What's going on at UVA?

[cspan37421]

Should this SNAFU have any significance to a rising HS senior with UVA on the list? On the face of it, this sort of power politics seems rather remote to the undergraduate experience. OTOH, will UVA, over the next few years (during which DD will be in college), have a hard time attracting and retaining faculty that would otherwise make the undergrad experience there of customary UVA quality? And then of course the long term effect on reputation and perception of degree strength.

UVA is highly selective and I don't expect that to change in the near term. However, if this thing festers, we might start seeing some downward pressure on yield. I think I read that Larry Sabato (always good for a quote) feels this has done more damage to the University than the fire in the Rotunda over 100 years ago. It was absolutely startling to me that a quorum could be met with 3 out of 16 members of the BOV present, as early reports indicated. I guess that was just the Executive Committee but it's equally startling that the three did not feel obligated to bring the matter to the whole BOV.

[alteran]

It was absolutely startling to me that a quorum could be met with 3 out of 16 members of the BOV present, as early reports indicated. I guess that was just the Executive Committee but it's equally startling that the three did not feel obligated to bring the matter to the whole BOV.

Regarding the quorum, if the Rector declares that it's an "emergency," only three members are required for a quorum. Seems like a sensible precaution in the case of, say, natural disasters, but invoking it here was clearly an abuse of authority.

[gumbomoop]

On President Sullivan's leadership style and overwhelming support on campus. A couple of people are quoted as being astounded by the depth and breadth of her support.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...x2V_story.html

[Tom B.]

“Let me be absolutely clear: I want final action by the board on Tuesday,’’ he wrote. “If you fail to do so, I will ask for the resignation of the entire Board on Wednesday. Regardless of your decision, I expect you to make a clear, detailed and unified statement on the future leadership of the University."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...0uV_story.html

Or, as a friend of mine put it, "You guys are killing me. Stop screwing up my chances to be Romney's running mate!"

(I didn't think this crossed the PPB line, but apologies in advance if I did.)

[cspan37421]

Live feed of BOV in special session. Starts 3pm ET, I believe:

http://wtop.com/120/2919316/Live-Fee...pecial-session

I suspect TS will be offered reinstatement. But word is HD will be reappointed 7/1/12 by Gov. A thread on CollegeConfidential indicated that when this first went down she quickly had 4 "package deal" offers (her husband is a prof) from Duke, Chicago, Cal-Berkeley, and Michigan. So if she wants to stay at UVA, she might be wise to try to drive a hard bargain. If she doesn't want to, it's going to be really interesting to see the shakeout. The CC thread is long but informative.

[cspan37421]

The motion is to reinstate Teresa Sullivan as president. It has been seconded. No one but the Rector elected to discuss, so she went ahead.

The Rector is doubling down on her position, which is well-analyzed/critiqued in a number of places, such as Cavalier Daily and CC. Despite her preliminary remarks in which she apologized deeply, she appears to take some shots at critics - including those to whom the apology was supposedly offered. Struck me as inconsistent.

The motion passes unanimously, by roll call.

A second motion is made to express support for Helen Dragas. It passes by voice vote, apparently unanimously.

Teresa Sullivan says a few positive words about moving forward.

This should be interesting, esp. with some BOV appointments/re-appointments coming up in the next week.

[duke79]

The motion is to reinstate Teresa Sullivan as president. It has been seconded. No one but the Rector elected to discuss, so she went ahead.

The Rector is doubling down on her position, which is well-analyzed/critiqued in a number of places, such as Cavalier Daily and CC. IMO she is taking some parting shots with the precision of a blunderbuss.

I guess the President has been reinstated, unanimously. I haven't really followed the story too closely but seems like a bizarre and embaressing situation. Who is really running that university?

PS. Watching the Board of Visitors in action, it reminds me that UVa has an unusually large number of pompous windbags associated with the university, constantly referring to "Mr. Jefferson" and his "legacy." I mean, give it a break, the man has been dead for over 200 years (and he took liberties with the hired help on his perpetually bankrupt estate).

[cspan37421]

I guess the President has been reinstated, unanimously. I haven't really followed the story too closely but seems like a bizarre and embaressing situation. Who is really running that university?

