'Important alum': Donor Jones had role in Sullivan ouster

Glorious. Good journalism still thrives.

Keep after this story, Hook! Bring as much public shame on these bastards as they have been long overdue in receiving.

Philanthropy should be conducted for its own sake. Anything else with strings attached isn't real philanthropy; it is merely a purchase that cheapens UVa and makes it beholden to a handful of money-minded fools.

Sickening!

Thank you HOOK!

This is exactly why I look to the Hook each week for my news. Great coverage. Keep it up.

One bright light in this entire sordid mess (which seems to get sleazier by the hour) is Buford Scott. I've respected him for years, but my admiration for him has increased enormously with his willingness to stand for principle.

He'd be an exceptional replacement for Ms. Dragas.

UVA, Inc. Courtesy of the .01%.

Wonder how reliable any research that comes out of UVA is now that it is obvious that money trumps all at the university. In my opinion not very.

I've been teaching at UVa for 36 years, and always proud of
my affiliation. If this story is even partially true, that pride has
taken a huge hit.

Starting to make more sense. Good job researching this Hawes. Keep it up!

Investigative journalism? Really? You people are fools. No sources, no evidence, nothing. If any of you commenters are UVA grads I'm embarrassed. Another hack job by Hook - writing whatever they please to stir up some controversy. Stuart's sources are probably the lowlifes who post on this forum!

My hunch: this group of fools posting here couldn't come up with $100 collectively to give to UVA. Little jealous of the rich folks -- big bad Greenwich people who have the AUDACITY to give more money than any of you could ever conceive of to UVA. Don't you all have some place to occupy??

If we leave education up to MBAs, it's only a matter of time before trivial things like Latin and botany are completely thrown out the window in favor of chairmanships named after credit cards:

http://im.dev.virginia.edu/endowments/professorships/long_name/dardensch...

I really don't think The MasterCard Professorship in Business Administration is in the spirit of the Jeffersonian ideals that the university uses to market itself.

Rampant speculation, but I love it! Keep digging and keep the pressure on!! We need proof so we can run these guys out on a rail.

Why's everyone making a mountain out of a molehill? Frankly, I thought using 9/11 as a pretext to eliminate the halftime pass-out at home football games was a bigger deal than one overcompensated individual losing her job.

Could it be that all these petulant academics are creating this sturm and drang out of their obvious jealousy at the financial success people like Kiernan, Jones, & members of the BOV have attained? It must be tough for professors - who were always the smartest kids in the class - to see the B students achieve well-remunerated financial success in the real world while they have to settle for regular upper-middle class lifestyles. But that's no reason to coalesce into a mob and go on the hunt for scalps. It is typical of an entitled mindset though.

Of course the people behind this nasty hemorrhaging quagmire are big donors to the Governor! I truly believe the Governor knew all along and that Ms. Dragas is a scape goat. Granted she has not exhibited any backbone but I also think she's been used. I am appalled and disgusted by this blatant disregard for the world wide UVa family. These people focused only on what they wanted and to h--- with the rest of us...... countless employees, students, faculty and alum. They are so full of themselves with their deep pockets that they never thought they'd be "found out". (Great job Courtney!) Who do these people think they are? Well I'll tell you who they are: they are a bunch of big bad narcissists. This is yet another example of how big money corrupts decency and it seems to be going around this country like dangerous virus. Again, great job Courtney.

"It must be tough for professors - who were always the smartest kids in the class - to see the B students achieve well-remunerated financial success in the real world while they have to settle for regular upper-middle class lifestyles. "

There's a fundamental flaw here. Most professors do not assume that being human means only one thing: accumulating wealth, privilege, and power. Most professors know, in fact, that as middle-class Americans with interesting, secure, jobs they are among the best off folks on the planet, and are suitably grateful. Perhaps, Bartleby, you'd "prefer not" to think life might be something beyond grubbing for more money?

@ Bartleby: envious are you by any chance?

I was just looking up Dragas on vpap for my curiousity, then decided to plug in Jones since I had just read this article. Holy Cow!

@Hahaha I'll cover yours too, you imbecile. As implied in so much that has been reported of late, you *seem* to agree with the notion (based upon your asinine comment) that money is the only thing that matters in life. I'm not discounting what people like PTJ have done for the U and for others with their money, but when people start believing that money trumps all rules of civility, principle, and integrity nothing good ever results. I feel very sorry for you.

