University of Virginia President Teresa Sullivan is stepping down from her position, effective August 15, according to an e-mail from UVA Rector Helen Dragas. The key bit in the letter is the statement from Sullivan, in which she says that “the board and I have a philosophical difference of opinion”; opinion about what is left unsaid. Sullivan took over on August 1, 2010, replacing President John Casteen, who had been president for two decades. Sullivan was widely seen as an interim president (perhaps to give time for the seasoning of University of Richmond President Edward Ayers to return to UVA), but the time scale most often mentioned was five years, not scarcely two. The Board of Visitors will be naming an interim president while they begin the search for a replacement.
From: Helen Dragas, University Rector
Subject: Teresa Sullivan To Step Down Aug. 15 as U.Va. President
Date: June 10, 2012 11:11:33 AM EDT
To: undisclosed-recipients:;To members of the University community:
On behalf of the Board of Visitors, we are writing to tell you that the Board and President Teresa Sullivan today mutually agreed that she will step down as president of the University of Virginia effective August 15, 2012.
We express our deep appreciation to President Sullivan for her effective stewardship of the University. She is a much respected educator, as well as a visible presence in the University community and a prominent voice in higher education.
President Sullivan commented on the great honor to serve as President of the University of Virginia. She said, “Although the board and I have a philosophical difference of opinion, I will always treasure having had the opportunity to work with so many gifted faculty and staff, talented students, and loyal alumni. I am also grateful for the privilege to have worked with our extraordinary vice presidents and deans.”
For the past year, the Board has had ongoing discussions about the importance of developing, articulating and acting on a clear and concrete strategic vision. The Board believes that in the rapidly changing and highly pressurized external environment in both health care and in academia, the University needs to remain at the forefront of change.
We remain guided by Mr. Jefferson’s inspirational vision:
“The great object of our aim from the beginning has been to make this Establishment the most eminent in the United States.”
In service to that vision, the Board is committed to preserving the legacy with which we have been entrusted. At the core of that legacy is the quality and care of our faculty and staff. We have made a clear choice to act in the best interest of all concerned.
We assure you that the Board of Visitors will move expeditiously to name an interim president and to begin a search for a new leader. We hope you will assist us as we move through this time of change and strive for a smooth and productive transition.
On behalf of the Board of Visitors,
Helen E. Dragas, Rector
Mark Kington, Vice RectorHelen Dragas, rector approved distribution of this message.
Allow me to be the first to say: Wwwwhhhhhaaaaa?
Yeah, I was about to draw your attention to this! Extremely interesting.
So what’s the real deal? what were her “philosophical differences with the board” that she cited?
One can read between the lines that President Sullivan wanted to maintain the academic integrity of The University, rather than to improve its so-called rankings. This “chasing the rankings” unfortunately has become the norm in academia at the cost of letting the real purpose of a university, education of students, fall by the wayside. I am a professor at a “top 20” university, and what I see occuring at my university is a demise of the quality of undergraduate education, somthing previously regarded as our main forte. I thought The University would be above this “rankings game”, but unfortunately this does not appear to be the case.
You sure found a lot between those lines, Andy! :)
BTW, I want to provide my standard disclaimer here. I work for UVA. In fact, the organization that I’m with is part of the president’s office. (For what it’s worth, only a teeny little bit of my salary comes from UVA. It almost all comes from a grant that I procured from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Prior to that, it came from the White House.) But I have zero special knowledge about this, I haven’t set foot in Madison Hall for almost two years, and I’ve never even met President Sullivan.
I actually read the opposite between the lines, but that’s my insider perspective.
Waldo, why do you say, “Sullivan was widely seen as an interim president”? I never got that impression, though I didn’t follow the stories that closely when she was hired.
When she was hired, all the scuttlebutt was that she wasn’t going to be a 20-year president like Casteen, but that instead she’d been brought on to do the unpleasant work of getting UVA through the recession, potentially dealing with layoffs, and taking the fall for people not getting raises etc. for a few years. Then, when the economy picked up, she could leave (with some employees saying “good riddance,” having associated her with austerity and perhaps blamed her for it) and the BOV could hire the old white guy that they surely actually want. The UVA employees to whom I’ve talked to about this in the couple of years since have often had this same impression.
