Nichol Out At William and Mary, part 2

They really don’t get it. They really, really don’t get it.

Who are they? The Virginian Pilot editors and writers, and by extension all the Drive-by-media folks who censor the news or write their opinions.

As the old joke goes …take Gene Nichol, please.

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline has some comments and links that are worth going to.

We've written many times about the needless controversies generated by William & Mary's president Gene Nichol, especially the furor that resulted from his unilateral decision to remove the Wren cross from the altar of the Wren chapel. Today comes word that the college has decided not to renew Nichol's contract and, consequently, that Nichol has resigned effective immediately.

Among several lessons that might be learned from Nichol's rocky tenure, the one of broadest applicability is this: when a religious matter has been settled, in the sense that it's not generating any real controversy, one should be extremely hesitant to upset that settlement, imperfect though it might be.

Taylor Reveley, dean of the law school, will become William & Mary's interim president. Reveley was the managing partner of my old law firm. Before that, as the firm's hiring partner, he hired me. That decision notwithstanding, Reveley is a brilliant and extremely capable man. Why William & Mary passed him over at the time it selected Nichol is something I'd like to hear the powers-that-be explain.

Nichol has been a one-person disaster as president of William & Mary in Williamsburg. First, in removing a cross from the Wren Chapel – a church on school property – he exhibited – at best – gross insensitivity toward people of faith. At worst he showed hatred for them.

Then there’s the travelling sex show that has been paid for with student funds. This he defended on the basis of “free speech,” claiming that while he personally did not like the sex show, he allowed it to continue to honor the Constitution.

And they say that the first refuge of scoundrels is patriotism.

So on the basis of protecting the delicate sensibilities of non-Christians he banishes a cross … but the sensibilities of people who are offended by sex shows on campus should get over it.

And then there is the imposition of Nichol's speech codes which curiously DON'T seem to interefere with Nichol's death grip on free specch and the constitution.

For this and various other outrages Nichol has been told that his contract would not be renewed and, in high dudgeon, he quit.

Come now the ink stained wretches of the (soon to be sold) Virginian Pilot have a front page story of 200 !!!!! 200 !!!!! students protesting Nichol’s resignation … out of a student body of over 7000. Missing the sex shows already, are we?

And then of course when the controversy was still brewing and the Board of Visitors was considering what to do about Nichol, the Pilot’s cracked staff were busy name-calling, perhaps remembering their sophomore years at W&M.

fire-breathing crowd… the anti-Nichol crowd wants a
scalp, the attacks will get grubbier..

No possibility that the people opposing Nichol do so for honorable or logical reasons. They are – according to the Pilot – obviously know-nothing yahoos who should not be listened to.

Well they were listened to and Nichol is out.

And what do we get with that perfect weather vane of Liberal thinking, Donald Luzzatto? An op-ed titled “Who owns William and Mary?”

Interesting question because the answer is that W&M is a state school. So the answer is technically the people of Virginia do.

So Don decides to re-define the word “ownership.”

You don’t own the college like the students who spend every day in the classrooms and on the lawns. Not like the faculty and staff who work there. Not like the parents of kids who attend. You don’t even own it like you did when you were young and watched the alumni during homecoming and thought you would never get that old.

This is BS on stilts. He is outraged, outraged that the Virginia General Assembly should get involved. We realize that many in academia and its bootlicking lackeys like Luzzatto just want the people who pay the bills shut up and sit down while the students and faculty do whatever they damn well please. But the REAL owners thought their representatives actually decided to make their voices heard. An amazing thing in this world; almost unheard of in academia.

A fresh wind is blowing and the old guard doesn’t like it.

Better put some ice on that Don.