Wednesday, February 13, 2008

A Disturbance in the Force

Editor's Note: the following commentary is extremely narrowly focused and highly, highly geeky. Oh, and way, way, too long. Get out now, while you still can.

Okay. You can't say you weren't warned.

The community of the Gheorghey suffered a grevious wound this week. The forces of stolid rectitude, self-righteousness and inflexible conservatism struck a resounding blow against freedom of expression, the abiding and brilliant creativity of youth, and diversity of thought, action, and being. The College of William and Mary's Board of Visitors declined to renew the contract of Gene Nichol, the President of the university.

We don't know Gene Nichol from Adam. He looks like Meat Loaf, which is, y'know, cool. He carries himself like a man living Rudyard Kipling's adage, "Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves." To my knowledge, none of us has ever spoken to him, or if we have, we were so under the influence that we don't recall the conversation. Our loss, likely.

Though his tenure began in July 2005, Nichol first came to our attention in a meaningful way in May 2006 when he took on the NCAA over their asinine decision to censure William and Mary for having feathers in its athletic logo.

While the vast majority of college presidents would have taken the conservative route, quietly acquiescing, Nichol chose to stand for his beliefs, writing publicly, "An interpretation that penalizes the College of William & Mary while embracing the depiction of a brave on horseback, in war paint, plunging a flaming spear into the turf at midfield, to the delight of 85,000 chanting, tomahawking fans, is, at best, enigmatic."

A college is about many things, but it is foremost about the students that imbue it with its color, texture, and vitality. Administrators (read: adults) tend to lose their sense of whimsy and wonder, ground down by time and the inexorable demands of the grown-up world. They "know better", imposing a paternalist worldview in the name of decorum and almighty endowment rather than striving to maintain an atmosphere where youth can test limits in the one place in our society where it is safe to do so. A place that teaches, and not only in the classroom.

Gene Nichol was not without fault - he admits himself in his eloquent farewell that he "...sometimes moved too swiftly, and perhaps paid insufficient attention to the processes and practices of a strong and complex university. A wiser leader would likely have done otherwise."

But whatever his failings, Nichol never, ever put the student community anywhere other than first - in fact, he erred on the side of the student without fail, and it became his undoing. I don't claim to know the inside baseball that led to the Board's ultimate decision, but I know the wellspring from which it began as a trickle before surging into an inevitable and damaging flood.

I love my alma mater deeply, but my personal worldview - this Gheorghian knee-jerk aversion to self-seriousness - was forged in many ways as a reaction to my time in Williamsburg. Or at the very least, reinforced by the College's staunch southern conservatism. As the Virginian-Pilot's Donald Luzzato, a W&M alum, notes today, "The trick is to get older without getting old, to become an adult without becoming a scold. I’d like to think that my own college behavior (and I have more to regret than many), along with the judicious application of a family I don’t deserve and the passing of plenty of years, molded me into the man I am now, a far better person than the kid I was 24 years ago." So very many of my fellow alums fail miserably the test implied by those wise words and did so even during their time as undergraduates.

My school is diminished today because of the actions of a handful of self-important regents. I deeply regret that I didn't speak up earlier - Gheorghe would have.

Oh, and if you're still reading this, the W&M hoops squad faces a hellish final stretch, going on the road to Wilmington and Towson this week before finishing with Drexel and VCU at home and Gheorghe Mason on the road. Win one for Nichol, boys.

Go Tribe. Hark upon the gale.

--------------------
Whitney:
I think Rob articulated the Gheorghe stance extraordinarily well. I'll try not to sully it with redundancy or verbosity. And I'll fail.

"Disappointing" is a term that's a bit heavy-handed for us skylarkers at G:TB, but it's exactly how I would characterize this unfortunate episode. You've only had to darken our blog's doorstep once or twice to see how we feel about The College of William & Mary. We appreciate its lofty academic reputation, lament its hard-knocks education, champion its sports teams, revel in the glorious memories of the years we spent on campus, and mostly wince at what has passed for recent updates from the 'Burg.

Perhaps it's the fact that somehow, against all chrono-logic, we identify more with the current students than with many of our fellow alums, but we've always been a fan of Gene Nichol. He's a presence on campus, not merely for his beefy frame, moptop haircut, and ill-chosen wardrobe. When we've seen him, he's been the eye of a small storm of students, parents, and alums. A linebacker in president's knickers, tackling injustices like they were ballcarriers. Bit of a bull in a china shop at times, but the healthiest dose of reality in a town that thrives on facade in some time.