Hogwash. The President is to oversee the fundraising - you have fundraisers do the actual work and do the research, set up the meetings and do the social events. Only when they are reeled in does the President step up to secure the donations of that magnitude. What it is - these select donors didn't want Sullivan as the President - for whatever reasons. I would bet my bottom dollar still that the Governor had a hand in it too.

UVA's Fundraisers have long had issues - the first campaign they ever did (when the economy was good) the under estimated how much they could raise - by millions and that shows that someone didn't do their research and know what they were doing. You want your goals to be met or exceeded, but never by that much.

Hook, keep digging these baffoons may be business people but they are horrible at covering their tracks.

@ Old School ...That was a low blow

Follow the money. Because unfortunately it usually is the root of all evil.

If--emphasis on "if"--it is true that John Tudor Jones was one of the two "important alums" referred to in Kiernan's email, then that now raises the count to two (Kiernan being the second)...two individuals outside of the BOV who were made aware well in advance of scheme to effect Sullivan's untimely ouster.

Two outside individuals who were clearly given access to the most sensitive of confidential personnel information--the planned jettisoning of the president of a premier public university.

Two outside individuals who knew...when *at least three members of the BOV itself did not know*.

The irony is palpable.

When called to account for her actions last week, Dragas repeatedly refers to the need to maintain confidentiality of the proceedings surrounding Sullivan's departure. It appears that that same need for confidentiality did not extend to the two outside individuals with whom this debacle was orchestrated.

Ms. Dragas, I daresay that you cannot have it both ways.

@Bartleby No hate being directed from this camp, but major questions about the integrity of all three. And, no, I don't take Joe Biden seriously.

assuming much of this information is true and you're onto something, it is not a huge stretch to imagine that the esteemed Rector isn't magnanimously taking a hit on this. I'd be very surprised if she wasn't promised some lovely multi-million dollar construction projects for her company (ditto for the vice rector). These days construction isn't happening much, is it? So maybe even poor rich people need a boost....

Please ignore all my prior comments.

I've taken a look at the VF article, and if Dragas or Jones can get me a date with the guy in the background of the first photograph, they'll have my support even if they appoint a rabid hedgehog as President of the University.

More breaking news:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/u-va-board-leader-wanted-t...

just to get a show of hands - how many believe that Dragas was merely a duped stooge or forced to follow orders from some higher power?

^^ except that the Hook hasn't been right on. In it's zeal to make head lines and sell scandal, their writers can't even get basic facts correct --

Like this flub, above, by Courtney Stuart, "Rector Dragas, whose only major role at UVA prior to her governing board appointment was the two years she spent getting her MBA . . . ."

Ummm, except that, as has been widely reported, Ms. Dragas is a double Hoo, with undergraduate degrees from the College (not McIntire), in Economics and Foreign Affairs . . . . See: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/helen-dragas/6/365/a26

OK -- I get it, folks are upset about what went down last week. I am not happy about it either. But, looking at The Hook as the messiah that will deliver us from evil is totally misguided. The Hook staff is out for web hits, (like any good capitalist) and will twist, turn and misspeak, if it makes for a good headline. Their willingness to over reach in order to turn a fun phrase, only serves to allow those in power to ignore those who worship at this alter.

UVA is failing.

Here is a early morning Sunday Meeting in complete violation of Virginis Code § 2.2-3707. Meetings to be public; notice of meetings; recordings; minutes.

Look Here http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?000+cod+2.2-3707

The BOV is a Public Body. Three member meeting together is a Public Meeting.

Three days public notice of meetings is a requirement.

Minutes must be taken.

Minutes are available to any Va citizen through the Freedom of Information Act.

Does UVA have a law school? Do the know and love the law.

We all know Hawes Spencer is on this. I bet he researches better than all the law faculty.

Gee, for a yogi, Jones certainly seems to have forgotten that whole non-attachment to material goods.

I read the VF article a month or so before the announcement of the "gift". I don't doubt for a moment that there is more to this than meets the eye.

So the Bov wants to make deep cuts in academics, according to the Post, but they want to support this ?
Maybe President Sullivan didn't want to be in the Yoga Biz
The VanityFair article is a must read, but this you must see-

ttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxmJ6p-ATG8

Oh dear people.
Lets hope that this is Barack Obama's Hole in the Wall.
That some nice rich person gives him a presidential library.
That some of his friends and admirers come to Cville.
That in 4 years , he comes out swinging.

just a summer nights dream
oh little nemo

I have heard they tweaked it enough to support, but their enthusiasm did not reach the level of " strategic dynamism".

Dear Sleep walkers.

Did it ever occur to you that you are asleep, in a dream?
That you are not living in an objective reality, but instead, live in a perceptual delusion?
A nocturnal fancy, a passing flicker of light, that makes you believe in what you see?

