On Sunday night, the University of Virginia Faculty Senate came together to denounce the University of Virginia Board of Visitors' decision to force the resignation of President Teresa Sullivan.
"Terry Sullivan has been very open to transparency and to faculty empowerment. And what we think has happened, is that the board of visitors is doing exactly the opposite," said faculty senate member Alf Weaver.
Over the course of the hour-long meeting, there were laughs, standing ovations, and even tears, as 50 senate members at the meeting took a unanimous vote of no confidence in the board of visitors.
UVA Faculty Senate member Gweneth West said, "I am still really in shock about the fact that this powerful visionary is not part of our lives."
UVA Faculty Senate member Chris Holstege explained, "It's truly - we do not understand this action, and there's anger that there's a lack of communication."
Nearly 800 people who felt similarly to members of UVA's Faculty Senate packed into Abbott Hall Sunday evening to take part in the emergency meeting in response to the board of visitors' ouster of President Teresa Sullivan.
UVA anesthesiologist Dr. Lori Conklin said, "I feel like the way she was removed was not in the spirit of what Jefferson wanted for this university."
During the meeting Weaver said the faculty senate "expressed confidence in President Sullivan and no confidence in the rector, the vice rector, and the board of visitors."
The faculty senate says the board of visitors left them in the dark with a lack of reasoning to back up Sullivan's removal.
Frank Dukes with the UVA urban environmental planning department said, "I am hoping they ask the board to reinstate President Sullivan."
Virginia Delegate David Toscano added, "I think she should be brought back as president."
In addition, pending the board of visitors' reaction to the faculty vote, some members of the university's administration are threatening to leave the university.
UVA Executive Vice President John Simon said, "The board's actions over the next few days will inform me as to whether the University of Virginia remains the type of institution I am willing to dedicate my efforts to help lead."
Faculty senate leaders will meet with the rector and vice rector of the board of visitors Monday morning. During which, they hope to get more answers regarding President Sullivan's forced resignation.
The NBC29 newsroom received the following statement from Del. David Toscano:
I
have spent significant time over the last week attempting to discover
as many facts as I can involving the forced resignation of President
Teresa Sullivan from the University of Virginia. My discussions have
been with faculty members; members of the University community,
including former administrators and Visitors; alumni; donors; students;
members of the General Assembly; and current members of the Board of
Visitors, including Rector Helen E. Dragas, who graciously agreed to
meet with me and Senator Creigh Deeds, in my office last week. I have
not spoken with Teresa Sullivan.
The more information I have gathered, the more troubling the action has become. Among my concerns are:
- The
forced resignation seems to have been engineered by a small number of
people who arguably love the University, but who so misunderstand how
change occurs within large complex institutions of higher education that
their leadership is now questionable.
- The
so-called 'urgency' and 'existential threats' to the University that
have served as justification by Rector Dragas and Vice Rector Mark J.
Kington for their action is simply not borne out by the facts.
Admittedly, the University has challenges, and they have clearly been
identified by President Sullivan in her May 3, 2012 memo to the Rector
and Vice Rector (a memo that was not shared with all Board members). But
these challenges were known at the time of her appointment, and
President Sullivan had been implementing changes to address them.
- The
expression of 'no confidence" in the Board of Visitors passed by the
Faculty Senate and statements expressing concern issued by numerous
schools within the University.
My
conclusion is simple and straight-forward -- the process by which
President Sullivan was forced to resign was fundamentally flawed,
dramatically at odds with our history as the flagship University in the
Commonwealth, and inconsistent with a transparent decision-making
process required of a public University.
The
action places the University at substantial peril, in the short and
long term. It should be reversed; I call on the Board of Visitors to do
so. If they will not, I encourage Governor McDonnell to do all in his
power to assist the process.
If
the decision is not reversed, the Governor should act appropriately to
encourage the rejection of the forced resignation, and send a clear
message of his displeasure by stating that he does not intend on
reappointing Ms. Dragas and by calling on the Rector and Vice Rector to
resign.
Jefferson
once said that we should follow truth wherever it may lead and should
not "tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to combat it."
The facts show that the forced resignation of President Sullivan is an
error; it should be reversed.
