The Landmark Hotel was awarded a new owner yesterday, Dave McNair reports for The Hook, to John Dewberry, a Waynesboro native and real estate developer who lives in Georgia. At $6.25M, he submitted the high bid to the federal bankruptcy court. Construction has been on hold since January 2009, when owner Halsey Minor defaulted on the construction loan. The skeletal structure was seized by the FDIC two years later, after a court found that Minor had violated the terms of the loan. Dewberry still has to follow through and actually purchase the structure. He thinks it’ll be another year until construction resumes.
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Monthly Archive for June, 2012
Page 3 of 4
At 2:30 AM this morning, the Board of Visitors emerged from what was surely a very contentious session, having named McIntire School of Commerce Dean Carl Zeithaml the interim president. McIntire is a sort of Darden Lite—the undergraduate version of Darden—and Zeithaml is an old, white man, which is to say that, in retrospect, BOV’s choice is not particularly surprising. (Zeithaml also has a degree in “Strategic Management,” something that seems to be buzzword compliant with the BOV’s preferences.) He sent a letter to the McIntire School when President Sullivan was ousted ten days ago, which neither condemned nor explicitly supported the BOV’s actions. Zeithaml’s selection was not unanimous: Heywood Fralin voted against Zeithaml, Robert Hardie and A. Macdonald Caputo abstained, and Glynn Key left the meeting before the vote.
So, there was a meeting was held in secret in response to widespread anger about the BOV’s new habit of doing things in secret, in which they selected an old, white man who runs a business school and has a degree in “Strategic Management” to take over the presidency of the university. It’s difficult to see how the universal condemnation of the BOV’s actions have resulted in an outcome that is in any way different than the one envisioned by Rector Helen Dragas last October, when she set this plan in motion.
On behalf of the Board of Visitors, I’d like to speak directly to the extended U.Va. family – to our students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends. We reach out to you today as fellow sons and daughters of this University, who studied here, matured into adulthood here, made friends here, met spouses here, and walked the hallowed Lawn.
Dear proles.
We share your love of this institution and its core values of honor, integrity, and trust. Like you, we have given our energy, commitment, and resources to the University. And, like you, we are inspired by the magic of U.Va. every time we speak with students and faculty. Through service to the University, we have had the true honor of witnessing up close all that the University community does so well.
I’m just like you. Only I was born rich. So trust me, as your relatable better.
This has been a difficult week for the University. It is never easy to announce a change in leadership, particularly after a relatively short period of time since the last selection.
It is in no way my fault that this has been a shit week. What a funny thing that we just got a new president two years ago, and here we are doing it again! But who can say what the cause of that is, really?
While our actions in this matter were firmly grounded in what we believe to be in the very best and long-term interests of the University, and our students, faculty, staff and alumni, we want to express our sincere regret for the pain, anger and confusion they have caused among many in our U.Va. family. We certainly never wished nor intended to ignite such a reaction from the community of trust and honor that we all love so dearly.
Who could possibly have anticipated that a second-rate Virginia Beach condo developer single-handedly orchestrating the firing of the president of the University of Virginia to satisfy the demands of a rich asshole would upset people? Not me! People love that! …right?
We recognize that, while genuinely well-intended to protect the dignity of all parties, our actions too readily lent themselves to perceptions of being opaque and not in keeping with the honored traditions of this University.
It is your fault for interpreting my actions as being bad. (You idiots.)
For that reason, let me state clearly and unequivocally: you – our U.VA. family – deserved better from this Board, and we have heard your concerns loud and clear.
Boy. That escalated quickly. I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
The Board of Visitors exists to make these kinds of judgments on behalf of all the constituencies of the University. While the broader U.VA. community – our students, faculty, alumni, and donors, among others – have varied and important interactions and touch-points with our University leadership, the Board is the one entity that has a unique vantage point that enables us to oversee the big picture of those interactions, and how the leadership shapes the strategic trajectory of the University. Simply put, we have the responsibility, on behalf of the entire community, to make these important and often difficult calls.
When I want your advice, I’ll give it to you.
