Tuesday’s rally for President Gene Nichol resembled a wake more than a protest. Seemingly, the majority of students, faculty and staff have shared the unexpected pain and anger caused by his rejection.
The Board of Visitors and their ilk caked their nostalgia and kowtowing to Mr. Nichol's critics in a veneer of sympathy. With no regard for truth, they pinned Mr. Nichol for funding the Sex Workers Art Show funds (in which he had no part) and banishing the Wren Cross (when he had only compromised). These events, however, didn't do Gene in. Pardon the language, but all of this is b*******.
On a much larger scale, this is a repudiation of our values as a College. At the heart of this successful assault on Mr. Nichol lies a disregard for the students' freedom of expression and speech on this campus. We're young, and the Board deemed us unfit to deliberate on what we see and where we go on this College's campus.
We, in fact, wanted the Sex Workers Art Show. Yes, we the students did, not Mr. Nichol. We're the salacious perverts, the acquiescent mob of youthful curiosity who funded, let alone go saw sold-out shows like SWAS and "I heart Female Orgasm!"
We're just as tolerant as Mr. Nichol too. Oh, Lord, if you think he accepts blacks and Hispanics and Hindus and the poorest of Virginia's brightest - well, we're all the worse in our convictions. We relish the diversity of opinion, of color, of sexuality - of all manner of creeds. We choose to benefit from the cosmopolitan nature that different views and lives can bring to our campus.
Beyond our shoulder height walls, however, lies an inhospitable habitat for the virtues we'd like to cultivate in our part of Williamsburg. Mr. Nichol's detractors failed to realize that the students drive much of the cultural initiative on campus in conjunction with the administration.
In his effort to persevere, Mr. Nichol strove to be resilient, but his fall does not spare us the equal humiliation. If there were an invitation to this campus to rescind, it would be our college applications, for we are as complicit in the problems that the Board uses to justify denying tenure to Mr. Nichol.
Had this been a decision on the merits of Gene Nichol, the Board would still have an unconvincing case. Now, with their hush money rejected, Mr. Nichol's immediate resignation and his eloquent e-mail, the Board of Visitors stands guilty. They are not merely bitter curmudgeons: they're spineless Yes Men.
Moreover, their dismissal of Mr. Nichol makes this campus seem increasingly more like a daycare facility. In place of Mr. Nichol's diversity drive, Richmond and the Board would like to see smiling automatons pass through the Wren portico every May.
Yet, in the wake of Gene Nichol's resignation, there is hope that they will see rancorous indignation instead. The College is rallying behind the values it cherishes and the man who lost his tenure so that we might retain our pride.
Mr. Nichol, you have made us proud. Hark upon the Gale, Mr. Nichol, and you will hear the students' voices swelling.
Dean Edwards is a staff columnist for The DSJ. His views do not necessarily represent those of the entire staff.