'Resign!' Students shout at Dragas after BOV picks interim prez

Yeah, cause only lightweight school go the online route....

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/03/151907385/top-universities-expand-free-onl...

With commerce/MBA degrees do these business people ever
have to take any science or even humanities classes? Are they
ever exposed to anything beyond getting and spending? This
situation is really tragic. It's a hostile takeover.

Sorry, Hunter had the chance to grow a spine last week and failed. Doing so at the 11th hour come across as very self serving.

The BOV had no intentions of bringing her back.

Dragas in the photo above looks uncannily like Anthony Perkins in the concluding shot of Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.

"Why, she wouldn't even harm a fly."

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/norm1.jpg

My analysis is that Craig saw that the votes were in place for Carl Z., affording him the luxury of supporting TS--no consequence to the outcome, yet he can position himself as a supporter of the madding crowd. With one of the faculty's own in place, they can go back to their union jobs, and give the students what it is they came to do. Time to move forward and get busy with the search for a great leader.

The McIntire school is a 2 year program. Students don't begin it until their 3rd year.

faculty from all over the university (including some Dean's -- see the law school) wrote letters supporting the faculty senate resolution...

except for the McIntire Schooll (and maybe Darden too). Now they are in charge. Ugh.
Amazing.

Ditto. This is not a power play by Mcintire or Dean Zeithaml. This is an academic doing his best to lead the University through a difficult time. Most everyone wishes this never happened. But at least there is now someone in place that truly has the school's best interest at heart. We could not say that 24 hours ago.

I think we'll see the Hospital privatized - consistent with a goal of getting rid of government-owned medical care. In the terminology of MBA's this is called "monetizing assets".

Dean Zeithaml is now tarred with the same brush. So this is why he supported the BOV. He had been part of the plan all along. He should be ashamed of himself.

Strine came from Johns Hopkins, which as we all know has a huuuge medical complex. In fact I assume that's why Ms. Sullivan wanted him; she knew she would need help in that regard. Far from making money, the hospital has financial difficulties, as do nearly all teaching hospitals, since they provide most of the indigent care but get inadequate compensation for that, and if anything Medicaid is likely to get demolished. (That may have been what Dragon Woman meant by changes in compensation in the future.) Strine may have gone to the BoV and screamed that something had to be done now now now; getting Ms. Sullivan dismissed is probably an unintended consequence of that. However, why it's any big secret that must be kept from the public that the teaching hospital has problems, and instead we get buzzphrase-laden platitudes about "strategic management" and "philosophical differences" is beyond me.

My main fear is that this will likely result in significant collateral damage to the academic program. Most of the revenue that is available (Darden and the Law School and I suppose the School of Medicine are independent and don't have to share) is generated by the undergraduate program, especially Arts and Sciences. If they have to e.g. eliminate the deficit in order to sell the hospital, there's only one place to get that money and that's the undergraduate academic program.

I never thought I would say this about any faculty member or leader of the University, but ... SCAB!!!!!

Words of wisdom from a 20 year college president on the UVa situation: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-mcguire/teresa-sullivan-uva_b_160...

Deleted by moderator.

And by the way, the only way that eliminating "programs" i.e. majors, saves any money is if they also eliminate faculty and staff. So if they get rid of the German department would they fire all the faculty or just the lecturers? How would students take any German classes? And in terms of majors, some of the smallest programs are the STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) fields. According to many reports this is because even among those with sufficient talent in those areas (which is not really that small a fraction of the population that goes to college), American students simply don't want to work that hard. There are right and wrong answers so their grades aren't as good as in humanities courses, laboratory work is harder than reading books, etc. It also costs more per student in STEM fields. Yet I keep hearing politicians screaming for universities to turn out more STEM majors while at the same time insisting on cutting programs with few majors. I don't know how they will accommodate that inherent contradiction.

well, now you know how power works. Let's see how much the faculty cares-any fac resignations in the offing? Here's a little song: "'Old McDonnell had a farm ... and on that farm he had some profs...with a yak-yak here and a yak-yak there..here a yak there a yak,.etc,

@DoubleHoo: Hey, there's an idea for a bold, cost-cutting, tough decision--shut down the medical school and hospital entirely! It could solve a lot of problems. (Note: I know nothing about the history of the medical school, I haven't checked its ranking, etc.--I'm just saying that if it's a money-losing venture that is draining the rest of the university, a true slash-and-burn President would surely want to consider the possibility.)

