Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Nichol Losing Confidence of W&M Alumni

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by

James A. Bacon
in

The Wren Cross controversy may be settled for now, but a growing number of William & Mary alumni are convinced that the cross episode is merely a symptom of a larger problem: President Gene Nichol. Seth Freedland at The Daily Press reports on a movement to pressure the Board of Visitors not to renew Nichols’ contract when it expires next summer.

The article quotes Victor K. Biebighauser, a ’75 alumnus and a steady 20-year contributor to the university who pulled the plug on his annual contributions after the cross caper. Though partially molified, he said he would not make up for his missed donation with any more money than usual. Another alumnus, Andrew McRoberts, Class of ’87, said he did not expect to resume contributing anytime soon.

Such dissatisfaction follows on the heels of an announcement by James W. McGlothlin that he would withdraw a $12 million donation. If Nichol can’t regain the confidence of alumni, W&M fund-raising efforts are doomed to falter. And when a university president can’t raise money, like University of Richmond President William Cooper, he won’t last long.

In the age of websites, blogs and e-mail, alumni can mobilize in protest against unpopular university administrators far more readily than in the past. No longer can a university president control the flow of information. As an example: Lance Kyle, class of ’89 and an Arlington resident, has e-mailed a copy of his letter to Rector Michael Powell denouncing Nichol, which I am re-publishing on this blog. (You can read the full text here.) Here’s a choice selection:

What is equally disturbing his how Nichol is demonstrating the same pattern at William & Mary as he did at Colorado and Chapel Hill. While Nichol was dean at Colorado, the law school fell 12 points … in the USN&WR rankings and almost lost its ABA accreditation while at Chapel Hill it fell 8 points. At both schools, the local papers were filled with op-eds by disgruntled alumni, students and taxpayers admonishing Nichol to “focus on building and managing the law school instead of his personal, radical agenda.” The same thing is happening at William & Mary and red flags are everywhere. The stakeholders are complaining while W&M falls further behind its peers in terms of applicant stats (SATs are flat and GPAs are falling) and fundraising growth not to mention the NACUBO endowment ratings. … All of this will translate into lower rankings and devalued diplomas.

Writes Kyle elsewhere: “W&M desperately needed a superstar fundraiser but instead got a failed politician who is saddling the school with meaningless expenses.”

I don’t know how fair these charges are but they are serious — and they are being heard. Clearly Nichol has aroused the alumni, and the antagonism appears to be growing. Let us hope that he doesn’t wind up destroying this eminent institution as a result.

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32 responses to “Nichol Losing Confidence of W&M Alumni”

  1. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Politics—-bah.

    Happy W&M alum ’89

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I love this: “W&M falls further behind its peers in terms of applicant stats (SATs are flat and GPAs are falling).”

    In other words, the same conservatives, alums at that, who get bent out of shape about the rest of the PUBLIC institutions in Virginias being too selective, and not taking enough in-state students, want to dump a president who doesn’t continue the same elitist trends of Tim Sullivan.

    W&M is a state-supported institution and it should respond to state needs, not just pursue its own elitist goals…which I believe one of your commentators criticized UVa for doing just the other day.

  3. Jim Jones Avatar
    Jim Jones

    As usual, it’s all about conservatives and our intolerance. Nichol’s record is clear and it speaks for itself. But beyond that, giving outstanding disadvantaged kids a free ride at W&M is just fine with us. What is not fine is Nichol’s activist agenda. Many of us think W&M should focus on arming students, our future leaders, with an education and the ability to think logically and coherently. They can learn to protest, or take up causes, after graduation should that be their chosen path. When they do so, they will be better prepared for life in the real world. The value of a traditional education is paramount and can be brought to bear for causes or vocations of all political stripes. And if most students really didn’t understand the Wren Cross issue, then the W&M of today is failing to educate. Opinions on the cross will vary, of course, but a basic inability to understand why it was an issue at all is most worrisome. We need leadership by an educator and a leader, not by an activist. This isn’t about politics. It’s about the fundamental nature of what we want W&M to be.

  4. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    Anonymous, a point of clarification: What I criticized UVa for the other day was not soliciting contributions and building the size of its endowment. I criticized it for building the size of its endowment without using a significant percentage of endowment income to moderate the dramatic increases in student tuitions. What we see at W&M is quite a different problem entirely: a failure (or a feared failure) of President Nichol to build up the university endowment — regardless of the use to which that endowment is put.