That our friends, so cleverly appointed and endowed, call to us to awaken, and see
their emiment light.

Here's what I would do, listen up boys.
Get Colin Powel in there, set up some security apparatus.
He can stay a few months, or longer.We will be sure in NOvemver.
Then, he can give it up to Barack, who can become only the second AFrican American to lead the U.
I believe, it would have a positive effect.
And , then Terry could say, she was in on from the get-go.
And the best of all, Colin Powell could reasonably stick around even after Barack comes in. Cause, he's pretty cool on his own.

Haha, yaky yaky. Don't talk back

Frank Speaker says:

"Countries in the G8 are hit very hard with increasing debt causing an increasing yearly service fee on the debt while the debt gets bigger . Greece ,Ireland ,and some of the smaller countries are feeling the effects more severly before the larger G8 countries. Nevertheless, the USA is severly inpacted abd there is no growth in the economies . Adjustments have been required across the board . Folks should not overlook the economic realities of our time ."

Nor should we overlook who got the G8 and us in this current mess: greedy coprporate financiers, CEOs, Wall Street magnates and MBAs, the same ones who now have their grubby little hands via the BOV on UVA and want to a) sell it off for profit, and b) control it so it becomes a training ground for their conformist corporations.

First these corporate robber barrons create the new depression, get their politician servants to starve the public universities of funding by preventing the fair taxation of corporate and millionaire profits, then say the "environment" has changed and public universities have to get 90% from market sources like corporate sponsors and private donors.

Then Frank Speaker, corporate lackey goes on to say:

"Many academics are unaware of where the money comes from , they just assume they are entitled to whatever amount they want ."

I know where the money comes from, in VA it comes from greedy little corporate CEOs and financiers and private donors who want to control public education and feel they are entitled to because they have money, mostly made given to them by their rich mommies and daddies or taken from the use of public resources and the sweat of other people's labor. Your Helan Dragas' and Keirnans, and Yoga boy and Hunter Craig think they are entitled to ruule the world because they are the masters of the Darwinian universe they have created.

The money should come from the general fund but the VA legislature is full of little enron-loving, anti-tax fools who don't care much about all of us serfs on the plantation. The Universiites produce citizens who make this place a better place to live, they serve a public purpose not merely a private purpose. Society is not a market its a polis.

The Speaker goes on to admit that the BOV were buffons by hiring her in the first place:

"It simply looks to be a poor hire in the first place which she herself acknowledges by her lack of effort to retain the position . There is no easy way for the BOV to correct the situation especially where she was the first female to hold the position."

It was a great hire and everybody but the corporate masters who demand compliance, knows it. She was vetted carefully, she has a superb track record as an academic and and adminsitrator. She is well liked, other universities want her and we will probably lose her and millions in funding because the short terms market thinking of the corporate CEOS on the BOVs.

It is clear she was blind sided and has many offers from other places who probably would actually treat her with some dignity. It simply looks like a great hire to me and that the BOV just got dumber recently probably due to an influx of McDonnel hires. Though we know Dragas and other idiots on the BOV were Kaine hires.

This brings us to the main pint, it doesn't matter if your a rich democrat or a rich republican, all you care about is the profit motive and letting the market run its magic, like the magic that brought us to the biggest depression since the republcans did it in the 20's. Remember what Stalin did t the Russian universities and Mao did to the Chinese, well now our global capitakist leaders want to do the same to our public universiites. The magic that now has become local via this heinous lack of leadership and venal M.O.

Yeah, we want to leave the direction of our public universiites to those who brought us Enron, the real estate collapse, the derivatives scam and the new depression. They are entitled to this after all because they are better than everyone else. The hubris is tragic.

There is an easy way for the BOV to correct its mistakes: Reinstate Sullivant, resign, and get their money grubbing hands off our public resources and then pay their fair share of taxes so that we can fund the universities and let them go back to do what they are best at, creating well rounded thinking citizens who can keep the moneyed interests from ruing our Republic.

Hop on back to the DP blog and the County which has one of the largest disparities between wealthy and poor (see Pro Publica) and one of the largest numbers of millionaires in the Country. hey will eat your rivel up with their silver spoons.