I want to make clear that the Board had a formalized communications process with the President, involving ongoing discussions for an extended period of time on progress toward mutually agreed-upon strategic goals for the University. And we took this action only as a result of there being an overwhelming consensus of the Board to do so, and after all Board members were thoughtfully and individually engaged.
I mentioned all of this to President Sullivan fully two days before she was actually canned. Also, three people voted on it. So, y’know, quitcherbitchin.
We have heard your demands for a fuller explanation of this action. And while our answers may seem insufficient and poorly communicated, we have responded with the best we have to offer – the truth.
I have provided you with an insufficient, poorly communicated “truth.”
And, to set the record straight on an important point, the Board has never, nor will we ever, direct that particular programs or courses be eliminated or reduced. These matters belong to the faculty.
I’m lying through my teeth.
This is all to say that there is not one single person on earth whose interests we would ever put above those of the thousands of stakeholders entrusted to our care. Not one President, not one administrator, not one faculty member, and certainly not one donor.
Just totally making shit up at this point.
As we look forward to the transition to new leadership at the University – a process that begins today with our deliberation over the selection of an interim President – the U.Va. family can rest assured that it will have a great deal of input. We have already met with student and faculty leadership, and we agreed to broaden and deepen our interaction and engagement going forward.
I gave these same tired lines to the Faculty Senate and the Student Council, and they’re both pretty pissed off about it, but whatevs. I talked at them, that’s the important thing.
For selection of the next president, our Board Manual calls for setting up a special committee, which, in addition to some Board members, will have representation from students, faculty alumni and staff.
We are committed to doing the bare minimum.
We look forward to your participation in this important process.
Oh, Jesus.
On a personal note, I want to say something about our outgoing President, Terry Sullivan. Dr. Sullivan has put all of her considerable energies – and then some – into her work as President, and we owe her a great deal of gratitude for her service, her enthusiasm for improving U.VA., and for always keeping the best interests of this University foremost in mind. We hope that Dr. Sullivan will remain an important contributing member of our U.VA. family in the coming years, and we are very fortunate to have had the benefit of her service.
I’m pretty sure that Teresa Sullivan has absolutely no self respect.
I want to thank the U.VA. family for enduring the tumult of this difficult week. It has been exceptionally trying for all of us, and we accept our great share of responsibility for that. Going forward, the Board of Visitors pledges to work closely with you as we all pull together to restore the foundational unity of Mr. Jefferson’s University for current and future generations.
In conclusion, fuck you.
Today’s Board of Visitors meeting is still unfolding, but for folks who are looking for the meat of things right now, you can find it in the statements read at the meeting by Rector Helen Dragas and President Teresa Sullivan. Those follow after the jump.
Continue reading ‘Dragas & Sullivan’s Statements to the BOV’
Just a week after Teresa Sullivan abruptly announced her resignation, details are tumbling out now. The latest dump of information comes from Daniel de Vise and Anita Kumar at the Washington Post, from which we learn:
- Rector Helen Dragas wanted to see Sullivan make big cuts, eliminating some programs entirely, which Sullivan would not do. In the big-picture sense, Dragas thinks UVA needs a president who is more like a Fortune 500 CEO.
- Dragas’ campaign to push out Sullivan began last October, working with vice rector Mark Kington and Darden’s Peter Kiernan.
- Sullivan was given a verbal performance evaluation by Dragas and Kington in November, in which she was told that she was doing a good job, but needed to do better.
- When Sullivan was forced to quit, a week ago Friday, it was by Dragas and Kington making a surprise visit to Madison Hall, where they told her that they had fifteen votes (all but one member of the Board of Visitors) to remove her; Sullivan was speechless.
- Dragas instructed Sullivan to move out of Carr’s Hill by the end of July, rather than by her last day, August 15.
- Sullivan has lawyered up.
- Sullivan will be addressing the BOV on Monday, but they’re only willing to hear from her if the meeting is private.
Many people (myself included) assumed that Sullivan was being brought in precisely for the purpose of cutting spending. That, in the face of a bad economy, her role would be to eliminate departments, lay people off, and generally make enemies for the sake of financial stability. Then, after a few years went by and the economy rebounded, she’d move on, and the BOV could hire a long-term president. Obviously, that proved to be the opposite of Sullivan’s plan.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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