But I didn’t take a poll or anything. :)
I will be most curious to find out what has change so much in the last 2 years. Was it the change of composition of the BOV or the path Sullivan had set for the University. It will be interesting to see how tight a lid they can keep on this.
If Ed Ayers is hired in the next 90 days I won’t be surprised but I would bet Ted Turner’s ranch in Montana that the next President will have clear bright connections to UVa.
Is it just me or does this remind anyone of the Robert O’Neill tenure at UVa? He did last for 5 years
These are the tenures of every UVA president (source):
Edwin A. Alderman (1904–1931)
John L. Newcomb (1931–1947)
Colgate W. Darden, Jr. (1947–1959)
Edgar F. Shannon (1959–1974)
Frank L. Hereford, Jr. (1974–1985)
Robert M. O’Neil (1985–1990)
John T. Casteen III (1990–2010)
Teresa A. Sullivan (2010–2012)
(UVA had no president until Alderman, as a result of Jefferson’s stated opposition to having one. They got over that, obviously.) Bob O’Neil’s tenure was notable for its brevity, but no longer, now that Sullivan’s is just 40% of his.
According to the BOV tenure list these are the members who were appointed after Sullivan was hired: Mark Kington, Hunter Craig, Allison Cryor DiNardo, Marvin W. Gilliam Jr., Stephen P. Long, M.D., George Keith Martin, John L. Nau III, Timothy B. Robertson, Hillary A. Hurd (student member w/ a 1-year-term), and Edward D. Miller, M.D. Out of an eighteen-member board, that’s ten members who weren’t on the board just two years ago.
As of January 2010, the members of the BOV who are not now members are (source): John O. Wynne, Daniel R. Abramson, Austin Ligon, Susan Y. Dorsey, L. F. Payne, Don R. Pippin, Warren M. Thompson, E. Darracott Vaughan, Jr., M.D., Rahul Gorawara. (That’s only nine. Maybe I miscounted somewhere.)
So, if a change in the BOV made possible (or necessary) her displacement, I wonder which if these losses and gains caused it?
Here’s a hint from the ongoing Board of Visitors meeting, courtesy of the Cavalier Daily:
Given that she was 60 when she was hired, I expected about a 5-8 year tenure. I thought she was doing a fine job and was a refreshing change of pace from Casteen. I’d like to see Ayers get to the job, but I’m doubtful that he will. I hope this isn’t a case of the “old guard” rebelling against someone making needed changes.
I think it’s also worth considering the new financial model that Sullivan has tried to put into place as a cause of this. That’s potentially a source of serious friction between her and the BOV, really more than anything else.
welllll, one would wonder if this current BOV was appointed by an arch conservative governor, if that has any relevance? Maybe the departed BOV members were Tim Kaine appointees whose politics likely veered more toward having a woman running the place
Board guidance like “incremental change” (bad) but “forefront of change” (good) suggests Ms Sullivan had many bosses.
Seems she was moving too slow, based on the Rector’s comments in the emergency meeting with the deans this morning…
The Board believes this environment calls for a much faster pace of change in administrative structure, in governance, in financial resource development and in resource prioritization and allocation. We do not believe we can even maintain our current standard under a model of incremental, marginal change. The world is simply moving too fast.
http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=18791
The Board of Visitors as JR Ewing/Colonel Sanders and President Sullivan as Erin Brokovich/Karen Silkwood fits the simple-minded worldwiew of many, but there’s no evidence to suggest that is the case.
“To achieve these aspirations, the Board feels the need for a bold leader who can help develop, articulate, and implement a concrete and achievable strategic plan to re-elevate the University to its highest potential. We need a leader with a great willingness to adapt the way we deliver our teaching, research, and patient care to the realities of the external environment.”
I’m not sure even Thomas Jefferson could do all that.
Very, very curious, quite discouraging … I was cautiously optimistic that the hidebound, anti-transparent, old white-guy institution providing a state-sponsored education for the daughters and sons of old-Virginians, might be reformed.
