Editor’s Note: This letter was sent Nov. 21 via email to the Board of Visitors, Interim University President Paul Mahoney, Interim Provost Brie Gertler, the presidential search committee, the Faculty Senate and Wahoos4UVA before it was published as a guest piece in The Cavalier Daily. There are 181 University-affiliated signatories.
The last couple of weeks have been momentous for the University community.
Since late June of this year, groups of students, faculty, staff and alumni have been asking for an account of events leading up to former University President Jim Ryan’s ouster. For months, Rector Rachel Sheridan, Vice Rector Porter Wilkinson and the Board of Visitors have refused to provide one. Last week, on Nov. 13, Rector Sheridan finally broke that silence. It’s about time! It would be nice to think that she has finally come to understand and regret the damage her actions have caused. Alas, we now know that she did so because the Faculty Senate was planning to vote on whether to demand her immediate resignation.
Then, the next morning, Ryan released his account of the run up to his ouster.
On its own, the Rector’s letter does little to allay the impression that she and the Vice Rector grossly fumbled the situation involving the Department of Justice and may have acted without proper authority. Read alongside Ryan’s letter, things look even worse. Sheridan claims that she merely conveyed to Ryan the DOJ’s insistence that Ryan resign or the University would face severe consequences. But Ryan’s letter notes that DOJ officials, in public statements, have twice denied doing so. The inconsistency of these statements is glaring. As Ryan notes, “Someone is obviously not telling the truth.”
There will be time to sort the truth on this precise issue. For now, it suffices to note that former Rector Robert Hardie, finishing his term at the time of these events, has declared that he “concur[s] fully with President Ryan’s recollection of events.”
One thing is clear from reading these two accounts side by side — the Rector and the Vice Rector have much to answer for.
This is why, after months of stonewalling and misdirection by the Board leadership, the Faculty Senate voted last Friday, Nov. 14, to demand the immediate resignation of the Rector and Vice Rector.
For this reason, we endorse the Faculty Senate’s call for the Rector’s and Vice Rector’s immediate resignation. There is no way the University can move forward in a productive way so long as they are at the helm.
We further join the Senate’s call for an immediate pause in the presidential search. That search for a new president was announced soon after Ryan’s departure, with unseemly speed. So far, the Board and Interim University President Paul Mahoney have ignored all calls to decelerate the search and take the full measure of the situation. Indeed, Mahoney appeared before the Faculty Senate last Friday and said that finalists will be coming to Grounds in early December.
Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger has called for a pause in the search and counseled the Board not to appoint a new president under these circumstances. We agree. It would be the height of irresponsibility to proceed with the search and choose a new president at this time. Too much is up in the air right now, and any choice would be fraught at best and downright calamitous at worst for the University’s future and reputation. Continuing the search now would be all the proof needed to conclude that the Board and Mahoney are acting not in the University’s best interests but pursuant to some other agenda, if further proof were needed.
The signatories of this letter are listed below and number 181. They can be reached at opinion@cavalierdaily.com.
The opinions expressed in this guest letter are not necessarily those of The Cavalier Daily. The letter represents the views of the signatories alone.
Kimberly Acquaviva, School of Nursing
Gabrielle Adams, Darden School of Business
Nate Adams, College of Arts and Sciences
Jeanne Alhusen, School of Nursing
Jane Alison, College of Arts and Sciences
Jacqueline Arthur-Montagne, College of Arts and Sciences
David Auble, School of Medicine
Lawrie Balfour, College of Arts and Sciences
Brian Balogh, College of Arts and Sciences
Elizabeth Barnes, College of Arts and Sciences
Paul Barolsky, College of Arts and Sciences
Ruth Barolsky, College of Arts and Sciences
Anja Bielinsky, School of Medicine
Ari Blatt, College of Arts and Sciences
Nemata Blyden, College of Arts and Sciences
Aniko Bodroghkozy, College of Arts and Sciences
Matthew Bolton, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Trey Boone, College of Arts and Sciences
Alison Booth, College of Arts and Sciences
Larry Bouchard, College of Arts and Sciences
Dawn Bourne, School of Nursing
Josh Bowers, School of Law
Edmund “Butch” Brodie, College of Arts and Sciences
Herbert Braun, College of Arts and Sciences
John Bushweller, School of Medicine
Francesca Calamita, College of Arts and Sciences
Ross Cameron, College of Arts and Sciences
Tyler Carter, College of Arts and Sciences
Steph Ceraso, College of Arts and Sciences
Sumita Chakraborty, College of Arts and Sciences
David Chapman, McIntire School of Commerce
Indrani Chatterjee, College of Arts and Sciences
Griffith Chaussée, College of Arts and Sciences
Harsha Chelliah, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Jack Chen, College of Arts and Sciences
W.G. Clark, School of Architecture
Gerald Clore, College of Arts and Sciences
Linda Columbus, School of Medicine
Chris Colvin, College of Arts and Sciences
John Comazzi, School of Architecture
