Alumni want Wren Cross prez booted

Alumni want Wren Cross prez booted
Say even without chapel fiasco, Nichol's performance lacking

A coalition of alumni from the College of William & Mary, where President Gene Nichol's actions have been called "reminiscent of Richard Nixon," has organized a petition calling for the school's Board of Visitors to not renew his contract.

Nichol, whose short tenure on campus has been highlighted by his arbitrary decision to remove the Wren Cross from the historic Wren Chapel as well as feature a sex workers show on campus, has a contract that runs through June 2008.

However, the petition asks the school Board to notify Nichol by June 30, 2007, that his pact will not be renewed.

"Nichol has betrayed our trust by creating a call of silence, elevating personal pursuits above the good of the college and deceitful lawyerly posturing," said Nina Hartley, a 1975 graduate. "His claim of executive privilege and unresponsiveness are reminiscent of Richard Nixon."

The group is called Should Nichol be Renewed, and cites Nichol's "questionable performance" as well as declining academic and comparative rankings at the school.

The group said Nichol, who has not responded to any of WND's requests for comments, was accused of violating campaign finance rules when he ran for the U.S. Senate, and allowed a 1996 crisis at the University of Colorado School of Law when the organization was threatened with losing its accreditation.

"As president at William & Mary, Mr. Nichol has alienated many alumni, donors and residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia, particularly during the recent controversy surrounding the Wren Chapel," the group said. "More than 18,000 alumni and supporters signed a petition asking Mr. Nichol to reverse his policy banning the display of an Anglican cross in the school's historic 275-year-old chapel during exhibition tours.

"The group won their fight when the college's Religion Committee agreed to 'immediately' return the cross to prominent and permanent display in the Wren Chapel on March 6, 2007. However, the committee's recommendations have yet to be implemented," the petitioners group said.

The group also cited the school's student fees that were used to pay for a "sexually explicit event involving strippers, prostitutes and porn actors that was made mandatory for students in certain majors."

And, the revocation of a planned donation of $12 million, largely because of Nichol's handling of the Wren Cross situation, shows "Nichol is unwilling to work in the best interest of William & Mary," the group said.

WND broke the story last fall that Nichol had created a furor by arbitrarily ordering the cross – donated by Bruton Parish Episcopal Church in the 1930s – into storage so that the chapel would be less "faith-specific."

That argument hit even Gov. Tim Kaine as unusual. "I'm just struck by the fact that it is a chapel and has always been a chapel and that's a part of William and Mary and I think continuing in that way certainly wouldn't bother me," he asid.

Lawrence Eagleburger, a member of the school's board, noted earlier that if he had known about Nichol's "excessive views," he wouldn't have voted for him.

The Daily Press, in an editorial, said the issue now is no longer the sex show that was featured on campus, or the removal of the Christian artifact.

"It's about the quality of leadership at the college," the editorial in February said.

The protest group noted that the national standard for assessing endowments showed William and Mary's ranking dropped from 115th to 128th during Nichol's tenure, and now Louisiana State and Texas Tech rank higher than W&M, the nation's second-oldest college.

And the group noted the average application growth at the top 34 universities in 2006 was 6.2 percent, but William & Mary's was only 0.9 percent.

And the group noted that a recent pictorial history of the college, for which Nichol wrote the forward, had to be withdrawn from sales because of an estimated 100 "serious mistakes" were found.

WND also reported earlier that Lance Kyle, a 1989 graduate of the school, has suggested members of the Board, who are appointed by the state, might need to be replaced.

"I implore the BOV not to renew Nichols' $400k+ contract in June 2008 and to tell him now that 'it's not working out' so that both sides can make a smooth transition," he said.

In a letter to Katherine Hanley, in the office of appointments for the state, Kyle asked officials to withhold second term reappointment for John Gerdelman, Anita Poston and Henry Wolf "based on ethical considerations, poor judgment in the presidential selection process and failure to resolve the Wren Cross crisis…"

"Gene Nichol doesn't 'get it.' He doesn't understand how basic economic principles dictate which American universities are successful and which are not. Some schools 'trade' on their sports teams or successful alumni while others … 'build on their history.' Thing is, we don't have a major sports team, medical center or lots of successful, contemporary alumni which we can leverage to lure students and endowment dollars," Kyle said.

"What we do have, though, is unmatchable historic assets," he said. "You see, you can't just bulldoze the Wren Building and think nobody will notice. The place is sacred and is responsible directly or indirectly for every student, faculty member and endowment dollar we take in," he said.

When Nichol originally ordered the cross removed from the chapel, he said he'd gotten a complaint about it. But alumni and students launched a website campaign, called Save The Wren Cross, and collected names demanding the cross be restored.

As the number of names on the petition rose, Nichol at first admitted he "acted too quickly and should have consulted more broadly" and dictated that a plaque would be installed in the chapel.

The move failed to satisfy those who wanted the donated bronze cross restored to the historic chapel, and the university eventually assembled a special committee to deal with the crisis.

The college later confirmed the antique cross would be placed in a glass display case at the front of the chapel, a plan that has yet to be fulfilled.