Weirdest thing is, the strong accusation that this very non-UVa type, someone whose intellectual and professional ties are to the great and distinguished tradition of American land-grant, genuine research universities (BTW UVa is not even close to matching Michigan’s stature as a true research institution), was moving too slowly to change???
Much more likely that she was going too fast, ruffled feathers, threatened sacred cows. We should look to the medical system first. That’s the biggest source of revenue for the university AND the least transparent and least democratic part of the institution, with a weak dean and an incredibly high tolerance at the dean’s office admin level for malfeasance in the form of self-dealing by long-serving department chairs.
AND within the college to disruptions in old patterns of privilege. Would her openness to investigating gender inequity in pay have been enough to get her fired? (Even though the med system would have been protected from that.) Where are the supposedly “star” retirements coming from – answering that will show us who expects to benefit from the Sullivan firing. I’d put money on a declining, formerly distinguished and privileged department that fears the new more meritocratic financial model … UVa doesn’t have very many actual academic stars, and many of those perceived as stars locally really don’t cut it outside of Virginia. Be suspicious of any so-called star whose CV was built in-state.
If UVa wants to play with the big schools like Michigan, Texas, UNC, not to mention the Ivies, it needs more truly national figures like Sullivan, not more Virginia favorite sons.
“This means that as an institution, we have to be able to prioritize and reallocate the resources we do have, and that our best avenue for increasing resources will be through passionate articulation of a vision and effective development efforts to support it.”
Was she not able/willing to go out and raise money for UVa?
As an old hand from many years back I had some dealing with Pres and Board and Deans on funding (of graduate fellowships and instructorships). I too find the mention of “star” retirements in the Rector’s address to the VPs and Deans the most significant piece of information in all this. Here’s my read: star replacements take a great deal of money – especially when some number of the retiring stars are likely to go into Emeritus status and continue earning some kind of salary or pension. That means that new money has to be found to pay the replacements. In a time of shrinking resources, that money can only come from existing programs or cannibalizing the endowment. Seems like Sullivan’s fiscal efforts have been toward increasing transparency and responsibility. My guess is that the Board’s desire to juice the rankings ran up against her desire to do right by the entirety of the University community. If that’s the case, and I was Ed Ayers, I wouldn’t come near this place.
The University is changing, the financial model would really change it and would expose waste and excess resource input compared to product in the old departments housing so-called “stars.” In the very, very, very resource constrained UVA context, competing for stars like real big schools do is as implausible as increasing our share of NSF and NIH grants. Nearly impossible, given so many years of deprivation and the laughably non-existent research infrastructure.
In this context a call for funding “stars” is a call for funding the status quo. It is an anti-change argument. Onuf retires, so let’s get another History Guy. (we like Guys.) Also, how about a guy who 15 years ago had his RAs build him a pretty website. Maybe he could make UVaOnline as pretty as the valley of the shadow. You know the History Guy will make way-amusing podcasts.
After spending the last 5 years a stone’s throw from CCV, you can be sure that Ed has already promised not to open closet doors with skeletons behind them, challenge wasteful chairs, contest venerated old claims by venerated old, currently wasteful and under-producing departments. Oh it would be so nice to address salary compression and gender inequity, but oh sorry we just don’t have the money because we have to replace the old retiring stars in the same old departments and oh we don’t talk about those things at CCV I mean UVA.
The press release was like a job ad written for Ed Ayers. All the forward looking lingo was to flatter his self-conception as a visionary leader.
Very interesting comments- so far here’s where I come down
1) She was more interested in overall quality than rankings ( stars )
2) She didn’t want to start a new capital campaign since the last one wasn’t even finished. The board is heavily weighed with financial/developer types and no academics other than a few research oriented doctors and they weren’t satisfied with her fund raising efforts
Anyone think Leonard will be brought back as interim prez ?
The whole climate gate issue and bringing back Michael Mann should have been enough for people to know that she couldn’t stop the corruption of the establishment. Anyone that is not corrupt wouldn’t touch uva with a ten ft poll.