I love this story and Hawes for being on top of it. I keep hearing about the honor and reputation of UVA. I did not attend school here. I am a carpet bagger from the north who attended Harvard. It is my recollection that Jefferson owned over 200 slaves and died deeply in debt. It seems the karmic thread from Jefferson has been woven into a hypocritical tapestry. When will people in this town ever admit the truth or at least discuss it? Thanks Hawes for the good work

I am not a hater. My impression is that Mrs. Sullivan is fully capable in many respects, but that she unfortunately falls into the "inmate running the asylum" category. This helps explain why so many who depend on UVA for a paycheck are outraged, although I realize it is more complicated than this. If I was the owner of a business with a liberal political agenda, I'd still prefer "business" decisions to be made by an MBA than a Sociologist.

Final Exam question: (I think most of the protesters would answer d)

The purpose of UVA is to...
a. educate and support research, among other lofty goals.
b. to act as a giant, social engineering employment agency with nearly unlimited funds.
c. make the faculty happy.
d. all of the above.

Logan Martin seems to have the purpose of education –– public education in general, and higher education at the University of Virginia in particular –– confounded with the business model (especially the corporate business model) bottom line. Here's a better "Final Exam" question than the one Martin posted:

Thomas Jefferson created the University of Virginia because:

a. he recognized the critical importance of "the spread of information among mankind"
b. he believed in a public university that was "broad and liberal and modern, as to be worth patronizing with the public support"
c. he understood that in a democratic republic, "wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government"
d. he saw the value to individuals, community, and country in developing "the reasoning faculties of our youth, [to] enlarge their minds, cultivate their morals, and instill into them precepts of virtue and order"
e. all of the above
f. none of the above

Bonus points: Which one or ones of the preceding possible answers was best exemplified most recently by the University of Virginia's Board of Visitors and its Rector?

NOTE: The Daily Progress has not published Jones' op ed which is in the print edition on their website. They have this op ed instead:
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/news/2012/jun/17/board-visitors-all-blunde...

Comment by ptj is a good example of narcissism and arrogance. Needs to work on character. It is not great.

who gives a rats ass what or how much money you have given your greed is the root of all your evil i say out with the jones as well take your damn money and shove it as deep as it can go and leave our cville area we dont need ass holes like you ruining our area or our world

"Change is never easy and often quite messy," writes Jones. "The spirit of Thomas Jefferson, the first rector of the University of Virginia, is cheering this action by the Board of Visitors."

Let me guess, Mr. Jones channelled the spirit of Mr. Jefferson while sitting in the University's new overpriced yoga studio.

RioDistrictGuy, keen observation and include the glaring omission of Athletics.....Littlepaige, Oliver, and Miller. Oops....after Mr. Jones's involvement, someone said that they are still sitting on their toilets.

These are the "alarming facts" that Paul Tudor Jones uses to justify the Teresa Sullivan firing debacle:

• First, Jones says that "UVa's U.S. News and World Report ranking has fallen steadily since 1988– from No. 15 to No. 25, with a ding from No. 24 taking place as early as last year."

But in those rankings, "only three public schools—Berkeley, UCLA, and the University of Virginia—are ranked among the top 25 National Universities." More importantly is the fact that Jones takes the US News rankings seriously. About twenty-five percent of the US News assessment is based on peer perceptions (what people think about a school) rather than any solid evidence. And, most college admissions officers and experts don't think the rankings are very accurate. So, why does Jones?

• Second, "a full professor at UVA would need a 32 percent raise to earn as much as his/her counterpart at one of the top 10 best paying universities in the nation."

But he says not a word about teaching assistants, assistant professors or associate professors. And he fails to note that all of the so-called "top 10" universities are private institutions. If the state of Virginia is one of the top 10 most affluent states in the country (and it is), then why is it not adequately funding higher education at state schools? It certainly can afford to. Why isn't Jones talking about that?

• Third, Jones whines that "UVA's most recent reported admissions yield is just 43 percent, which means the rate at which students accept a place at UVa after receiving an acceptance letter from Peabody Hall is well under half…"

Um, so what? Has Jones not considered the fact that many students who apply to UVa are also applying to UNC, or JMU, or Princeton, or MIT, or Harvard, or Columbia....? Why, exactly, is the "admissions yield" a problem? Or is it, once again, simply an image thing – a snob problem, as it were – to Jones?

Here's a short message to Paul Tudor Jones: You don't show your esteem for a "beloved institution" by relying on poor-quality information that's more fiction than factual, or by resorting to skullduggery and deceit, or by being a rich bully.

Thomas Jefferson would be jeering and not "cheering" this move by UVa's Board and its Rector. If Paul Tudor Jones had an ounce of common decency, he would be too.

Jones's offensive statement about Mr Jefferson shows how closely he, and others like him, have actually read what Mr Jefferson wrote--about everything, and about UVa in particular.