  5. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I think Virginia schools should be more elitist and they should accept more OOS students. The result is higher standards, bigger endowments and a stronger Commonwealth. Let’s face it, there has been a brain drain in Virginia since the Civil War and you see it showing up across the state in the universities (Richmond, Tech, W&M, etc.). In fact, most of the money being donated to Virginia universities comes from out-of-state. One third are paying for the other two-thirds. Guess everything gets back to the 80-20 Rule…

  6. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Jim, I was actually referring to Groveton’s comments to your post. However, now that you brought it up…is there any reason to believe that if W&M built it’s endowment to the same level as UVa (which seems doubtful), that it would behave in a manner different than UVa? There is no evidence of that…in fact, W&M won’t spend a dime of its private funds for E&G building maintenance believing that is solely the responsiblity of the state. Of course, private funds were used to pay for Tim Sullivan’s butler.

    What as W&M done to advance the Commonwealth?

    As for the brain drain since the Civil War, are you suggesting that is because the smart people got tired of Va’s fascination with the war and want to escape it?

  7. Mac Avatar
    Mac

    UVa is excelling. Charlottesville is rapidly becoming the private sector hub in this State whereas Williamsburg is turning into “Chapel Hill North” complete with a socialist mayor, leftist college president, revisionist CW leader and atheist Bruton Parish minister.

    Yes, people are tired of hearing about the Civil War and all of the 2nd place trophies housed in Richmond. Lee was agreat man, but let’s move on and build some private sector strength. This State is too dependent on the federal government and it is creating a dangerous dependency.

    That recent Forbes article claiming “Virginia is best for business” was a deceptive semantics play. “Best” is the slippery word. What it really said was that Virginia has a lot of infrastructure but isn’t living up to its potential. Got it?

  8. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Nichol is the Sanjaya of Virginia College Presidents — time to vote him off.

    I’m sure most of have seen the touching cartoon showing all the state school mascots huddled around a grieving Hokie Bird. No reference to William and Mary. You can’t show an Indian brave anymore, can you? If so, certainly not with feathers. What is our identity, other than the less-than-well-known unique distinction of being the only college named for two queens….maybe there is a new mascot in that! Wouldn’t both Nichol a bit.

    I made a specific financial pledge to the school as part of my 30th class reunion and I will honor that pledge. After that, maybe not another dime.

  9. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  10. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  11. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  12. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  13. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  14. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  15. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  16. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  17. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  18. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  19. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  20. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  21. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  22. Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89 Avatar
    Happy Alumni W&M Alum '89

    Thanks for letting me know that President Nichols is part of the vast left wing conspiracy—I wasn’t at the last meeting and didn’t get the memo.

    It is fascinating watching the culture warriors circle with such energy. Perhaps it is pent up frustration from losing on so many fronts of late?

    This whole debate (if I can dignify it by calling it that) seems so truly, sadly trivial and out of touch with the substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.

  23. Jim Jones Avatar
    Jim Jones

    In response to the Happy W&M Alum ’89:

    You may as well cease and desist throwing out all the catchphrases of the liberal/conservative battle, like “left-wing conspiracy.” I do not claim a conspiracy; only that Gene Nichol has a long history with the ACLU as an officer in two states. The ACLU is a left-wing organization whose most public cause is removal of religious symbols from public spaces, using the language of “insiders and outsiders.” That is a fact.

    Using the same terminology, and insisting that the cross itself is inherently unwelcoming, Nichol removed it without debate or discussion, then hid from alumni, camera crews, and FOIA requests. He produced one letter of complaint, heavily redacted. Unless Nichol is withholding all of these complaints he received, the facts to date clearly show that he created a problem where none existed, created a rift in the W&M community that will take years to heal, damaging the College’s reputation, and losing valuable dollars from alumni donors. Looking back, and given the left wing’s hostility to Native American symbology used by sports teams, one may conclude that in hindsight, Nichol gave up the feather fight a little too easily.

    I bought it then, because Nichol said it wasn’t worth it and we needed to move on with the core mission of the College. His next step was then to remove the cross. At that point, it became somewhat obvious, based on his track record, that he had NOT checked his political baggage at the Wren fence. Do you have some logic or facts that you can give me to dispute this, or are you going to write me off as just another right-wing wacko by saying that’s what I am? It appears to me that Nichol was so convinced of the rightness of his action, and that everyone else would agree, that he was taken quite by surprise when the “vast right-wing conspiracy” swung into action. You will notice we right-wingers are always out protesting something, unlike the left, who never protest as they are too busy taking care of work and family to get out much.