There are the keys from Dragas’ remarks, IMO:
“our best avenue for increasing resources will be through passionate articulation of a vision and effective development efforts to support it. We also believe that higher education is on the brink of a transformation now that online delivery has been legitimized by some of the elite institutions….the Board feels the need for a bold leader who can help develop, articulate, and implement a concrete and achievable strategic plan to re-elevate the University to its highest potential. We need a leader with a great willingness to adapt the way we deliver our teaching, research, and patient care to the realities of the external environment. We need a leader who is able to passionately convey a vision to our community, and effectively obtain gifts and buy-in towards our collective goals” (emphases added).
That tells me that they miss Casteen’s fundraising abilities, and perhaps also that they yearn for someone more engaging as a speaker.
I have no problem with a little change if things aren’t moving quickly enough. UVa can’t afford to move timidly when the world is rapidly changing around us.
Face it… UVa’s prestige is a matter of numbers. National rankings (by any number of external entities) matter. Research dollars matter. Donations matter. Reputation of the medical school in the face of heath care reform (??) matters. The frequency of opinions (legal, financial, medical, political) in prominent periodicals matters. And the placement of students after graduation matters.
Too bad about the racist and sexist comments above. I expect better from our community. I prefer to focus on results and the content of character.
Honestly, this sucks. But we all knew it was coming. She was, I think, the only president not from UVA. But she was better. She was from chicago and some other fairly prestigious place. UVA sucks because the money and stars we currently do have are in pretty dumb departments. Sure we have an awesome history professor, but how much money does this guy bring in? None. The majority of “famous” faculty we do have right now are in departments that fail to bring in any money at all. It seems like we have no world famous, noble prize winning professors in our science and engineering departments. These are the departments that bring in butt tons of money. These are the departments that lose “stars” to bigger and better universities offering more money and better facilities. These are the departments we need to support and develop. Currently, from what I know, an entry level professor in science (and all over uva) gets $75,000. That’s nothing. But I believe science professors should get compensated more than this. I mean if bringing in $100s of thousands of dollars in grant money isn’t enough to pay them more, than maybe realizing their work could lead to prestige for the university will. We’ve lost so many professors who have become famous after being picked up elsewhere. Why do professors here get picked up? Cause UVA sucks in terms providing them with enough to keep them around.
Change this, and you will slowly watch the university change for the better.
I know Ed Ayers. Despite what everyone thinks, if you remember back, he departed rather abruptly, not unlike President Sullivan, and my understanding (though not based on any direct statements from him) is that he was forced out and will never be allowed back, under fairly unpleasant circumstances. I wonder if the same parties did that who forced Sullivan out now, but that would be pure speculation. It irks me to see Ayers lumped in with the powers-that-be now, because I am 99.9% certain that if anything, the opposite is the case.
Lots of interesting theories here. Mine: the BOV wants the kind of revenues the information age *theoretically* makes possible, and Sullivan was skeptical about turning UVa into the University of Pheonix.
Here’s an interesting bit from the Progress:
The implication here is that the BOV may have removed Sullivan of her duties, and will simply keep her on salary for the next two months.
I find it odd that the talk seems focused so much on revenue. And I think there’s some simple saliency to the notion that Sullivan wasn’t interested in fundraising (previously a huge source of capital). There’s a backlash against rising tuition, so that’s no solution. You do have staff retiring, and the cost of drawing an established academic out of the private sector to teach and research at your institution is substantial. Also, the cost of maintaining current faculty is substantial, since a school that gives them a better offer would get not just the faculty member, but also, often, his roster of students and his grants and funding. And lastly, cost cutting and sunlighting the budget are difficult measures because you risk losing some of the faculty above.
So, let’s say Ms. Sullivan was willing to do the last bit, but unwilling or unable to engage in the sort of fundraising that Casteen could. Wouldn’t that be reason enough to remove her? A school President’s job is to bring home the bacon, seriously. All else aside, the best Presidents are the ones that aren’t cheating, stealing, lying and still manage to draw funding. Is it unfortunate that academic institutions must first and foremost concern themselves with the bottom line? You bet. But that’s reality and, perhaps, Ms. Sullivan and the BOV just couldn’t reconcile how to make that happen.