I think this whole experience hits us in C'ville particularly hard. It's coming on the heels of top-down decisions regarding the Ragged Mountain Dam and the Western Bypass that were made in similar ways, without public input and in back rooms. I am starting to feel like our community--really, our country--is being ruined by business interests. There is more to life than the almighty dollar, and this idea that we are all in service to the bottom line is just another ideology--it is not a truth.

@ DoubleHoo

My statement was meant to be interpreted as best teaching hospital in Va that serves large parts of NC and WVa. Sorry about that. USNews rankings are largely BS, and highly dependent on amount of research funding. And using the loss of one department to suggest that we are not home to a stellar medical center is far from a valid argument. Even if I am an apsiring REI : )

Of course I say all this was an obvious bias. But having worked in and been a patient at multiple hospitals in the state of Virginia, UVa is wonderful. Unfortunately, I cannot personally comment on MCV.

@girlygirl: maybe they did, maybe they didn't. Creative accounting can do wonders, you know. But the BoV won't tell us.

As I noted elsewhere, the firing of Teresa Sullivan was a process that took place diligently over 6 or 7 months, but originated when Helen Dragas became rector in July of 2011. During the course of about a year, Dragas worked in secret to secure the ouster of Sullivan. 
 
Dragas plotted with venture capitalist Mark Kington (a business pa of Sen, Mark Warner) and with rich-boy Peter Kiernan. Hedge funder Paul Tudor Jones was also intimately involved. 
 
UVa’s chief financial officer, hired by Sullivan, was involved too in some way, although the degree of his collusion is unclear. The Post reported that he ' ..read a statement at a staff meeting to quell rumors that he, too, was involved in her removal. He acknowledged meeting with members of the governing board and said they posed critical questions about Sullivan. He said he told the board members to take their concerns to Sullivan.” One has to wonder if he told Sullivan about meeting with Board members, and about the nature of the “critical questions” and “concerns” they posed to him. 
 
The machinations continued, although publicly, all seemed well. "At a May 21 meeting, board member Alan Diamonstein, a former Democratic state delegate, praised Sullivan for her recent performance, drawing applause from the full board.” However, while applauding Sullivan in public, “ Dragas and Kington quietly built support for removing Sullivan, polling board members individually to attain the necessary 11 votes, a supermajority.” 
 
It’s more than clear that Dragas is a sneak. She deliberately operated to avoid open meetings and public disclosure or input. Her under-handed duplicity “unfolded without a vote of the full board, without participation of several campus constituencies and without public evidence of blatant wrongdoing.” Moreover, Dragas had already found an interim president. 
 
If nothing else is clear (yet) from this fiasco, one thing surely is: Helen Dragas has demonstrated that she is not a person of integrity. Nowhere close. 
 
Worse, Dragas just doubled down on her duplicity, and even hired a public relations firm to help her lie about it all.  
 
But this kind of behavior has become almost commonplace anymore. Conservative Republicans keep lying about climate change and supply-side economics. Republican and Democratic politicians keep promoting inaccuracies about the health of Social Security and Medicare. The corporate-style business "model" (if it an be called that) is foisted on public education.  And technology is often assigned a far greater role and importance than it deserves.
 
What just transpired at UVa is what's been occurring throughout the country for quite some time. 
 
It's about time that it stopped. 
 
However, as long as their are perpetrators of distortion and untruth, there will be those who believe them. That's part of why public education – K-12 and higher ed –– is so vitally critical in a democratic republic.

And it's why the administrative putsch at UVa matters so much.

Differential tuition is common around Virginia and the rest of the country. Undergraduate business schools are wildly popular with students and the costs are simply higher than some other majors. The knee-jerk response 'no tuition increases' because of political considerations has caused a lot of the issues facing public universities. Revenues have to be aligned with costs. The voters may ultimately have to decide if they want to support comprehensive universities like UVa or prefer smaller, more specialized institutions.The discussion about implementing online education is also more complex than first appears. The platform selected can range from Cisco's Telepresence (mentioned by Sullivan in her statement) using virtual representations of the instructors in physical space to simple video cameras set up in a classroom recording the traditional lecture. I believe that many of the general ed requirements could be met with online technology instead of putting hundreds of students in a room with a TA..