    So don’t rely on me, the conservative, for your information. Do your own research rather than listening to a tool of the conspiracy. Look at the ratings decreases at Nichol’s schools during his tenure. Look at the drop in fund-raising. Look at the editorials and letters in the papers that basically said “good riddance,” and look at the huge flap he and his wife caused at UNC. And watch the applications at W&M, because relative to other good schools, they are rising at a much slower rate.

    The facts are the facts, and until Nichol releases more documentation (which I predict he won’t do), they stand as they are. Given those facts, one does not need to come to a meeting or read a memo to see what Nichol is up to. He’s established what we among the right-wing conspirator crowd call a “track record.”

    Speaking as a newly-minted culture warrior who fully intends to devote my time, money, and energy to opposing ACLU-like agendas in the future, I can thank Gene Nichol for energizing me. I have never been a culture warrior before, but I will accept the label if you like. Unfortunatly, I learned to think and express myself at W&M, as at that time “core mission” implied a degree of education, and so I am well-armed for the battle. I am not so sure the right is losing on so many fronts. Maybe they are, but they didn’t lose on the Wren Cross front. The cross will be back, permanently, and there it shall stay. It was the power of the people; the 18,000; the offended and excluded alumni. It was a protest designed and executed using techniques pioneered by the left; and I must say, they worked very well. We shall remember those tactics in the future. When you have not only emotion on your side, but logic as well, and you can get the word out to people, people can think for themselves and act accordingly. That’s why the Cross is back, and back to stay. People just weren’t “having it.”

    I think you’re about as wrong as you can be about the triviality of the debate; it is far from trivial, and your thinking it is trivial does not make it so. It garnered the attention of every national media outlet and Web site across the whole political spectrum, and it never died down. So you are in the minority; if it was trivial, it would never have achieved such attention.

    You also speak of “substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth” that were ignored in the course of this debate. I can only state that I believe the issue is one of those substantive challenges facing our country and is therefore not a waste of time. But if I am wrong and it really was a waste of time, then let me remind you that it was Gene Nichol that caused the whole thing. Had he left the existing compromise policy in place, which worked well for everyone for decades, none of this would have happened. Of course the alumni protested; what other choice did Nichol leave us? Blaming this on “the right wing conspiracy” is the same as blaming Clinton’s impeachment on Ken Starr instead of on Clinton, where the blame belonged. Yeah, we raised a ruckus, and so did Starr, but do not forget the actions that came before.

    Nichol’s agenda and arrogance have been exposed in how he’s handled himself and the Wren Cross issue; we shall see where things go from here. The Board of Visitors have seen Nichol make a public laughingstock of W&M and himself, and perhaps they may yet choose to do something about it.

  24. Mac Avatar
    Mac

    Why does every pablum puking liberal always fall back on that tired refrain “substantive challenges facing our country and the Commonwealth.” Listen, lady, we can’t save the world but we can save William & Mary. It is worth saving because it enriches our culture as well as the economy (can you imagine Williamsburg and the tourist dollars it generates without W&M?).

    If you can’t see the damage that has been done to this important institution, then you must have been in the Ed School. I know its difficult to connect the dots with crayons but it does sound like you need some remedial economics education. I’ll bet you are sitting at your DMV job right now writing this knee jerk stuff based on unquantifiable feelings instead of hard facts.

    Have you been watching the staistics relating to W&M? They are not good. Application falloff relates to lowered reputation and damaged fundraising is connected to alienated alumni. This damage is going to carry over into the rankings and then we’re finished. It is already showing up in the W&M law school rankings which fell
    4 points in the latest survey. Are you going to just sit back and watch the train wreck? I’m not.

  25. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    Mac, I totally sympathise with your argument and I can appreciate the strength of your emotions, but I would ask you to tone down the rhetoric. Win the argument by marshalling superior facts and logic, not by demeaning your opponent.

  26. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Yeah, Gene Nichol and the Wren Cross are really the most imporant things for people to be grappling with this week when it comes to Virginia’s colleges and universities.

    Pathetic.

    Clearly, Nichol’s main transgression seems to be that he is a liberal in Virginia. The Cross issue is a manufactured scandal designed to throw red meat to conservatives at a time when right-wingers (especially religious conservatives) are simply unable to defend what is happening locally and nationally with the GOP they have carried water for again and again. It’s a diversion.