Considering that UVa was actually established by Mr Jefferson to educate people about just these issues, that is beyond "ironic." How dare he suggest even for a second that TJ is smiling on this--but it's hard to imagine that he is one of those folks who have deluded himself into believing that Jefferson would have smiled on the Disneyland "recreation" of the Academical Village at Darden, too.

As the AAUP's welcome statement shows, the very nature of an institution of higher education is such that the BOV does not have the right to do what it did without buy-in from the other community stakeholders. You can't abrogate the principles out of which an institution is built wholesale, on the one hand, while claiming to be realizing them on the other. To say nothing of having gotten UVa to build a shrine to your favorite semi-religious leader while trying to jettison core academic subjects for being unprofitable. This episode is almost beyond belief, even for an institution that routinely violates its own principles (and those of its founder) as often as does UVa.

So we have a gazillionaire who thinks that if he gives enough money, he gets to run the university (and be the sole interpreter of Jefferson's 'legacy'), a board that's OK with that, and a governor who conveniently says he doesn't want to go against some of his biggest donors.

Oops. Sorry. I was speaking above my station.

Carry on...

Paul Tudor Jones is a real man of genius.

http://www.wannafork.com/humor_audio_play.php?ID=129

that would be selfishness ;-)

Dear Dr. Drag,

At your earliest convenience, could you please inform the UVA community who Mr. Jones has chosen to succeed Teresa Sullivan?

Thank you.

@Rev'er up and @Mike--thank you so much. Hope this writing can help stir up the masses--we rabble really need to rally, especially with students gone for the summer and so many faculty on summer leave. Just call me madame defarge...knitting needles clicking!

@ Billionaire is the new street thug...sorry I can't "like" any of these comments but you have said it well! And it is time to reform the BOV system and get rid of politically based appointees. It is time for the BOV to "serve at the pleasure of the University," not the other way around!

So true @Richard Cheatham, and thanks @Catherine C.
You guys must read this pathetic gushfest on His Royal Highness Jones...keep clicking through to the whole piece, and notice the common thread: he says again and again "well, I started that, but I got bored." Then he says, "well, I got bored." And then again, "Well, I got bored."
Methinks this was another of his latest projects that happened along when he got bored, sadly...

http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-tudor-jones-ptj-islands-spell-his-in...

fingers crossed for a huge turnout

A MUST read:
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/hey_wait_a_minute/2012/0...

The BOV has never recovered from the loss of Patricia Kluge.

Americans are so self righteous about business dealings because, unlike many countries, our business dealings generally don't involve bribery. Guess what? If a donor gives a large amount of money to UVA or any other organization and expects favors in return, i.e. admission for his relative, ousting of senior leadership etc., I have news for you; that constitutes a bribe. It goes on all the time at Darden as well as the rest of UVA. Employees and alums, take off your rose-colored glasses about the place. It is fraught with unscrupulous leaders. UVA churns through 30 good employees and keeps the problem leader. They do it all the time. I hope this whole Teresa Sullivan debacle forces UVA to scrutinize every leader of every department and really starts to listen when employees have concerns. People won't shop at Walmart because of the way they treat their employees. Give me a break. UVA treat their employees poorly as well.

The Daily Progress op/Ed is so stunningly ridiculous. Even more stunning is that there are people in Cville who seem to think these out of touch, ego driven people who don't even live here (Dragas et al) are UVA. WE are UVA. We must act...especially if our governor doesn't have the desire or nerve to step in.

At the end of the day, Paul Tudor Jones may be right in thinking about the financial and national standing of UVA BUT it does not justify the behind the scenes and lack of transparency. Who in their right mind would want to take the job of UVA president now? Would a new UVA president not be susceptible to the same under the table secret deals? That is the issue at hand. This is unsettling as expressed by many and will be a defining moment for UVA.

Did these BOV members really think that this action would go unnoticed and accepted without question? This shows an incredible lack of understanding of the UVA and Charlottesville community or an incredible level of arrogance.

Is that a FOR SALE sign in front of Madison Hall?

PT Jones is NO friend of the University! Boycott ANY event at the JPJ Arena until his father gets his boy straight. JP Jones should ask to have his name removed from the Arena, his son has discredited his name around here. May a herd of circus elephants crush Greenwich Connecticut into dust. Money...the root of all evil.

Well done Hawes!! Are you looking into Hunter Craig's role in all of this?

Test

I've never seen more group think in my life, and it's disappointing from a community that fancies itself as progressive and independent. Are you all so afraid of the unknown that you cannot imagine that something good can be replaced by something better? I can't wait to see if UVa can achieve excellence in its next chapter.