That aside, I take issue with the gross UVA bashing above. Like the institution or not, UVA isn’t some backwoods one room school house, when it comes to education or research. If Michigan draws more research dollars or has more innovation successes, so be it. If UVA’s BOV and administration don’t know how to attract “stars” that’s fine by me. And are our “stars” really “stars?” Who gives a damn. Anyone that took organic chemistry had their issues with Professor Hunt and wondered whether he was all that he was cracked up to be, both in teaching and research. But he’s devoted to his research and has devoted his life to chemistry. Can either of us say we’ve devoted ourselves so fully as he? Students and faculty alike work tirelessly towards goals that can honestly have huge impacts in our lives. Their work shouldn’t be discarded in the name of . . . I don’t even know what it’s in the name of. bashing our local Goliath?
As for the medical center, I’m not sure what an earlier commented wants from their hospital. A hospital is a place for health care first, and a place of business second. And that’s generally where the list stops. Businesses generally aren’t bastions of transparency, indeed I doubt you’d have an easier time getting a peek at the books from Sentara than UVA. And as a state institution (loosely), I believe UVA Hospital does engage in the sorts of bidding practices and and disclosures that other state agencies must. And when UVA wants to expand they have to ask permission from governing bodies. And when UVA wants to replace an expensive piece of equipment or renovate a wing of the hospital or build a new treatment center, they generally have to present their plans to the BOV in public meetings, and provide access to their plans to the donors that will make them possible. So, I’m just not sure what kind of transparency the commenter is looking for? If they want individual salaries and a detailed accounting of all expenditures . . . well, you’re not going to get that from anyone without a subpoena.
My time away from Charlottesville has made me long for the familiar sights and sounds of my old haunts. And working with and around other schools and other hospitals has lead me to some surprising insights. They’re all very similarly troubled. Even during the boom times they worry about pay, and costs, they worry about rankings, and “stars.” They worry about global obsolescence. They worry about how they look. But what makes me want to come back and spend the rest of my life around UVA is something ephemeral. It’s something about the charm and the spirit of the place that I didn’t find elsewhere. God help me, I even miss Casteen.
UVA ’73 & ’76 Whatever the reasons, such rapid change of top leadership in an established and high-ranking public institution is an unfortunate and costly development.I’ve said many times that old TJ is rolling over in his grave in view of (1) public school education in general–which barely resembles his original vision and intention, and (2) The University in particular, which ran off the rails in 1904 with the hiring of its first president–also not part of his original vision or intention. To suggest otherwise–that he would have adjusted to the changing tide of modernity–flies in the face of his well-formed and documented philosophy of a sound liberal arts education being the foundation of freedom and personal responsibility.This sudden development with President Sullivan reflects very poorly on the BOV regardless of how they might want to “spin” it!
Greed and vanity.
It appears that the devil lives at UVa, too….
Yeah, count me in with the other underwhelmed here by all this.
Hey Waldo, any idea where Taylor Reveley (IV) might stand among the speculating for this academia presidency?
Just wondering, since one of the current lines kept being repeated in the media seems to be – “the search is on.”
There apparently wasn’t much effort to add women to the BOV, which now has 4 women out of 18 members. Although I’m not usually a gender counter, it’s obscene that a public university so cavalierly disregards its history of discrimination. I’ve heard Teresa Sullivan speak, and wasn’t riveted by her star quality, but hope that someone other than usual suspect (old white guy) is brought onboard to bring about this “new vision”.
I find the references to the pace of change as a reason for her dismissal to be alarming. It is as if change is some natural phenomenon that is not socially constructed. Change itself is a political construction. The change discussed by the Rector is not necessarily a good thing, but it is presented as if it is inevitable. The way environmental change is construed as the cause of her dismissal is troubling. Many don’t want the change that is being pushed by elites on the BOV because its the wrong kind of change.
Copying Harvard or Princeton because they accept online models is sad. Just because University of Phoenix makes money doesn’t mean all universities should look like UOP. The change they appear to be referencing is the whole scale adoption of Neoliberal ideologies that turn public spaces into private concerns. Maybe that’s the source of the ideological difference of opinion. Perhaps Dr. Sullivan didn’t like the whole process of doing the BOV bidding on the Living Wage issue? Making UVA look like every other private Ivy is not inevitable nor desirable. If this is the case, maybe Sullivan stood up to that ideology and this is the cost.