Today is a day of mourning. There has been a death in the family and many will wake to find that the President they loved has been taken from us. We hoped it would not be this way. Thousands of us gathered together to pray ( even if not to God ) that the patient would survive . That the great advancements in healing and technology would bring about a cure. But there was no cure, there was a death. And the finality of the end of this chapter in the life of the University of Virginia has not yet fully been comprehended.

Now we are left with the grief and sorrow and realization that Teresa Sullivan, who had given us so much, and in return had allowed us to care and love - is gone.

May we all even in this moment of sadness find peace and the will to do the next best thing - whatever that may be.

Dr. Sullivan we will never forget you or all you have done for this once great University.

@Knitten -- I am not a proponent of running a University like a corporation. I teach at a major academic medical school (not UVA) and recognize the fiscal realities, but I continue to hope we serve for much more than money....I learned that value at UVA and am baffled by how it has apparently vanished there....

Today is a day of mourning. There has been a death in the family and many will wake to find that the President they loved has been taken from us. We hoped it would not be this way. Thousands of us gathered together to pray ( even if not to God ) that the patient would survive . That the great advancements in healing and technology would bring about a cure. But there was no cure, there was a death. And the finality of the end of this chapter in the life of the University of Virginia has not yet fully been comprehended.

Now, we are left with the grief, anger, and sorrow and realization that Teresa Sullivan, who had given us so much, and in return had allowed us to care and love - is gone.

May we all, even in this moment of sadness and anger, find peace, and the will to do the next best thing - whatever that may be.

Dr. Sullivan we will never forget you or all you have done for this once great University.

You are spot on that the PR firm picked her words, her clothing, everything.

I'm thinking of taking my UVA diploma over for a revision. Seems like it should read, "UVA, Inc. A subsidiary of Goldman Sachs."

I was hoping Dragas was going to resign but alas she has shown her true colors. I am amazed at her arrogance and lack of consideration of others. According to the laws of Karma, her day will come.

For the record, many if all deans sent let a message to their schools. Below is the message from Dean Woo of the College. Note the third paragraph. Does this make her a traitor, too? Or were the deans each trying to help steady the ship at a turbulent time?

Dear Alumni and Friends:

By now many of you will have heard that President Sullivan will be stepping down as U.Va.’s president on August 15. Below are links to the Board of Visitors announcement and the remarks of Rector Helen Dragas at yesterday’s meeting with the University’s Vice Presidents and Deans.

http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=18788
http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=18791

I know I speak for many of you in expressing my gratitude and admiration for President Sullivan's work over the last two years. She has engaged all aspects of the University and has been a ubiquitous presence on Grounds. Her leadership has touched the lives of our students, faculty, staff and alumni. As a faculty member in the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, she has always had a soft spot in her heart for us, and has been naturally supportive of our efforts. I will miss working with her.

Transitions like this can be unsettling. They can also be catalysts for reflection, renewal and reinvigoration. I trust in the wisdom of the Board of Visitors which is unequivocally resolved to swift and bold action to ensure that the University remains in the top echelon of universities well into the 21st century and beyond.

The College is a community that brings together brilliant talents to create new ideas, to find solutions to complex problems, and, most important, to provide the kind of profound educational experience our students expect and deserve. That will not change. With the support of our alumni, parents, friends and volunteers, I know we will stay focused on our mission and our work. I assure you that the College will continue on its ambitious course toward excellence in academics and the extraordinary student experience for which we are so well known.

I would be happy to address your questions or concerns. In the meantime, I thank you for your continued interest in and support of the College.

Best,

Meredith

Meredith Jung-En Woo, Dean
College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400772, Charlottesville, VA 22904-4772
Email:

As the old saying goes: Your sins will find you out.
The BOV will answer for this...some way, some time. And I bet it will be sooner rather than later. Donors typically make their allocations at the end of June so the BOV will have their day of reckoning soon. And I have every faith that the faculty has yet to finish their say. A great big bravo to the Faculty Senate, and esp. to George Cohen.

There's always a silver lining. I expect to make a penny out of this because I just bought the domain name

mrjeffersonsbusinessschool.com

It's fun that Dragas's hand-picked interim president in waiting wouldn't do it. Hop on back to Bawlmer, fella.

