismatic and friendly to the students, but he fell way short in other “presidential duties” such as fundraising (one alum has withdrawn a $12 million pledge due to his disappointment in Nichol’s presidency). Nichol spread the news to the college community in a pretty impassioned email that, in all honesty, makes me all the more glad that he is gone. I especially like the part where he defends the separation of church and state (thus backing his decision to take the cross out of the chapel) while in the same breath he quotes a Methodist hymn. Interesting choice of quotes there, Nichol. Well, since his resignation, students have staged sit-ins and threatened to leave the college. Professors have protested by canceling classes which I find to just be an immature way to impede the learning of the students. Interestingly, but certainly not surprisingly, embittered students are blaming “religious fanatics” and “zealots” for all of this. That’s fine with me- while at W&M, I grew used to being a conservative minority among so many liberals. I just hope the college will make a better choice next time.
OK, I will get off of my soapbox now…