"Always good to do a "Test" first. That way you can be sure to go out of the gates running first thing in the morning. Nice to know the public relations firm dollars are being well spent. No second rate PR for Dragas!"

Ha! LOL. You are spot-on. The flacks are up early this morning, putting on their "spin."

Nice thing about being a PR flack is that even after Dragas has had her a$$ dragged off the grounds, the PR firm still gets paid. Win, lose or draw, the flack gets paid.

But there is a major difference between determined 'Hoos and Dragas' spin machine: we are determined and our hearts are in this fight. A PR firm's loyalty must be bought. and it's loyaltey ends when the money stop flowing.

Sooner we get rid of Drgas and her goons, the sooner the PR firm can go back to other meaningful projects. Like trying to convince the world that Darden alum Peter Kiernan is not an idiot. Good luck with that, flacks!

The test was because the last 3 comments I've posted through the week have disappeared--good freedom of speech, Hook.

The only damage I see so far is all of you standing around saying that there is damage. I think it's in the eye of the beholder, not real.

Oh yeah and rest assured Dragas and her henchmen will ensure that The University foots the vast PR bill for their gross miscalculation. Didn't slip my attention that this whole crew of Dark Lords got their diplomas at UVA back when you didn't have to be brilliant to get into the school...Clearly their collective brilliance shines through...

"just to get a show of hands - how many believe that Dragas was merely a duped stooge or forced to follow orders from some higher power?"

Um, look up "Quisling". A willing, enthusiastic underling. Like anyone, I'm just speculating - taking a WAG - but I'm sure Dragas would like (just like all those low-taxer bottom-of-the-middle-class red-staters) to believe that she is just like the other .01% (PTJ, et al) and that as a member of their class, she's on their side in the class war. I doubt very much she's a "puppet" or was "duped" or anything else.

The Post and Hawes are onto the right thread now. This is, and always has been, about money. The University, due to "fiscally conservative" leadership in Richmond (GOP anti-taxers) who have refused for years to fund it's enrollment and tuition mandates for it's "public" institutions, has slowly bled and become increasingly dependent on private sources of income. Darden and Law were able, as profitable "trade schools" to raise money to close the state funding gap.

After the MBA crowd (the 1% to whom we are supposed to kneel in eternal gratitude for the crumbs and table scraps) successfully blew up the entire economy, things got tight over there at Darden...and they have a heck of a mortgage on that Taj-Mahal they built when they thought they were the smartest guys in the room. When resources get tight, it's everyone for themselves.

They are looking to renege (strategic, or as they call it: ruthless default) on their deal: in exchange for the branding (UVa/Darden) and the real estate, they paid a rent (the 10%) back to the University. Rent-seekers (and MBA/Darden are almost entirely focused on rent-seeking "finance") know all about how this works.

Of course, they are the 'smartest guys in the room' so none of this is their fault - it must be those poor minorities who were forced under the CRA to take predatory mortgages, a scheme cooked up by their predatory overlords, those dirty, long-haired, socialist-Marxist hippy professors of German and Classics.

Hawes and the Post need to dig into how it was that the previous chain of succession - of institutional memory and stability - on the BOV got disrupted. Dragas was the new kid on the block - and while she was appointed by Kaine, she wasn't plucked up to be the new Rector until McDonnell was governor and had made a few appointments (begun capturing the board). There was already a clearly announced successor to John Wynne (the Rector under whom Sullivan was brought in): Daniel Abramson - who was expected to serve a second term and become Rector - something McDonnell clearly disrupted when he didn't reappoint Abramson and instead put his own people on the board.

I want to add: it appears that Dean Bruner of Darden is indeed acting with intellectual honesty and in an honorable manner. I've taken repeated swipes at the MBA class, but I do not believe that majority of Darden or MBAs there are representative of this.

In terms of red-vs-blue partisanship: while I do believe it's true that Team Blue is complicit in this mess. Dragas is, after all, a Kaine appointee - and Tim Kaine, while far, far better than Curious (Mean) George, has demonstrated a willingness to cozy up for cash. Kington has been a Team Blue supporter for some time. Nevertheless - the problem is the refusal of the state to fund state institutions, exacerbated by their willingness to hamstring those institution's own attempts to become self-sufficient (tuition increase freezes, enrollment increase mandates, etc.), all because of the triumph of "no new tax revenue" ever.