The public university is being transformed by private interests right before our eyes. The whole “stars” model is just a business model adopted by higher education to “compete” for rankings. UVA Faculty are not involved or included in the change process, perhaps she wanted to include them and the BOV, with its “plantation” mentality would have none of it.
I can’t help but wonder if the legislation that enables the BOV stated that it must be comprised of 51% Faculty, parents, and students, if Dr. Sullivan would be leaving? The way the BOV is appointed is problematic from my POV. BOV appointments are nothing but political payoffs for campaign support for Govs. Its how elites control public resources like the University of Virginia.
Dr. Sullivan was brought here, we thought, to be the midwife for a new budget model that makes the University more of a efficient, commercial concern- I didn’t like that idea much but appreciated her thoughtful approach. It looks like she wanted to do it in a reasonable time frame and they did not. It looks like the BOV wanted an MBA hatchet-type. Maybe the ideological difference was that Sullivan wanted the BOV to do its job of advocating for the public university with the legislature and the BOV just wanted to go along with the Legislatures no tax, defunding of public institutions model. Maybe Sullivan asked the BOV to push back against the Gov and the Legislature?
Public Universities are a source o knowledge that have traditionally been unencumbered by venal political interests. But these institutions and the work of faculty as counter narratives to commercial discourse is being whittled away in 1000 paper cuts and this is happening in small increments like the hiring and firing of Terry Sullivan. The public, faculty, parents, and students need to take back their university from the private interests that have captured it. Maybe its the BOV which should be dismissed.
I keep reading here and else where that people with almost no information makes this out to be about gender or politics and not the direction of the University. It’s a more compelling narrative to make this about Sullivan being a woman. It might end up be correct but given what we now know reveals more about the bias of the writer than interpretation of the facts available.
After watching the female Rector Dragas at yesterday’s press conference making this just about gender seems overstated and a distraction to what will be revealed in the coming months.
A lot of “maybes” and rank speculation in these comments. Can we all just admit that we don’t know why this happened, and that postulating the reasons now just reveals our own, personal biases? I am left with just two abiding certainties:
1) the truth needs to come out; the reasons for Theresa Sullivan’s unexpected departure need to be explicated and not hidden behind BOV double-speak; this is a public University and the region’s largest employer, and staff, faculty, students, and tax-payers deserve a clear understanding of what brought this about.
2) #1 will never happen.
Um, She’s sick. My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Theresa pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious.
So the powers-that-be – Len Sandridge? – drove Ayers away and told him never to return? Interesting. But wouldn’t it be the sweetest return of the prodigal son if he were invited back?
The way it is shaping up, this isn’t a story about all the new pressures of fundraising etc as it is an old old story about power – she didn’t fully enough eradicate the head of the beast (Casteen=GWB, Sandridge=Cheney/Beast), and how the beast might have ties (does it?) to the governor and clout to shape the BOV.
The BOV members who finally got rid of Casteen are gone … replaced by the McDonnell appts. This is a reactionary move. G-d preserve us from a Casteen interim presidency.
yes they wanted her to do more fundraising. But also it looks like Sandridge wanted to run the show again like he did when Casteen was out cocktailing and fundraising.
She didn’t raise quite enough dough
So they said that the prez had to go
While biz types count beans
We’ll project what it means
Though its likely that we’ll never know
I don’t have the faintest idea. And since I work for him, I’ve got a big conflict of interest on this topic, anyhow. But, hey, as long as I’m having conflicts of interest, I wonder if UVA would consider making Gov. Gerry Baliles the interim president of the university? He heads up the Miller Center, and could surely step in to run UVA for a few months, what with having run the entire state for four years.
Sounds like the UVa faculty isn’t too happy about the BOV decision.
Here’s a suggestion, let’s show them whose boss and organize a strike by the faculty and staff until the BOV are fired !