PS. Watching the Board of Visitors in action, it reminds me that UVa has an unusually large number of pompous windbags associated with the university, constantly referring to "Mr. Jefferson" and his "legacy." I mean, give it a break, the man has been dead for over 200 years (and he took liberties with the hired help on his perpetually bankrupt estate).

I think that's unnecessary; he did one heck of a lot of good for our country and the cause of democracy in general. He helped propel political progress more than 99.999% of people of his era. If you're looking for perfectly moral heroes let me recommend you stick to the fiction section of the library. If I were a UVA grad or even merely a Virginian I'd be awfully proud of Thos. Jefferson - and James Madison (maybe more so) & Geo Washington too. Admiring their accomplishments & their articulated principles does not imply endorsement of all aspects of their lives.

[Duvall]

PS. Watching the Board of Visitors in action, it reminds me that UVa has an unusually large number of pompous windbags associated with the university, constantly referring to "Mr. Jefferson" and his "legacy."

That's just how they talk there. It's tradition, I guess.

[gumbomoop]

I guess the President has been reinstated, unanimously. I haven't really followed the story too closely but seems like a bizarre and embaressing situation. Who is really running that university?

PS. Watching the Board of Visitors in action, it reminds me that UVa has an unusually large number of pompous windbags associated with the university, constantly referring to "Mr. Jefferson" and his "legacy." I mean, give it a break, the man has been dead for over 200 years (and he took liberties with the hired help on his perpetually bankrupt estate).

I'm not particularly familiar with UVa windbags, but it wouldn't be difficult to persuade me that they're numerous. A word, however, in defense of "Mr. J's legacy." Jefferson was multi-talented, brilliant in several ways, but also deeply flawed, especially in his muddled, contradictory views re slavery and race. Most historians these days are persuaded - by historical and DNA evidence - that Thomas Jefferson fathered some, perhaps all, of Sally Hemmings's children, a conclusion which even the Thomas Jefferson Foundation supports. Also true that the Thomas Jefferson Heritage Society, looking at the DNA evidence, concluded that Jefferson's younger brother Randolph was more likely the father of some of Hemmings's children.

All this aside, Jefferson himself certainly thought about his historical legacy, listing for his own epitaph his authorship of the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, plus "Father of the University of Virginia." He left out, well, some important stuff. So the UVa windbags have some good reason for referring reverentially to Mr. Jefferson and his legacy, even if they're not so subtly referring reverentially to themselves.

[gumbomoop]

Update on BOV's reinstatement decision.

http://chronicle.com/article/U-of-Vi...132603/?cid=pm

These paragraphs caught my attention:

Mr. Fralin, who introduced the resolution to reinstate Ms. Sullivan, said that he and the other board members had been aware that Ms. Dragas and Mr. Kington had planned to meet with the president and ask her to step down. But the members did not call one another, he said, to find out if there was sufficient interest to call a special meeting and discuss the issue more fully. Doing so, he said, "would have avoided this crisis."

While it will never be known whether such a meeting would have led to a different decision regarding Ms. Sullivan's status as president, Mr. Fralin suggested that a robust and vigorous debate would at least have insulated the board from criticism for cloak-and-dagger tactics.

That BOV members "did not call one another" leads me, at least, to wonder about something more fundamental than "cloak-and-dagger tactics." It raises issues about run-of-the-mill competence, common sense honesty, and basic courage. And here I'm not talking just about Helen Dragas.

Hard to tell whether getting beyond this opera bouffe, "putting this behind us," etc., is actually in the best intermediate-term interest of UVa. I guess it's possible to forgive the deviousness and/or cowardice, but surely UVa supporters include many potential BOV members who would not embarrass themselves quite so thoroughly as did this entire [?] group.

"The members did not call one another." Nobody called nobody else? Huh?

I'd like to read, soon, about several BOV members who resign, preferably with a brief statement including the humble, and accurate, words, "I didn't do my job." Or they could jazz it up a bit with, "Mr. Jefferson deserves better."

[TampaDuke]

"The members did not call one another." Nobody called nobody else? Huh?

Assuming Virginia has a Sunshine Law, that might be the reason Board members didn't communicate with each other beforehand, or at least won't admit to doing so.

[JBDuke]

That's just how they talk there. It's tradition, I guess.