By most accounts Gene Nichol's legacy should center around his movement to diversify the College. And what a backhand to his predecessors that is. It's eye-opening that we're in the 21st century and our public university was far whiter and richer in its enrollment and faculty than other such institutions when he took over. Even the presiding Rector acknowledged the tremendous strides the College owes to Gene Nichol in this regard. How ironic it would be if said Rector were to benefit from his progress in this area and become W&M's first African-American president when, according to a few in the know, he has undermined Gene Nichol repeatedly. In the meantime, everyone from Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson should be pleased with what this president accomplished in an abbreviated tenure.

Instead, we're talking about a cross and a sex show (two great tastes that don't go great together). We at G:TB snidely joked whether they had enough real issues to worry about in the William & Mary community if these were the matters that had folks up in arms. Now it's not so hilarious, at least to one guy. Taking the cross out of a public college's chapel except during Christian ceremonies? I dunno, seems fair to me. Allowing the students to host some X-rated art show? Couldn't care less, and I have two daughters. These aren't pressing issues, people -- unless, I guess, you're trying to impose your extreme religious or partisan political views on this state school. And if you are . . . uh, can you . . . like . . . please not do that?

There's been a lot of talk about who the stakeholders in William & Mary should be, and whose opinion should sway the think tank known as the Board of Visitors. Certainly we alumni like to weigh in on the direction of the College (Exhibit A), with those who've stroked large checks using decidedly larger megaphones to do so. At least they've cared enough in the school's well-being to invest in it. Meanwhile, the Virginia General Assembly seems to enjoy using purse-strings as puppet-strings, manipulating the Board with preposterous threats bordering on misguided abuses of power. That brain trust doesn't seem to appreciate the irony of how they've wilted our alma mater's budget with the economic policy equivalent of falling down stairs (see Tax, Car) to the point where we approach privatization, then somehow they want more say in the direction of the College. The "How dare you, sir" blowhard bravado that emanates from 32-year-old ignorants like Delegate Frederick and his ilk just might be the nadir of the anti-Gheorghey vortex that swallowed up Gene Nichol. Somewhere in it all, the students' thoroughly ringing endorsements of President Nichol were cast aside as the triflings of children, as if anyone but the student body could be the greatest stakeholder in the school.

I think most of us will concede that Gene Nichol was not an ideal fit for The College of William & Mary, and in retrospect, he shouldn't have been tapped for the job and thrown to the wolves. He's a hard-charging defender of human and civil rights. W&M is a place for soft-spoken defenders of tradition. Presidents here quell controversies, they don't initiate or fuel them. We'll see a Pat Robertson protégé in that post before we see another guy like Gene Nichol. (Much to the delight of the bastion of Regent University grads in the General Assembly.) Give the people what they want, Ray sang, and it's time to let the outspoken other side have their guy.

The school will hire someone with less zeal for righting wrongs, less of a connection with the kids that attend class, and, because of how Gene Nichol was treated, less of a pedigree. (Rumor has it the Board is interviewing Jim Zorn.) A calm will be restored after a fiery few years. Rob and I will resume fixating on the quest for an NCAA tourney appearance for the woeful men's hoops team. And Gheorghe: The Blog will continue tilting at other windmills, taking up for the little guy, and cracking itself up with inside jokes about airline beverages and nicknames for co-eds.

31 comments:

TR said...

Well said, gentlemen.

The real question here is if there is any desire to formalize our state of disgruntlement and/or find groups of like-minded alumni who want to press Rector (Rectum?) Powell and the other administrative imbeciles on this issue.

Unfortunately, I recently signed up to go to the W&M charity auction in NYC. But fortunately for me, it is an open-bar event. And unfortunately for the administration, they will have to listen to me after I imbibe a half-dozen scotches and let them know what I think.

zman said...

I agree with all of the above.

According to the Washington Post, Huckabee got over 40% of the vote in VA yesterday, and "Exit polls showed that 46 percent of Virginia voters identified themselves as evangelicals, and they voted overwhelmingly for Huckabee over McCain: 60 percent to 31 percent." So don't go messin' with the cross when you're south of Fredricksburg.

Whitney's line about giving the people what they want made me think of "Pirate's Anthem," a dancehall song I enjoyed listening to in Unit M. No one else enjoyed it but who cares. There's a line that goes "Dem call us pirates, dem call us illegal broadcasters, just because we play what the people want."

Shabba Ranks for W&M President. I think it works.

Greg said...

Hark indeed. I liked President Nichol and I thought he did a good job. I think the big thing was his removing of a cross in the Wren Chapel. First of all, it's just a small cross, it's not like it's part of the original structure or even anything historic. Secondly, people can bring their own crosses for religious ceremonies, so what does it matter?

rob said...

from today's ap story on nichol:

One of Nichol's harshest critics — Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William — said: "The fact is his behavior was threatening the commonwealth. That was the only threat around here."

un. fucking. believable. "threatening the commonwealth"? get over yourself, you self-righteous windbag.

