The Resignation of Gene Nichol

Within the microcosm of the small College of William and Mary, a gargantuan movement has been ignited by the students, faculty, and staff against a select group of very powerful people.

On Tuesday morning, Nichol sent an eloquent announcement by email of his resignation in the face of a sixteen month witch hunt conducted by a very limited group of militant alumni, trustees, and government officials (all with an undeniable religious right-wing limp) in response to ideological, progressive, and even controversial decisions. His resignation was prompted by the discovery that his contract, after only a few years as president, would not be renewed by the reigning oligarchs of the campus, the Board of Visitors (BOV).

Within the coterie of college trustees, the College's Board of Visitors, decided sometime last week to not renew Nichols contract, and informed him only after a day of celebration which Nichol himself hosted, Charter Day.

To thicken the plot even moreso, Nichol revealed on his mass email statement that the BOV offered him "substantial economic incentives" to not suggest that his termination was not based on ideology. This offer was made in the midst of a 6% budget cut by the state of Virginia and the promise of more cut. This offer Nichol vehemently rejected.

Here is a highlight of some of the work Nichol has done on campus, which he himself outlined in his email as possible reasons for scandal. Mind you, before Nichol took office, William and Mary enjoyed the reputation for educating a select group of privileged WASP's in classroom run by... WASP's.

1. Nichol removed and then reinstalled in a display case a Christian cross housed in the Wren Chapel, which hosts non-religious ceremonies, with the intent to preserve a separation of Church and State and to ensure the comfort and inclusion of all students of non-Christian beliefs.

2. Nichol has refused to ban several off-colored, student sponsored campus programs, such as the recent "Sex Workers Art Show," because, despite his aversion to such things, refused to violate his students' First Amendment Rights.

3.Nichol has, with a dedication to empowering the low-income students, his Gateway scholarship program, admitted 20% more Pell students (students from families earning less than $40,000 dollars a year).

4. With a passion for diversity, Nichol has doubled the amount of faculty members of color and overseen the admission of the two most recent classes, the two most diverse groups in the College's history.

Student support of the president had been constant and passionate. Buttons that read "I heart Nichol" are a must have accessory and T-Shirts printed by the campus' branch of the NAACP stating "If President Nichol's Not Welcome Here...Then Neither Am I" have become the new mandatory dress.

Last Thursday, students held a vigil in support of Nichol's Yesterday, students, teachers, and staff in front of the school's art museum. On Tuesday, after the announcement, faculty led a rally in the heart of campus, the Sunken Gardens, in which students and teachers united in a forum that discussed the issues which fueled Nichol's non-renewal: the continual ignorance of the appropriately named Board of Visitors to the interest of the true members of College: the students, teachers and faculty.

Tuesday night, another vigil was held in front of Nichol's home (which is also on campus) in which faculty and student leaders spoke, as well as Nichol himself, and about 1500 candle bearing students serenaded him with the Alma Mater. Wednesday, a student-teacher strike began with a sit-in and "Town Hall" meeting in which students and faculty formed a list of demands and broke in to action groups to contact those in power with these demands.

On Wednesday, the strike continued with a student-teacher "Teach-In," in which students and teachers held an open forum for a sort of free-form learning experience.

Since then, petitions and emails have been drafted to members of the BOV and the Virginia legislature, demanding and explanation of Nichol's termination and a guarantee of the continuation of his policies and First Amendment rights to all members of the College.

Every event has been thoughtfully peaceful and judiciously organized.