No, it's not just how they talk there. There is a LOT of pompous windbaggery floating around Charlottesville.

I've lived in Virginia practically my whole life, and much of it within an hours' drive of Charlottesville. My father was a fan of their teams growing up, and my brother is an alumnus. So, I've seen first hand some of the bilious crap that passes for tradition at the school.

Yes, it's a fine school - one of the best public universities in the country. But it's nowhere near as good as many UVA grads would have you believe. And the snobbery is sometimes mind-blowing.

For those not familiar with the state, Virginia is, in many ways, a modern, diverse, and wonderful place to live. But there is an element to the culture here that is very old-money, privileged, and elitist. You see a lot of it in the horse-racing elements in the state; at UVA, Washington and Lee, Hampton-Sydney, Richmond, and other old Virginia universities; and in elements of the Virginia government. It doesn't surprise me in the least that UVA's Board of Visitors is drawn largely from this element.

[bluebutton]

Yes, it's a fine school - one of the best public universities in the country. But it's nowhere near as good as many UVA grads would have you believe. And the snobbery is sometimes mind-blowing.

As a Virginian, seconded. In fact most alums believe the Jefferson scholarship to be far and away more prestigious than the AB Duke scholarship and will assume winners of both will become Jeff scholars. It's annoying.

Yes, historically, Jefferson is someone to be respected and to be proud of. But Mr. Jefferson's university has produced many insufferable alums.

[gumbomoop]

Assuming Virginia has a Sunshine Law, that might be the reason Board members didn't communicate with each other beforehand, or at least won't admit to doing so.

I've read a bit more on this fiasco. According to this account [p. 2, para begins "Dragas and Vice Rector..." --

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/...y.html?hpid=z1

-- there was at least email communication among some of the conspirators. Re Sunshine Law, maybe the key phrase from this article is: "according to e-mailed correspondence and people familiar with their dealings."

Sullivan, by the accounts I've read, has lots of smarts, superb people and leadership skills. It might take the wisdom of Abraham Lincoln [!!] for her fully to forgive the conspirators.

[On Lincoln's forgiveness, a product of humility, magnanimity, and shrewdness, toward people who treated him with contempt - some hayseed rube, this Lincoln, thought Lincoln's future Secretary of War, Edwin M. Stanton - check out William Lee Miller, Lincoln's Virtues: An Ethical Biography, chapter 16, "The Man with the Blue Umbrella." Wonderful story, not to be missed, painful, hilarious, telling, about Lincoln and magnanimity. I recommend it highly. Highly. To readers of Off Topic, including President Sullivan, who must surely be checking in on DBR intermittently.]

[cspan37421]

This reminds me of something I came across for another purpose, and dealt with the issue of proxy voting - such as if a chairperson or president solicits votes by email or phone calls.

"PTA does not provide for absentee voting, voting by mail or email, or proxy voting. We are a deliberative assembly. A vote taken one telephone call or note or email at a time, or a proxy vote, eliminates the inherent right of each member to debate the merits of a pending question. The personal approval of a proposed action obtained separately, even from every member of a board or the association itself, is not the approval of the group since the members were not present in one room where they could mutually debate the matter." (source: http://www.nyspta.org/faqs/frequentanswers8.cfm).

I have to really question the governance at UVA. I am not impressed with a BOV that doesn't have the decency to lay out their concerns in person and try to work with their recently-hired president. Their rationale for firing her never seemed adequate or specific enough to justify their action. I've seen no indications she knew her job was in danger. Who would want to work for them?

[cspan37421]

Just an update - excellent analysis here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michae...b_1628863.html

[-jk]

Very interesting analysis. And almost the exact same conclusion a neighbor of mine had - a neighbor who happens to be a wapost reporter who's spent the last couple weeks in c'ville asking tough questions.

When I asked "why?" the response was simply that Dragas was a shoot from the hip, family business person, and the Board (really her b-school colleagues) wanted a ceo shakeup. Nothing overtly nefarious. Just a very different approach to the long-term management of the school.

Personally, I suspect old schools need time to change course, and sudden shakeups aren't especially helpful in the change.

-jk

[weezie]

I'll be interested to see how annual giving goes next year.

[Jim3k]

Amid turmoil, Gov. re-appoints Dragas to U-Va. board


h/t JulesinLA