I'm very disappointed in Dean Woo's choosing to praise the "wisdom" of the Board.

When looking at percentages of budgets provided by the statute or any other source be careful to understand what less than 10% and other percentages mean in reality. Tuition and fees paid by current students along with endowment investment returns provide the highest percentage (75 to 90% approx.) of annual budget dollars. State money and other sources are incremental or marginal contributions. These contributions to the annual budget are important but comments referencing the small% provided by the state seem out if context to me.

Old Man ... take your Geritol. John Simon's remarks were most definitely NOT grandstanding. They were the remarks of a principled leader, a man who has more honor and integrity than just about everyone on the BofV right now, the remarks of a man who understands what a liberal arts education at a secular public institution of higher learning is all about.

Mr. Jefferson knew. John Simon knows.

Evidently you do not.

True colors: sneaking out the back door of the Rotunda in the dead of night after doing her dirty work.

This woman allegedly has aspirations to elected office. Lieutenant governor has been mentioned.

It's one thing to be on the receiving end of bull$hit from a political appointee, which is all Dragas is, but if the people of Virginia -- or any other state she might choose to carpetbag, vote this woman into office, they will truly get what the deserve.

Buck the trend, good people: don;t have short memories.

I don't think Simon is grandstanding. I think he had an initial knee-jerk cautious reaction like the other administrators and then thought about it. I think there's a good chance we will lose him.

I'll be Strine is shown the exit. He has shown himself to be a backstabber, so why would he be kept around?

@Old Man, my apologies, my blood pressure has been on the rise since 1118 a.m. on June 10 as this palace coup has unfolded. Plus, I only had a pot of coffee for breakfast this morning.

@knitten: I don't think we need to worry about the provost leaving ... not at all. Trust me on that one.

One note on the budget and the "states" contribution.....

The University as should all universities be self sufficent and never need money from the state unless it is for capital improvement, expansion or the occasional unexpected expense. The University should multiply te students by he avalable tuition and live within its means. If endowments come in they should be required to cover the legacy costs asociated with them. Someone should n ot be able to donate a building with crazy ornamenal arcitecture and unproven technology and leave the state or University holding the bag when it all falls apart.

This is not the reality but should be the goal. The 10 percent the state kicks in is a subsidy for their failings.

@Bill Marshall, do you not believe in public education? If a university doesn't need money from the state, how can you call it a state university? And if the state is not going to pay for the school, why should state officials have any say in its operation? The (less than) 10% the state kicks in is just enough to keep the University by the short hairs.

Public education is an unassailable public good. It's a tragedy that so many people don't value it. Like roads and transit and defense, good education, in part because it is labor intensive, will never be profitable, nor should it be expected to generate profit. It's something the state and federal governments should subsidize heavily.

Raise corporate and private wealth taxes. Pay for 100% of UVA's operating expenses and we would not be having this problem today.

We let the neoliberal politicians turn up the anti-tax heat under the kettle a few degrees every year. We let them attack higher ed and separate higher ed from the people, we let them allow the characterization of higher ed as elitist.

Now UVA is starved and forced to beg for private and corporate funding. The capitalists set this up with their politicians and now they are capitalizing on the situation and they have taken over the BOVs and and are carrying out their plan to destroy public education and academe, the only source of opposition to an Ayn Rand, 1984 world.

The good thing is this Sullivan thing is a line in the sand. Step up people of VA.

The entire process has been tainted. I don't care who the interim president is. This entire Board of Visitors must go, and a new Board has to (1) fully disclose what the disagreements with President Sullivan were, (2) determine whether to retain her or select a new president, and (3) fully engage the students and faculty before making another decision.

We have to demand transparency, honesty, and integrity from those who serve UVA. This is not a ruthless, soulless corporation. This is an academical village, and we must do everything in our power to protect it and TJ's vision.

Thoughts from Patricia McGuire, 23 years as the President of Trinity

" Boards must understand the balance between challenging and undermining the president. Even more seriously, they must realize that their duty to the institution calls them to exercise utmost prudence in destabilizing the presidenc itself, through clandestine decision-making that betrays the public trust in the board and the institution it serves. If the reports are true that the UVA board allowed its Rector Helen Dragas to make such a momentous decision as firing the president solely on the basis of assessing votes through telephone conversations, without ever calling a board meeting to discuss the issues -- and without giving the president an opportunity to know the accusations -- then the real change that's needed at the University of Virginia must start with the board and governance process.......