T.J. said...

It's all Brian McNamee's fault.

Jerry said...

A couple of things

-- Nichol's Administration worked very hard to shut down an independent newspaper that was at times critical of the way the college was being run.

-- W&M Police arrest roughly 10 times the number of student alcohol charges as UVA and VCU. 10 times. W&M students have tried to form groups to fight the draconian nature of the police force, but it was never changed under Nichol's watch.

-- The College has slipped 2 spots in the national rankings and seen its application numbers stagnate under Nichol, while our competitors have seen increases.

-- Beer is no longer allowed at frat parties.

I give him credit for fighting for the Tribe moniker, but this sappy ball-washing is way over the top. We'd all hate his guts if we were students because priority #1 for the administration is shutting down good times.

Whitney said...

Jerry, what do you think happened between the mid-eighties and the time you showed up on campus? The school has been at the very forefront of the national trend away from Partyville for 20 years, not 3. Katie Koestner didn't help that. Our own exiled fraternity didn't help that. Blaming that on Gene Nichol when Paul Verkuil and Tim Sullivan watched a more severe metamorphosis away from Faber College is ignorant of the past.

Whitney said...

And the academic slippage is noteworthy. But I don't think that this is what it's about, and I expect you don't, either.

rob said...

gheorghe: the blog - sappy ballwashers since 2003.

Jerry said...

Nichol presided over the environment getting much worse. Of course he didn't start it. He also didn't fix it. And he didn't stem the tide. Things got worse under his watch. He didn't make any changes to improve the environment. He didn't respond to students who were begging not to be arrested for walking home from the Deli's after a few beers.

You guys write things like this

"But whatever his failings, Nichol never, ever put the student community anywhere other than first - in fact, he erred on the side of the student without fail, and it became his undoing."

and it's just not true.

rob said...

okay, jerry, i'll stipulate that you're right - parsing that specific portion of the commentary to the granular level renders it inaccurate. poetic license taken too far. the point, however, is that nichol's actions, public and private, demonstrated an affinity for and a loyalty to the w&m student body over other constituencies to his ultimate detriment.

zman said...

I have noticed that W&M has been slipping in the rankings for a while. Places like Tufts, Lehigh, Brandeis, Wake, Carnegie Melon, USC are all ranked above W&M, but I never thought of them as "better" schools when I was applying to colleges. I think all or most of these schools were lower-ranked when I was a foolish 18-year-old.

Whitney said...

I'll say that that sucks for the students, even more than it sucked when they yanked kegs, instituted party forms, and hired/empowered fairly fascist campus cops in the early 90's to combat such epidemics as the "kill-the-keg mentality" and 21st birthday parties.

I'm just not sure that it's reasonable to dump on a guy whose background is in law to come in and ensure that young students can break the law with underage and unlawful alcohol consumption -- not with the Board telling him every step of the way that liability is the word of the day. When I was getting cited by officers for such behaviors, I never thought to turn my ire towards Paul Verkuil.

And I still believe what I hear and read about overwhelming presidential approval from the student body.

I myself might not have enjoyed the fact that he didn't press the police to ease up on my law-breaking (which the General Assembly would've had a field day with), but I also never considered myself much the average W&M student in many ways (my GPA actually said that for me). I'm trying to take a more high-minded approach and not merely think about how he would've helped me.

(Not intended as smarmy as that sounds -- trying to be genuine here, but the cackles are heard everywhere.)

Jerry said...

I'm not saying he was terrible. He might've been, but I'm just not sure. I'm saying that he's not the guy that you guys wrote about.

I get it. You and he have a common opponent, the evil forces of evangelicals. To be honest, I'm not a huge fan of them either. But just because we have a common opponent doesn't mean that I think he's great.

Other than keeping the Tribe, why should I be upset that he's gone? What has he done?

-- academic reputation decreasing
-- fun factor in the toilet
-- continued to institute a police state
-- created a "bias" reporting system allowing people to anonymously tattle on classmates who may have used "insensitive" language
-- blew at least $12 million in donations through the Wren Cross controversy, even though only one student complained about it

I just don't see the case that I should be sad about his departure. I bet he's done some good things as well, but I don't know what they are.

rob said...

the guy had three years. that's a small sample size when we're talking about things like academic reputation - a highly subjective variable to begin with. we'll never know how successful he could have been in the longer term with the support of the powers that be.

in terms of actual progress during his short tenure, he implemented far-reaching diversity programs for students and faculty that will pay dividends far beyond his tenure. he fostered a spirit of community and loyalty in the student body - more subjective and unmeasurable stuff, to be sure, but borne out by the reaction of the student body to his departure.

we can't know what else he would have done had he moved more cautiously in his early tenure been able to focus on material issues rather than fighting political battles. battles in large part of his own making, to be sure - that is his great failing.

rob said...

enough of this depressing banter. check. this. out.