Virginia is, essentially, a 1%-er Libertarian Republican Dream in terms of tax policy: we have, effectively, a flat-tax. We have a very low tax rate. This is the result of that policy - not speculation - the real-world result: no money for roads or schools. The slow erosion of what used to be fine institutions of which we could be proud (great transportation system, great schools). Warner and Kaine were elected and nominally held the Governor's mansion for "team blue" but they were never able to change the policy: neither was able to get money for roads or to really address the Allen-Gilmore cuts in taxes and support for State schools.

While the BOV may agree with Sullivan that the university is facing a critical moment and financial crisis, that crisis is the result of low tax and low spend state policies. There is no free lunch. The people who've been cheering 'sticking it to the marxist-socialist long haired campus liberals may be enjoying this moment, but in truth, those marxist-socialists are nothing of the sort, and they're going to follow the money (like all other capitalist Americans) - like Sullivan - they'll be going somewhere the public is willing to pay the price it costs for top-notch research and instruction. You get what you pay for.

Did you read Jones' cliche-riddled boosterism in the Daily Progress? "Clarion call"? Really?

The notion of a hedge-fund billionaire calling for cyclical revolution (quoting Jefferson) is as hypocritically paradoxical as Jefferson writing "all men are created equal" and then maintaining slaves. It's easy, I suppose, to celebrate change when you yourself are no longer subject to its discomforts and costs.

If there is a revolution in this country, Mr. Jones, I can assure you it will be of a type that people like you will not enjoy.

Unfortunately, Courteney Stuart, your TJ quotation is made up:

http://www.monticello.org/site/research-and-collections/end-democracyquo...

http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-tudor-jones-favorite-bible-verses-20...

Thank you for this great reporting. Mr PT Jones has left out a key group of "stakeholders" as I suppose he would put it: Virginia taxpayers and parents of future U VA students. I am going to ask my elected representatives to change the way Board members are chosen and vetted. Can't these hedge fund boobs be content with destroying our economy? now they have to ruin our state university? I will most certainly remember in November.

Wow. I am not affiliated with UVA in any way, shape or form but this is a great piece.

What is happening here reminds me of what has happened at the University of Oregon with Phil Knight, albeit at the athletics level. A big money alum comes in, donates some money and then promises to donate more if certain changes are made. Knight wanted his buddy appointed as AD (athletic directory) and promised to withhold donations/cut off donations if they athletic department didn't honor his request. How about when UO admin wanted to join the Workers Rights Commission (unfair child labor) and, when Knight backed off his donation pledge of over $30 million, they terminated their agreement with the WRC.

Money talks. Sometimes not in the best ways.

The problem Ms Mendenhall is that had the board really been in accord, and had Sullivan truly not been in touch, there would have been no reason for such dishonest and underhanded tactics. No need for secret meetings, with out having a full board present for a vote. Nor would they be inviting in the conversation non board member alumn. Certainly, Sullivan would not have been caught by surprise, as she clearly was, nor be kicked down the road.

I for one do not believe this is their best judgement, as it is not a judgement met in open dialog and conversation. If it is their best judgement, then they all need to be removed for so poorly executing it. There is absolutely nothing good or to be admired in what has just happened, even if Sullivan were found not a good fit - which I don't think is the case.

To defend this action makes you sound like hired PR.

You would prefer that she'd been terminated? Following the theory that she was doing a good job, why would they be so punitive? And will you please explain how one severs employment gradually? In the real world you get handed a carton and escorted to the door. I'm not sure Sullivan was as surprised as you believe.

"No one is blaming Pres Sullivan for problems that preceded her and in fact, are not unique to UVa. No one has said that the university is in ruin. But is the bar so low that anything short of disaster must be tolerated?"

That's a rather strange juxtaposition. First, Mr. Jones in his op-ed piece comes very close to blaming Sullivan for problems that preceded her. Second, you're the only person I've heard describe her two years as president as just "short of disaster." Most importantly, the BOV's handling of this situation is going to make it extremely difficult for the next president to succeed at all, much less raise the bar.

"If it appears Mrs. Sullivan was the wrong choice from the"get-go" how did she ever get the job?"

The world hasn't changed that much since 2010, but the BOV has. The most charitable reading of Dragas et al's actions is that the current board is indicting the previous board -- the one that hired Dr. Sullivan.

Contemplative Science Center????? New name: The Paul Tudor Jones Voodoo Bullshit Center

It seems to be in the water these days, Dennis. "Some people" believe that "other people" aren't working as hard has they are. Some of the most insistent that this is the case are very wealthy people, who might be working on two fronts--their own labors and accruing money from the immense capital so many of them inherited.