By all accounts, President Sullivan is an experienced university leader who understood the changes that had to come, and who was engaged with winning the trust of the faculty who have to do the hard detailed work of academic change. The sadly premature ending of her presidency does not augur well for UVA's ability to find the right kind of change leader for the future. Meanwhile, the damage to the university's reputation -- protecting institutional reputation being among the most important duties of a board -- is considerable and will require a very brave and talented new leader to repair.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/patricia-mcguire/teresa-sullivan-uva_b_160...

From a local news source:

Dragas Apologizes With Huge Wooden Horse

Students and professors found a giant wooden horse left outside the Rotunda at 3am on June 19 following a super-executive session of the Board of Visitors of the University of Virginia. A letter attached to the horse was signed by Rector Helen Dragas, which apologized for all of the trouble caused by her ham-fisted assassination of University President Teresa Sullivan the previous day and asked the finder of the horse to bring it inside the Rotunda as a permanent gesture of goodwill.

Dean Quincy Adams Wagstaff immediately emailed UVa students and alumni in response to seeing the horse, “I know I speak for many of you in expressing my gratitude and admiration for the Board of Visitors and Helen Dragas in leaving us this wonderful wooden horse. The zeithamlian inlay of the horse looks wonderful in the early morning light against the deep laughing red of the crape myrtle, and I also detect some wonderful tudor workmanship. There will be lots to remember of our dear departed friend from Michigan State, but this is no time for eulogies. Nature loves to fill a vacuum and I join the cheers as a mass of orange and blue surrounds this gift. I hope you will welcome this wonderful horse into our Rotunda.”

Third year student Mallard Firkin said the gift from Dragas had surprised him and made him reconsider his view of the Board of Visitors. “I thought [the Board of Visitors] wanted to destroy UVa by making every department run on a profit and loss basis, just like the Comm School, but with the promotion of Dean Carl and the gift of this awesome horse, I know the Board just wants to say ‘Sorry’ and leave us alone. Helen Dragas may be a Greek warrior but she writes a nice apology and this is a fantastic gift.”

Helen Dragas was spotted by a Channel 29 news team leaving the Rotunda by the back door and running to her limousine as faculty and students crowded around the horse. The horse is estimated to be about twenty feet tall. After initial surprise and joy the crowd began arguing about how best to get the horse inside the Rotunda.

Since Dragas played the 'we are keeping it confidential to protect the parties involved card', is there anyone out there who partied (attended) UVA with her? Surely there is some 50 year old UVA frat boy who had some fun with Helen.

Band together and hold all donations. That is the only thing the BOV will listen to. If you really believe in the cause that means football and basketball. How serious are you.

It is regrettable, but true, that "Two years, ten years, and the people ask the conductor, What place is this ? Where are we now? I am the grass, I cover all." Dragas and the Board hope that this is exactly what will occur after their coup. All the more reason to do it in the summer and say nothing. The students will not leave, they need an education and have no where else to go. The alumni have no place else to which to return to relive "the dream of [their] youth" so they will come back to football games and make their modest donations to their own schools, all the while feeling trapped by circumstances. The best of the present faculty and staff may leave, but there are so few jobs in academia and so many needing them that the U. will have no problem filling them with other, more compliant, "workers." Of course, it will be hard for a year or two to attract persons of real quality. But those large donations waiting in the wings will make it possible to offer temptingly high salaries to a few stars. They will offer a fortune to someone to be President who will not be concerned with what has happened before and who will do their bidding, all the while soothing alumni with soft words about "excellence." [After all, it took them no time at all to find an "Interim" President from within the present administration, a Brutus as far as I am concerned.] They are betting that in two years, ten years all will be forgotten. But the very nature of the University will have changed forever. It will be more "modern," i.e. corporate, in nature. Fear will reign. The Board, politically appointed millionaires and billionaires, will really be in charge. And the idea of collegiality between faculty, students, staff, administrators, Board, and alumni, a chief hallmark of the University we have loved, will be gone, never to return. It will be like a big plantation. If you are on the Board or in their administration, you will be in the "big house." If you are not, you will "chop cotton" or be "sold South." Rest in peace, University of Virginia. The dream was great while it lasted.

