Robert Gates joins notable group as W&M's chancellor

WILLIAMSBURG

Former Defense Secretary Robert Gates' induction Friday as the new chancellor of the College of William and Mary comes with no pay and no power but makes him part of a lineage that includes giants of American and British history.

More than three centuries ago, when British King William III and Queen Mary II granted a charter to the college, they decreed that one "eminent and discreet" person be chosen to serve a seven-year term as chancellor.

In pre-revolutionary times, 13 English clergymen held the post - all were either the archbishop of Canterbury or bishop of London, according to the college's website.

After Virginia and the other 12 colonies severed ties with England, the college elected George Washington as chancellor in 1788, a year before he became the country's first president.

Washington told the college officials he was not sure he could accept the post if it meant taking on additional responsibilities.

"I cannot, at this time of life and in my actual state of retirement, persuade myself to engage in new and extensive avocations," Washington wrote.

College officials weren't deterred, and he agreed to accept the honor.

He remained chancellor until his death in early 1799, and the position apparently faded away until the mid-19th century.

In 1859, John Tyler, a Virginian, an alumnus and the country's 10th president, was chosen.

In later decades, the title was passed to a Virginia governor and two college presidents.

The college had no chancellor from the mid-1970s until 1987, when Warren Burger, who had just retired as chief justice of the United States, accepted the post.

He was followed by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1993, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in 2000 and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2005.

Bill Bartel, 757-446-2398, bill.bartel@pilotonline.com