I'd be the first to agree that there are deadwood faculty members--but I defy anyone to tell me that there isn't deadwood in the private sector as well--the marketplace isn't so efficiently Darwinian that it winnows out the useless and lazy. Most of us, of course, are quite hardworking--today, for example, I handled a registration problem and advised a gaggle of graduate students. Wednesday and Thursday, I give two talks to incoming parents and students. That doesn't sound like much work I know, but it's worth mentioning that my contract, like all faculty on my campus, is a ten month one. In short, I'm working for free--and I'm not unique.

But that's not my point. Yes, this may be a clash of ways of viewing the world--business vs academics. Most businesspeople would scoff at the notion that academics could do their work; I would argue that what happened at UVA is proof that businesspeople make lousy academics and academic administrators.

We'll all be banging into this clash again in November, when a business person will be making the argument that his business acumen makes him more qualified than an academic to be president.

Sullivan and Dragas/Jones/Kiernan are operating on two completely different planets.

As President, yes, it is Sullivan's job to raise funds, however the scope of her job is to represent the institution of UVa, that is, the faculty, staff and students whom the University serves. She is the leader of an organization, not a corporation. You can't buy stock in UVa, it is a "greater good," public institution that is responsible to it's community and the Commonwealth. Incremental change and seeking new endeavors, such as the new Contemplative Center and Environmental sustainability (I can't believe it has taken them this long..) ARE exactly what she should be doing, and the faculty and students should be allowed to have as many resources and materials as needed to reach ACADEMIC goals. That is her job.

When I was there more than 10 years ago, I saw the school lagging behind in instructional technology, facilities, environmental policy, and collegiate social policy. I assumed that this was because large donors want to buy flashy things, not recycling programs and projection equipment and upgraded kitchen/dining rooms, student health and safety education or community programming. Those are things that appeal to prospective, out-of-state students. They want to live on-grounds in a place that is comfortable and on the edge of innovation. Likewise, talented, published faculty want to be at a school that is mission driven and is always polishing it's academic program and promoting publication.

I think that Sullivan was on the right track with promoting endeavors and communicating the community in ways that bring in permanent and sustainable change. Assuming that Sullivan was somehow against online education is misleading, because one can only assume that the BOV did not support it until it looked to be a financial solution and they could bring heavy hitters to install a program without analysis of how it will change the school if it will be a sustainable program. (It seems that that was how they were looking at it.)

Bringing in a huge project for the purpose of producing revenue over education is amazingly misguided for leaders of a University. We have seen how other online programs have had major difficulties and have struggled to gain leverage in academics: Phoenix, Kaplan, Strayer, South University... They make money, but they strangle students financially, and their degrees aren't recognized. It would be a mistake to assume the UVa brand will fix this. Even when UVa builds a solid program online, it would have to be mapped out carefully in each department and interwoven with on-grounds curricula to provide any actual pedagogy. It will take a while, and since UVa doesn't seem to have made a lot of strides in this direction, letting a corporation step in to create a college department seems totally disastrous and might damage UVa's reputation. People can and do discriminate between delivery methods of instruction and it will be difficult to make an online program be perceived half as competitive as on-grounds instruction. UVa will pour cash into a project without academic backing and testing hoping it will be a cash cow, regardless of the impression it makes for the students' career preparation and overall image. Whatever strategic dynamism, it seems to be incredibly risk blind and assumes more capital is always available.

I don't know what the motivations of the BOV and big shot donors are, but they don't seem to be concerned about the University community (although the contemplative center sounds really fantastic) and they are looking to very high stakes, quick fix, sell-out types of solutions. There have to be more substantial money solutions, even if it is just a straight endowment fund raising effort or streamlining departments and renting facilities. And they want to run things from their homes in Connecticut and not Charlottesville. How out of touch can it get?

Big donors of this sort always see their chosen University as their playground, and they build toys there that they will enjoy playing with. That's fine. But there has to be push-back, from the highest levels of University administration, when these donors over-shoot their mark and start making demands, as a result of their generous gift, about University governance. You have to keep the good folks in the circle, or put them there if they aren't there already, to maintain the University's mission, which these donors typically don't understand.

What do ratings from 1988 have to do with Sullivan? These so-called "reasons" are ridiculous and faulty logic.

Jones goes on to cite some facts that back his assertion that Sullivan had to go:
• that UVA's ranking by U.S. News and World Report has fallen from 15th to 25th place from 1988 to 2011,

HOW in the world is this Sullivan's Fault?? She's only been here 22 months! What was anybody doing between 1988 until 2010????