    Any other time you could file this kind of stuff next to “Jim Gilmore for President” and other mung from the James Bowden School of Expression. But to run this crap THIS particular week is truly vile and irresponsible.

  27. Mac Avatar
    Mac

    Here we go again. Another partisan poster who is injecting politics and exploiting the Tech tragedy in order to shut down a serious, ongoing discussion about the fate of Virginia’s oldest university. What is even more amazing is the fact that this poster doesn’t recognize how the Tech tragedy is instructive here for all Virginia schools.

    You see, if the Commonwealth’s universities were better capitalized, there would definitely be better Administration at these schools which would include better mental health facilities. Let’s face it, public universities in this state, with the exception of UVa and VCU, get second pick when it comes to college presidents.

    Nichol is a case in point. Just look at how he handled the Decker Affair, the residency issue, the cross removal and the feathers larceny. I wouldn’t sleep too soundly at night if I were a student there right now.

  28. Happy Alum Avatar
    Happy Alum

    “Pablum puking?” The nature and character of these rants suggest a nerve was struck.

    I’m more than ready to be concerned about the impact of this manufactured controversy on alumni giving, but I’m also pretty sure alumni have been getting stirred up about campus politics since forever. There’s nothing new here except 1) the speed at which the Internet allows these things to get puffed up and 2) how low Mac was willing to go in his post to try to stretch the tragedy in Blacksburg to cover his pet issue. I’m blown away by your chutzpah in tagging someone else as exploiting the tragedy by questioning your priorities and two sentences later implying that dumping Nichol would improve our chances at keeping homicidal maniacs out of our schools.

    Rave on guys, it took the left about 40 years to sounds as out there as you guys have come to sound in less than 15.

  29. Mac Avatar
    Mac

    Here are some pretty damning stats from a recent W&M school newspaper. You can deny them at your own risk while your diploma devaluates as Nichol turns our school into Okie State:

    “the law school ranking dropped from 29th into a tie for 32nd since Nichol arrived, a college donor withdrew a pledge for $12 million, applications have risen by one percent or less, and fundraising plummeted from a 12 percent growth rate to 2 percent.”

  30. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Isn’t this blog about Gene Nichol and W&M? It isn’t “save the world.com”, right? The topic here is Gene Nichol, who’s been a complete fiasco. So let’s stick to that.

    There was absolutely NO reason for his little stunt. Are you really telling me that he was caught totally by surprise by the reaction? If so, then he’s really kind of stupid. I mean, wasn’t he an ACLU lawyer? (Hellooooo? Anybody thinking out there? Let’s all connect the dots. ALL the dots please.) He MUST have known what was coming. That’s no longer up for debate. Let’s begin by giving him that much credit. He’s a lawyer, for God’s sake!

    Now – as to why he did it: more ACLU feathers in his cap? Just a hopeless idealogue? Wanted to be on CNN? Really believes PC theories and thinks everone else does? Who knows? But competence, foresight, or concern for the future of the College was certainly not in the mix. Perhaps he thought that W&M wants to be known for it’s intolerance of Christians? Or it’s love for a good sex show? Come on, get serious – the man is not THAT stupid. (Or is he?)

    I’m afraid the responses are rather limited. Clueless and hopelessly ignorant OR just loves a good fight with the alumni? Thinks the BOV won’t dare to replace him? Says the alumni can stick their money where the sun don’t shine? Was on drugs? Pick one. But please don’t insult us again by claiming he was caught totally off guard by the furor he caused. He’d have to be.. what?… 14 or 15 years old to be that immature? 17 tops. I know some 9 year olds who could grasp these concepts: “Johnny, put Mr. Smith’s cross back where you got it young man, or he’s going to be VERY cross with you!”

  31. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I love the whining a strong leader provokes when he makes a principled stand. Jefferson would be proud of President Nichol and I am too. Give ’em the Truth Gene and they will think its Hell.

    Proud W&M alum 1990

  32. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    “Clean Gene” Nichol? Hardly. As a gutter politician in Colorado he had his share of scandals, including some funny business with donations and campaign finance law. At W&M he’s been a boring, by-the-book, ACLU stooge. If you think he’s about fairness, look what happened to the Philosophy Department when it fell victim to Nichol’s enemies list (and they’re atheist & liberal!). The last President, Sullivan, was liberal but also fair, diplomatic and impartial. Nichol is reckless, self-centered and all about himself and his political correctness agenda. W&M will soon be a mono-culture of liberals, democrats and left-wing loons. Nobody else need apply.

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