Talk about your existential crisis.
The University of Virginia is under fire from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission to show cause why it should not face sanctions or even lose its accreditation because of the inane attempted firing of President Teresa Sullivan this summer.
According to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, the commission is unhappy with the explanation they have received about what happened when the Board of Visitors, led by Helen Dragas, abruptly forced Sullivan to resign.
Dragas, a construction firm owner, was still kept on the board after the Sullivan affair drew national criticism and Sullivan was retained after the university’s loud protests.
Readers of this blog may remember the great gnashing of teeth that went supporting the attempt to get rid of highly-regarded Sullivan. Some, and others, claim she was out of step with great plans to turn some teaching over to online courses to cut costs. That turned out to be untrue.
The movement seems based in some decades-old backlash against the supposed dogmatic liberalism that began among tenured faculty back in the 1960s and 1970s.
Well, it has all turned full circle. Thankfully, Sullivan is back in office but Virginia’s best-known university and one of the most prestigious public schools in the nation is facing questions about whether it is worthy to be accredited.
It’s almost too incredible to believe.