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20080213/nerf-and-wiimote-unite-in-joyous-harmony/

awwwwwesommmme.

Dennis said...

Honestly, the drinking/partying thing is a footnote of the Nichol's story, and it's a tad pedestrian to reduce it as such. Truth is, the student community majority (as lame as it is) isn't/wasn't into drinking like we were. The place is filled with serious students who want to exercise their brains without external stimulants (or depressants); so, to objectively judge how he represented them, we need to look at the community from their perspective. In doing so, the increase in alcohol-related arrests and beer bannings are actually in support of that community. But, none of this really concerns me...

The foundation of this post is dead on. A publicly funded university (and a truly liberal arts college) exists to provide education to those who wish to study free from the restraints of a private institution - whether it be religious, political, or social restraints. The separation of church and state in such an environment is imperative in upholding the values for which it was founded. And I think it's fairly obvious that W&M has abused that concept with it's religious conservatives pressuring the school (administrative) community to behave in a certain way. The "cross incident" was very telling as to where the college stood, and to say Nichol's position on the subject had him on shaky ground is like claiming the Tribe hoops team is mostly white guys. And then the "sex show" - well that just tied a bow around the school's case against him.

It just saddens me when one man stands up to The man and, like Gheorghe's friend Mr. Miagi says, "gets squashed like grape."

Whitney said...

Nice. There's some lovely filth over here, Dennis.

Jer, I know nitpicking isn't getting us anywhere, but it wasn't a single student who complained, historically speaking. A couple of Board members told my dad that the cross issue had been raised more than once during the Sullivan presidency. Tim Sullivan opted to continue tabling the issue until his successor arrived -- neither quashing the cries of protest, since he had no legal legs, nor doing what Nichol did, since he's no dummy. Inaction helped him considerably in this case, even as it's a flaw in a president.

I only mention this because -- and maybe I've been duped -- I believe Nichol was doing what he thought was in the utmost interest of the College as a whole. Actually doing something to improve fairness for all parties. And the way people reacted was insane. High horses, holier than thou, santimonious condescension galore, and for what? It still doesn't make any sense to me -- I haven't heard logic behind the furor that advances beyond "William & Mary doesn't take to change very well" or "he's always persecuted Christians."

And it has seemed like nobody was sticking up for the guy. That's why we err on the melodramatic here today, I guess. The loudly broadcast, hyperbolic, chicken little detractors of the past year have created this kind of pendular backlash, purely sensible or not.

Whitney said...

Back to the Tribe topic we usually cover... W&M @ UNC-W tonight.

Maestro Litos has the 'hawks by eight, and I might have to agree. I am afraid we might see the Fighting Wrenflock limp into the CAA tourney at something close to a .500 record.

T.J. said...

I'm sorry, I can't stop laughing at this...

T.J. said...

Kidd to the Mavs finally happens:

"...has Dallas sending 24-year-old point guard Devin Harris, veteran swingman Jerry Stackhouse, the expiring contracts of center DeSagana Diop and swingman Devean George and guard Maurice Ager to New Jersey for Kidd and forward Malik Allen."

Mark said...

TJ made my day with the bodybuilder link...

zman said...

I like the little guy's paddle. And his trainer's socks.

Whitney said...

Squirrel had a paddle like that when he pledged. Everyone was afraid to use it on him. He totally skated.

T.J. said...

Jason, may I suggest you check out the link I posted above to the tiny body builder. It's a lot better than your shitty bot site.

T.J. said...

Are you telling me ESPN couldn't have put UConn/ND on the deuce instead of the bloody mess that is St Johns/Cincy?

Jerry said...

Some ESPN radio guy made that same point about 4 times during an interview with Mike Brey on Sunday. It is a good point, although I think the ND game is on ESPNU.

T.J. said...

I hate to break it to Dickie, but the ACC is not very good, no matter how many close games the teams play.

Whitney said...

Tribe drops their game against UNC-W, 77-64.

You ever see the movie Awakenings, and you know the part when the miraculously improved DeNiro and the patients start getting the shakes and you know the end is gonna be a friggin' depressing return to form?

T.J. said...

GW with an impressive 38 spot last night...against Majerus.

T.J. said...

I wish I could remember exactly what he said, but Jeff Van Gundy took a great shot at Rudy Gay last night. In reference to Gay soliciting dunk ideas from YouTube, JVG said something to the effect of "I wish someone would show him how to get in a three point stance".

If you've ever seen Rudy "play" defense, you too would get a chuckle out of this.