dawg and knitten I said that the state should ay for the university, and its capital costs and expansion... but the bottom line is that TUITION should cover the operating costs and maintanance. They need to multiply the number of students by the probable tuition and THAT should be the starting point for thier top line budget. They then need to figure out how to get buy on their annual income like the rest of us. When you divide the annual budget by the nmber of students it is nearly 1000 a week per student to get them educated and from what I have seen they are not graduating all winners.... The state should NOT subsidize UVA theyalready have PAID for UVA many times over. If they want to spend some money on public education they should spend it a piedmont where 90% of the students would learn exactly the same amount. UVA is a public university that wants to be a private university but still wants all the money and none of the responsibility to the taxpayers. Sullivan was trying to CORRECT this. SHE understands that there is such a thing as accountability to the public at large which is why she was railroaded out. These donors want UVA to be their state subsidized private school. If they want that then let them buy it from the state for about 500 BILLION dollars which is what it would be worth on the open market because of its reputation (well 4000 billion after this fiasco)

I am not against education, I am all for accountability. and responsibility. just like Mrs Sullivan. The problem was not the size of the hose filling the bucket it is the holes in the bucket and the fact the well is only so deep. So patch the holes and shop for new water sources but don't just get a bigger hose and turn the pump on full blast and run the current well dry.

The donors are going to PUNISH the BOV for this and rightfully so....

Et tu Carl? Carl is UVA's answer to Judas or Brutus.

He was traipsing around Asia with Sullivan while Dragas was lining up votes and then he's conveniently named interim President???

Anyone besides me think that STINKS?

knitten --

I read the situation differently. I see a single philosophy here, one which dictates that the corporate approach to organizing an institution is the correct approach for the University. I see a Rector who comes from a corporate background organizing the Board of Visitors in this affair.

Now we see a Darden leader being elected by that board to be the president. Sounds like a single philosophy is governing these decisions, and the Sullivan was not a subscriber to that philosophy.

-- B

SUVAC B&M (State University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Brick & Mortar Campus).

@ E Mendenhall

Sorry, it's not a madding crowd; it's an angry crowd.

Betty, you're very mistaken and with each of your conspiracy theory posts you sound more and more foolish. Everything is not black helicopters and covert operations.
Was the Board wrong in doing this? Yes. Do 99% of the people out there feel it should have been handled differently? Yes. Is Carl Zeithaml a servant of UVa? Yes. Has he dedicated his professional life to teaching others? Yes. Has he been a strong leader for Mcintire? Yes. Is UVa in dire need of strong leadership at this time? Yes. Would you really expect a man like Carl who has lived and breathed UVa since the day he set foot on Grounds to ignore UVa when it needs a strong leader who understands thge pulse of The University? HELL NO. You don't turn your back on a loved one (UVa) when it needs help just because you don't agree with who hurt it in the first place. That doesn't fix anything.

I respect your opinion and appreciate your frustration. But you're taking it out on the wrong person. Direct it toward the BOV and even Govs' Kaine and McDonnell. Not the guy who is taking on a monumental task for the good of a place we all love.

Knitten -- apology accepted. It would be bold. It would also be totally unrealistic. UVA has the only trauma center in a 60-mile radius of Charlottesville and I've seen firsthand the care provided, to both "paying" and "non-paying" patients. The patient and family care, concern and compassion is exemplary. Indeed, there is waste and fiscal abuse throughout the University and there are programs that need to be overhauled and controlled, no doubt in the hospital setting, too. Good luck to CZ and his successor--he or she will have a plateful of problems.

I agree with Old Wahoo at 12:16 p.m.

statement from Fralin here
http://www.wdbj7.com/news/wdbj7-university-of-virginia-board-of-visitors...

I think Dragas is a person of questionable integrity and is doing a perfectly terrible job of convincing us otherwise. That said - I don't think it's helpful or relevant to make disparaging comments about her looks, her age, or her (real or imagined) sex life. Those tactics undermine all women and distract us from the real issues here. It's not hard to find legitimate things to criticize about her.

The director of Athletics should weigh in on this. What would happen if in protest he said no Football or basketball until Terry Sullivan is reinstated, the BOV is resigned?