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2012/jun/11/uva-faculty-senate-shocked-sullivan-ouster-ar-1979840/
She and her leadership team had no idea ….
http://mobile.washingtonpost.com/rss.jsp?rssid=599&item=http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/outrage-mounts-over-u-va-presidents-ouster/2012/06/11/gJQAU4F0VV_mobile.mobile&cid=-1&fullSiteUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Flocal%2Fdc-politics%2Foutrage-mounts-over-u-va-presidents-ouster%2F2012%2F06%2F11%2FgJQAU4F0VV_story_1.html
Teresa Sullivan was provost here at the U-M before she went to Virginia. I always thought she was great, and I was delighted that she got the UVa job.
while it’s not clear what exactly happened here, it sounds as if Sullivan was standing up for academic excellence, as she has done throughout her career; too bad that fundraising seems to be more important these days.
I like @Betty’s idea!!!!!! Strike.
But sadly the UVA faculty ( or students) don’t have much hutzpah, they did nothing on the Living Wage campaign. The sad thing is, with the kettle temp rising a degree every year, all the frogs will be boiled soon as the University turns into a business enterprise and academic freedom disappears. Then, one more check and balance on the corporatized U.S. society will be gone. The MBAs will rule without any challenge.
The BOVs are nothing but political payoffs for contributing to Governors’ campaigns. We need to have representation from parents, students, and faculty on the BOV (like 51%).
So I say strike but also change the way the BOVs are appointed.
Teresa Sullivan and Elizabeth Warren
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/06/11/The-Academic-Scandal-Elizabeth-Warren-and-Harvard-Dont-Want-You-to-Know-About
Executive Session – Tuesday, May 22, 2012
After adopting the following motions, the Board went into Executive Session at 3:00 p.m.
That the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia convene in Executive Session for the purpose of discussing and/or approving personnel actions involving the appointment, reappointment, transition, nomination, evaluation, performance, compensation, and resignation of specific University officers and employees as provided for in Section 2.2-3711 (A) (1) of the Code of Virginia.
That the Board of Visitors convene in Executive Session to consult with General Counsel on his privileged legal report on pending and anticipated litigation affecting the University, as provided for in Section 2.2-3711 (A) (7) of the Code of Virginia.
At 3:30 p.m., the Board resumed in open session. On motion, the Board adopted the following resolution certifying that the deliberations in Executive Session had been conducted in accordance with the exemptions permitted by the Virginia Freedom of Information Act:
That we vote on and record our certification that, to the best of each Board member’s knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements and which were identified in the motion(s) authorizing the closed session, were heard, discussed or considered in closed session.
From the minutes: http://www.virginia.edu/bov/publicminutes.html
As far as the Brietbart artcile, it looked to me like Sullivan and co-authors had been exonerated in the investigation report.
Is this not just conservative bashing of Elizabeth Warren? Is Sullivan’s dismissal guilt by association with Elizabeth Warren?
The UVA is an excellent university, in its own way. But by the usual objective metrics (Nobel prizes, Pulitzer prizes, NAS members, MacArthur fellowships, etc) it is a third tier research university, and will remain that way for a long time, no matter how hard the Board of Visitors wishes otherwise. It would be a big mistake for UVA to abandon what it’s good at and known for to pursue an unreachable status in the company of Berkeley, Michigan, UCLA, and the other major public research universities (to say nothing of the likes of Chicago, Columbia, Harvard, and Stanford). Unfortunately, the parochial and insular perspective that is so pervasive here in Virginia blinds many people to this reality. People in Charlottesville (and Richmond) need to get out more. They will find that their cherished educational institutions do not radiate their glow much beyond Virginia’s borders.
—- Um, She’s sick. My best friend’s sister’s boyfriend’s brother’s girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who’s going with the girl who saw Theresa pass out at 31 Flavors last night. I guess it’s pretty serious. ——-
Thank you, Simone.
p.s. Your classic theory is as credible as any other. Not sure Sherlock Holmes could solve this mystery. Rank speculation fueled by persons with ulterior motives will help no one. Hoo rah ray, and all that.
[…] alums” who Darden’s Peter Kiernan says he worked with on the “project” of ousting President Teresa Sullivan, The Hook’s Courteney Stuart has done some digging. Her sources and the available evidence […]