Bacon's Rebellion

Democracy Thrives in Sunlight

Ryan Selected to Lead UVa

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by

James A. Bacon
in

The University of Virginia has selected a new president, James E. Ryan, dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education. A former law school professor at the UVa law school, he has a strong ties to the institution, and he has an impressive background and resume.

Read more about his background here.

“The University of Virginia has occupied a special place in my heart since the day I first stepped on Grounds,” said Ryan in a prepared statement. “Returning here to continue playing a role in the extraordinary work of this University community is deeply humbling, and an opportunity that I will strive every day to honor.”

In explaining the section, Rector Frank M. Conner III and former Rector William H. Goodwin stated:

We believe that the next 15 years will be critical in determining the future of higher education in the United States and the role of the University of Virginia in that future. As a leading public institution, we fully embrace the public service mission that we have to the Commonwealth of Virginia, the nation, and the world to develop citizen leaders in all fields of endeavor and to contribute to the common good in solving the most challenging issues of our time. We know that Jim shares a passion for this purpose. We are confident that he is the perfect leader for this institution at this precise time in history. And we intend to support him in every manner we can in achieving our shared vision.

Neither Conner, Goodwin nor Ryan elaborated upon what that shared vision might be. In a five-minute video accompanying the announcement, Ryan stuck to personal ruminations and gave no hint of what the board expects him to accomplish. Stay tuned. Bacon’s Rebellion will do its best to divine whether the university sticks to its present course or sets out in a new direction.

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8 responses to “Ryan Selected to Lead UVa”

  1. kls59 Avatar
    kls59

    This is great news.
    Which Traitors will he be bringing to Charlottesville? Ed Snowden?

    1. Lift Avatar
      Lift

      OK, this made me chuckle.

  2. Reed Fawell 3rd Avatar
    Reed Fawell 3rd

    Two weeks ago, without the slightest idea that Mr. Ryan was a candidate to head UVa., I read his recent book WAIT, WHAT? AND LIFE’S OTHER ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS.

    On finishing the book, I sent a note to the person who had recommended the book to me:

    … With that little book, you tossed a bomb over the Bay into my River. I read it. Gave it to … She read it. Now my home is full of endless questions. Plus she reloaded the bomb and tossed it into DC, exploding homes of friends there, with endless questions, queries, starts and stops, kin puzzled and amazed, smiling and clapping, unlike the hard looks and grimaces and fist-a-cuffs, before.”

    Despite the many personal details of his life that he shares with the readers of WAIT, WHAT?, there is a lot more to learn about James Ryan. But I cannot imagine a more different approach to problems and how to solve them as offered by this book, from the way problems have been addressed and “solved” or not solved at UVA over the past six years, since the Spring of 2011.

    What a breath of fresh air!

  3. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    Of course the same BOV that selected him also unanimously did this:

    ” UVa Board of Visitors votes to move Confederate tablets from Rotunda facade”

    The University of Virginia Board of Visitors endorsed and acted upon several student demands on Friday.

    The board voted to pass resolutions that will change or remove plaques on the Rotunda that honor UVa’s Confederate war dead, strengthen the school’s open-flame policy and make the Lawn a facility.

    The decisions are in direct response to the white nationalist march through Grounds on Aug. 11 and to demands by several minority student groups made after the rally. By changing symbols and regulations, the university hopes to address concerns over UVa’s ties to the Confederacy and slavery — and to prevent more violence on Grounds.

    “I commend this resolution, and I thank you for your leadership on it,” said board member Maurice Jones, the state’s former commerce secretary. “I want to be clear, these were not young men who died for America; they died to defend slavery. If they had won, I would not be here today.”

    UVa’s rector also suggested that the bronze tablets are impacting recruitment.

    “Are the plaques a barrier to the talent we want today?” asked Rector Frank M. “Rusty” Conner. “I believe they are.”

    http://www.dailyprogress.com/news/local/uva/uva-board-of-visitors-votes-to-move-confederate-tablets-from/article_914002e2-9a48-11e7-8903-0f4535909015.html

    1. djrippert Avatar
      djrippert

      “I want to be clear, these were not young men who died for America; they died to defend slavery. If they had won, I would not be here today.”

      A sad statement by somebody who should know better. Like most young men who go marching off to war I am sure that the typical Confederate soldier had no real idea why he was fighting. No doubt he was told that his home of Virginia was under attack and had to be defended. While it is fair to accuse the leaders of the Confederacy of fighting to defend slavery I think it’s absurd to say the same of the teenagers who became cannon fodder under the direction of a tiny percentage of wealthy Virginians. These elites tried to preserve an immoral economic structure that was breathing its last breath as the US Civil War started. Had the Civil War never been fought slavery in America would have been banned long before the turn of the century. Brazil was the last country to ban slavery – in 1888. As usual in Virginia the young men who fought in the Civil War were misled by Virginia’s elite and their hand puppets in our state government. Those young men died following a corrupt government which fought an unwinnable war to preserve an immoral lifestyle that wouldn’t have lasted another 15 years. The plaques should have been left up as a reminder of what happens when the citizens of Virginia stop questioning the asshats in our state government.

  4. LarrytheG Avatar
    LarrytheG

    My guess is that it won’t be long at all before Ryan is rudely “exposed” as yet another liberal elite… masquerading as a College President to carry on the rancid tradition of brainwashing our youth with failed godless socialist ideology.

    wait for it….. 😉

    https://rlv.zcache.com/survived_college_without_becoming_liberal_t_shirt-rcd5f6e9ed2cc42b4900272adc4c1500a_v9i79_8byvr_324.jpg

  5. LocalGovGuy Avatar
    LocalGovGuy

    Extremely poor choice.

  6. Lift Avatar
    Lift

    Now comes news of the generous package Ryan will receive just under $2M. Given that the best predictor of a college president’s success is having already led a college, I find it interesting that this gentleman landed a top-tier presidency. I was hoping that UVa would hire someone who had already served and shown evidence of the ability to lead a large, complex organization as a president, elsewhere. The stint with the much-lauded provost didn’t turn out so well for UVa. Fingers crossed.

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