That would be the end of it. Sullivan would be back in a second and the BOV would be gone.

Do it now Mr. Littlepage. You have the power.Exercise it now.

I doubt that Zeithaml was part of the conspiracy (and that's what this is: a conspiracy led by Dagas), but it is not a coincidence that the leader of the business school, who certainly views corporate-style organizational approaches in a positive light, was selected by the BOV, who have a similar view. This is part of a much more general process to break down the academic structure of the University and replace it with a more corporate-style structure. One philosophy is attacking and defeating another; it just happens to be playing out in a very public way right now.

Bev (Nursing66)
The events of this past week have dealt a severe wound to The University. Ms. Dragas, for whatever reason, has managed to reduce The University's statue in the nation. The Board members have acted in a horrible fashion. In the name of leading The University into a new era thay have created a MESS! Dr. Sullivan moves on to greatness with the overwhelming support of UVA's alumni, students, faculty and staff. Good for her!!!!! What do we as individuals do to support UVA. I believe we can do the following:
-- Since board members are political appointees, let the Governor know in writing how disappointed you are in the UVA BOARD. Be careful who you elect to any state and local office. Just as they have changed UVA, they can change other important entities.
-- Let the Board of Visitors know that they are in their important positions to care diligently for UVA NOT to just have an appointment on their resume, go to parties, get free tickets to sports activities, and, most importantly, to inject their own special interests into The University.
-- By all means, continue to support UVA. If UVA ever needed us it is now!!!!! Thanks to Dragas and the Board's recent actions!
-- Businesses can be a great help to UVA with their donations and by hiring UVA grads. Their role is to assist unversities and not to become their managers. Many universities have business leadership councils that assist the schools in planning future development. They do not take over the universities!!!
-- Continue the vigilance throughout the UVA presidential election process. Contribute to the process where you can. It will make a difference. Thanks for taking the time to read this!!!

Snowy Owl --

Professor Bill Wulf, one of the most prominent professors in UVA's engineering school, has just resigned. So much for talk is cheap, and so much for liberal arts. In case you do not know, Prof. Wulf was president of the National Academy of Engineers, which advises Congress on engineering matters, and has served in several other positions of power within his field.

Yes, there are better schools that UVA professors could go to. There are also lots of professors in the engineering school who could go into industry and be researchers, and get paid a lot more. UVA managed to attract these people by presenting itself as a friendly place for academics; this sort of behavior by the BOV presents UVA as something much different, and will discourage professors from staying or from joining.

-- B

Bill Wulf is also 72 years old and was going to teach one class in the Fall. I'm not saying it;s not a loss because he obviously has a tremendous resume. Just sayin'.....retirement is probably sounding pretty good after this week.

Old Wahoo... do you think the current crop of professoers are a) better or worse than those you profess to love and b) have it easier or harder to teach and c) have a higher or lower standard of living for the same position.

My take is that the profesors of today live considerably better than those of yesteryear, are less skilled and have it a lot easier due to technology, which makes everything from research, writing, grading and scheduling a thousand times more efficent.

Not to say there are not some real gems.. but there are also some drunks who do little to nothing for a lot of money and who would NOT be hired at a major university.

Bill Marshall: If they "would NOT be hired at a major university" then I gather you don't consider Virginia to be one. Many of us alumni would disagree with that assessment. So too would many others in academia and otherwise. Are they better paid today? I hope so. Do they have it easier? I don't know. Technology has increased productivity, but I don't know that it has actually made writing and research any easier. I never knew any "drunks" on the faculty. I take that back, I can think of one; and he taught one of the most popular courses at the U and was otherwise functional, albeit perhaps not a great scholar. My general impression is that overall the University is a better academic institution today than it was 40 years ago, although I think I got a first rate education from some great teachers back then. And I would not trade that experience for anything.

" I stand by my opinion that "most" liberal arts professors are overpaid at the so-called best colleges"

Want to suggest some salaries? A full professor of History at a research university after 25 years of teaching having published university press books, etc., making $85,000. Let's see. Less than a public school teacher in DC. So what should you pay this 60 year old nationally known faculty member? 20K? 30K? Give us you figure figure please.

Just got a tweet that the vice rector has resigned.....is this true??

Good news?

NBC29 has confirmed that University of Virginia Vice Rector Mark Kington is resigning.

