… catches up with its vice-rector. He has just resigned. This leaves Dragas with her Dragas exposed.
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And, as Teresa Sullivan anticipated, the Wulf is now at the door.
On Tuesday, engineering professor William Wulf sent a stern letter of resignation to the new interim president. It was unclear if Wulf had another job lined up. Wulf’s resignation was considered significant because he is one of fewer than 20 “university professors” among a faculty of 2,200, an honor bestowed on the school’s most accomplished educators.
“I do not wish to be associated with an institution being as badly run as the current UVa,” he wrote. “A BOV that so poorly understands UVa, and academic culture more generally, is going to make a lot more dumb decisions, so the University is headed for disaster, and I don’t want to be any part of that. And, frankly, I think you should be ashamed to be party to this debacle!”
Surprisingly well-written for an engineering type. Scathing Online Schoolmarm would have dumped the final exclamation mark.
June 19th, 2012 at 5:18PM
Ok, so help me out here: why did Sullivan resign? Apparently the entire BoV never even met on the question. Never met to accept her resignation, either. Something is really up here and I cant tell what it is. She just resigned “under pressure” from the Rector and vice-Rector? Who told her they had a majority of the board on their side? But the board never met. Hmm.
June 19th, 2012 at 5:57PM
Shane: Yes. The whole thing is very obscure. I’m guessing that Sullivan resigned because she’s a rather gentle, morally upright sort (I know – just speculating – but that’s sort of what she seems to be) who assumes other people are as straightforward as she is. If Dragas came to her and told her things, Sullivan presumably believed them and acted accordingly.
June 19th, 2012 at 8:47PM
Why is resigning acting accordingly here? One whispered word from the Rector and she heads for the door? I smell a fish. Indeed, I smell an academical whale.
June 19th, 2012 at 10:05PM
Well, we’re getting ever deeper into speculation here, but this is one scenario. From what I’ve read, Dragas felt hostility and distrust toward Sullivan from the start — which Sullivan must have been aware of. More broadly, Sullivan must have been aware of discontent – either simply there, or stirred up by Dragas – among other trustees. Rather than a whispered word, what she might have gotten from Dragas is a very aggressive, very sudden attack. Look at how Sullivan was told to vacate the president’s house two weeks before her contract was up. That shows an effort to humiliate, not merely fire, Sullivan. I think the Sullivan/Dragas meeting was nasty brutish and short — nothing like a mere whispered word.
June 20th, 2012 at 6:50AM
Note that Dragas’ term on the BOV expires July 1, so something more (involving the Governor of Va.) is bound to happen in the next week or two. One supposes that she wants to be reappointed, but we shall see.