William and Mary president resigns; many express shock

Protests and denunciations are roiling the College of William and Mary in reaction to the abrupt resignation Tuesday of its controversial president, Gene Nichol, after he was told Sunday that his contract wouldn't be renewed this summer.

Students said a sit-in to show support is planned for much of today at Nichol's on-campus home. A candlelight vigil was planned Tuesday night at the same location, and Tuesday afternoon an impromptu rally drew hundreds to the Sunken Garden, where they heard angry speakers using megaphones.

Nichol, president since 2005, announced his resignation in a vigorous three-page defense of his tenure, sent to the Williamsburg campus community Tuesday morning. He will return to the college's Marshall-Wythe School of Law to teach and write, his letter said.

Nichol wrote that the Board of Visitors, the governing body that decided his fate, offered him and his wife "substantial economic incentives" to not say the board's contract decision was based on ideological grounds or make other statements about his resignation without their approval. He rejected it as censorship, he said.

Nichol had been the focus of criticism for 16 months, online and in the news media, as a group of alumni and some students complained about his decisions. They were particularly incensed by two:

Nichol removed a cross from permanent display in the historic Wren Chapel, arguing that the space also was used by non-Christians and for secular purposes; it later was displayed in a case and can be used for services.

And, for two years, he didn't stop a traveling sex workers' art show that was arranged by students, saying he couldn't censor their choices.

Nichol wrote that both situations involved issues of constitutional freedoms and diversity. He also championed diversity in the student body and the faculty, he wrote, citing as an example his efforts to increase financial access to lower-income students.

The board said in its statement that its decision was not based on ideology or any single public controversy, and it praised Nichol's accomplishments and passion. But "a number of problems" were holding back the college, the board said, and a leadership change was needed.

The board's rector, Michael Powell, declined in a phone interview to specify the problems.

He, too, praised Nichol for increasing diversity and for how he connected with students. But Powell said the board, using an outside consultant to help with its review, heavily weighed other presidential duties such as public and alumni relations and fundraising.

"There's a food fight going on, and there's a very objective review going on. And we're participating in... the latter," Powell said.

The board appointed W. Taylor Reveley III, dean of the law school, as interim president while opening the search for a permanent leader.

"It's over, and we can move on," said Del. Terry Kilgore, R-Gate City, who attended the law school. "I didn't like William and Mary being in the news all the time."

But many students and alumni expressed shock at the news. Several blamed Nichol's downfall on conservative "idealogues" who disagreed with his views and disregarded how he had united the campus.

"It was all about how to find a way to take down this progressive person," said Brian Story, a junior from Chesapeake.

"This is the saddest day that I have experienced," said Frederick Gibbs of James City County, a 1958 graduate and retired Presbyterian minister who blamed the "neo-conservative Christian right."

"It just irritates me to no end that we allow a minority in this country to do these things, terrible things, awful things," Gibbs said.

But Joe Luppino-Esposito, editor in chief of a campus newspaper, The Virginia Informer, said the president cost the school donations, barely met fundraising goals, oversaw less-than-average endowment growth, and turned off lawmakers who control budgets.

"It shows that the board really cares about the college, and it's not going to give in to the whims of a rally or something like that," he said.

"I think too many people were accepting mediocrity for the college."

Zach Pilchen, president of the Student Assembly, called himself "furious, devastated, disillusioned." He said Rector Powell owed the campus a fuller explanation.

There's "a sense of mourning on campus," said Sarah

Rojas, a sophomore from New Jersey. "Like we've lost somebody, which we have."

Staff writer Aaron Applegate contributed to this report.

Matthew Bowers, (757) 222-3893, matthew.bowers@pilotonline.com