This is a developing story. We will bring you more information as it becomes available.

@ No Seriously - thank you for saying what I have been thinking.

When you have a problem with someone's actions, why do you need to discuss their appearance? Would it be acceptable to criticize President Sullivan's appearance or question her sex life? No.

Please stop talking about women (Dragas included) in a way that discredits all the good points that are being made, and perpetuates the idea that women in positions of power should be ridiculed based on their appearance. It is utterly disgusting and petty. And sexist.

When are educated people going to demonstrate some class? Words and actions are choices we all make every day. We do not chose our level of attractiveness, and it certainly isn't reasonable to discuss a woman's appearance when there is plenty of material regarding her actions. What credibility do we have if we are behaving like school children who tease one another based on physical appearance instead of discussing the content of character and the choices being made?

Lastly, to anyone who thinks we can just erase the UVA medical center, you clearly haven't known someone who is alive today because of the level one trauma center, or the accomplished neurosurgery team, or the transplant team or the NICU or SICU or the burn unit or the cardio team, etc. Good luck if you go to MJH with a serious issue, because they send ALL of those to UVA. Good for you that you do not know someone who has had to make the trip to UVA hospital every day for weeks on end, wondering if a precious life will end or will the the talented staff move mountains and invest everything they have in their hearts and minds to fix what is broken. Your idea is not well thought out, the exact same behavior you are highly critical of the BoV for.... I guess you can see how easy it is to make snap judgements that are uttterly ridiculous, because you just did.

It is not unreasonable to wonder if the comments on the message boards (as a representation of the cville/uva community) are starting to embarrass cville/uva slightly more than Dragas...

Let's all reach a little higher, shall we?
Skip the commentary on outfits, haircuts and the like. I know all about "free speech" and perhaps one tiny lesson can be learned from all of this - behave in a way that is honorable. With your thoughts, actions and words.

One BOV down, 11 to go.

Does Dean Zeithaml plan to move into Carr's Hill?

@Voice of Reason and UVA Faculty -- Have some more UVA Kool-Aid!

CZ is one of the most self-satisfied, overly ambitious people on grounds. He couldn't wait for a chance at the big show.

When the General Assembly conducts an investigation into the dealings of the BOV and a timeline is established as to who knew what when, you'll need to put some salt and pepper on the crow you'll be eating. Of course we'll let you wash it down with some more UVA Kool-Aid. Enjoy your deluded version of reality while it lasts.

@ Borkman, good one...U of Phoenix at Charlottesville. Somehow my diploma seems a bit tarnished today.

Thanks Betty. Keep watching for those black helicopters. In the mean time, I'll stick with the things I actually know to be true.

Cheers.

@Really? You didn't leave any wahoo koolaid for the rest of us

This Board needs to go - NOW
here is why - watch last nights proceedings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSZKV4lkoEE&feature=related

@Really?,

I am disgruntled about quite a few things at UVA and the hits just keep on coming.

Make a list some time of all the disgusting and dishonorable things that have taken place at UVA over the past ten years.

For such a swell school, lots of missteps. BOV disaster is just the most flagrant.

everyone seems to assume that President Sullivan will be willing to come back
if the bov snaps its fingers again and undoes this week what it did last week.

i'm not so sure i'd want the job back, at this point. might be better for her to move on to somewhere else where she might be more appreciated, and let uva fend for itself.

i have a feeling that if she does decide to move on UVA will have a really hard time finding a replacement of her stature any time soon.

it is hard to believe that a person like ms. dragas was entrusted with a position of such great prestige and responsibility in the firstr place when she has so consistently exhibited such an utter lack of even the most rudimentary sense of courtesy and dignity throughout her tenure in office, perhaps most famously in her performance recorded the other night before the television cameras at the back door of the rotunda.... hard to believe..

the candid observations made by the student interviewed after her hasty departure certainly accurately describe the surprise and insult we all experienced. The damage done to the reputation of the University of Virginia caused by ms. dragas and her associates in causing the forced resignation of President Sullivan will take many years to repair.

The diminishment of the value of the degrees held by me and other alumni may prove to be permanent as the once great school we knew is replaced by a for profit internet distance learning cyber school administered by a subsidiary of Goldman Sachs run for the benefit of hedge fund operators and institutional investors.