Janay Crabtree, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Sheila Crane, School of Architecture
Frederick Damon, College of Arts and Sciences
Dudley Doane, International Studies Office
Chad Dodson, College of Arts and Sciences
Rita Dove, College of Arts and Sciences
Kandioura Dramé, College of Arts and Sciences
Frank Dukes, School of Architecture
Elizabeth Ellcessor, College of Arts and Sciences
Daniel Ehnbom, College of Arts and Sciences
Mona El Khafif, School of Architecture
Daniel Engel, School of Medicine
Edward Egelman, School of Medicine
María Esparza Rodríguez, College of Arts and Sciences
Robert Fatton, College of Arts and Sciences
Corinne Field, College of Arts and Sciences
Francesca Fiorani, College of Arts and Sciences
Douglass Fordham, College of Arts and Sciences
Susan Fraiman, College of Arts and Sciences
Paul Freedman, College of Arts and Sciences
Sherwood C. Frey, Jr., Darden School of Business
Kevin Gaines, College of Arts and Sciences
James Galloway, School of Medicine
Lu Gan, School of Medicine
Mariano Garcia-Blanco, School of Medicine
David Gies, College of Arts and Sciences
Amanda Gibson, College of Arts and Sciences
Laurence Goedde, Fralin Museum of Art
Greg Schmidt Goering, College of Arts and Sciences
Bonnie Gordon, College of Arts and Sciences
Jeffrey Grossman, College of Arts and Sciences
Grace Hale, College of Arts and Sciences
Paul Halliday, College of Arts and Sciences
Martien Halvorson-Taylor, College of Arts and Sciences
Marie-Louise Hammarskjold, School of Medicine
Richard Handler, College of Arts and Sciences
James Hart, College of Arts and Sciences
Gregory Hays, College of Arts and Sciences
Matthew Hedstrom, College of Arts and Sciences
Natasha Heller, College of Arts and Sciences
Eric Hendrickson, School of Medicine
James Henry, College of Arts and Sciences
Ira Herbst, College of Arts and Sciences
Janet Herman, College of Arts and Sciences
Scott Heysell, School of Medicine
Cynthia Hoehler-Fatton, College of Arts and Sciences
Janet Horne, College of Arts and Sciences
James Howe, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Ashley Hurst, School of Nursing
Patrick Jackson, School of Medicine
Karen James, College of Arts and Sciences
Caroline Janney, College of Arts and Sciences
Vikram Jaswal, College of Arts and Sciences
Rayford Jones, School of Medicine
Andrew Karhl, College of Arts and Sciences
Michelle Kisliuk, College of Arts and Sciences
George Klosko, College of Arts and Sciences
Leidy Klotz, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Thomas Klubock, College of Arts and Sciences
Christopher Krentz, College of Arts and Sciences
Krishan Kumar, College of Arts and Sciences
James La Fleur, College of Arts and Sciences
Nicholas Landry, College of Arts and Sciences
Nana Last, School of Architecture
Gordon Laurie, School of Medicine
Adria LaViolette, College of Arts and Sciences
Jennifer Lawless, College of Arts and Sciences
Deborah Lawrence, College of Arts and Sciences
Melvyn Leffler, College of Arts and Sciences
Manuel Lerdau, School of Medicine
Erik Linstrum, College of Arts and Sciences
Xiaorong Liu, College of Arts and Sciences
Claire Lyu, College of Arts and Sciences
Yi-Hsuan (Ant) Ma, College of Arts and Sciences
Christine Mahoney, Frank Batten School of Public Policy and Leadership
Richard Mailman, School of Medicine
Ekaterina Makarova, College of Arts and Sciences
Charles Mathewes, College of Arts and Sciences
Fred Maus, College of Arts and Sciences
Karen McGlathery, College of Arts and Sciences
Susan McKinnon, College of Arts and Sciences
Carol Mershon, College of Arts and Sciences
Elizabeth K. Meyer, School of Architecture
Sarah Milov, College of Arts and Sciences
Briana Morrison, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Alexander Motchoulski, College of Arts and Sciences
Shankar Nair, College of Arts and Sciences
Kathryn A. Neeley, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Peter Norton, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Peter Ochs, College of Arts and Sciences
Walter Ott, College of Arts and Sciences
Brian Owensby, College of Arts and Sciences
Ricardo Padron, College of Arts and Sciences
Deborah Parker, College of Arts and Sciences
Andrej Petrovic, College of Arts and Sciences
Ivana Petrovic, College of Arts and Sciences
Dee Payton, College of Arts and Sciences
Olivier Pfister, College of Arts and Sciences
Stephen Plog, College of Arts and Sciences
Dennis Proffitt, College of Arts and Sciences
Jahan Ramazani, College of Arts and Sciences
Eric Ramirez-Weaver, College of Arts and Sciences
Lisa Reilly, School of Architecture
Deborah Roach, College of Arts and Sciences
Caroline Rody, College of Arts and Sciences
Gillet Rosenblith, College of Arts and Sciences
Jennifer Rubenstein, College of Arts and Sciences
Noah Salomon, College of Arts and Sciences
Ellen Satrom, U.Va. Press
Taylor Schey, College of Arts and Sciences
Herman Mark Schwartz, College of Arts and Sciences
Jeri Seidman, McIntire School of Commerce
Shelby Sender, College of Arts and Sciences
John Shepherd, College of Arts and Sciences
Karl Shuve, College of Arts and Sciences
Kevin Skadron, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Michael C. Smith, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Mary Lou Soffa, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Avril Somlyo, School of Medicine
Harald Sontheimer, School of Medicine
Janet Spittler, College of Arts and Sciences
Adriana Streifer, Center for Teaching Excellence
Brian Teare, College of Arts and Sciences
Judith Thomas, University of Virginia Library
Dominique Tobbell, School of Nursing
Herbert Tucker, College of Arts and Sciences
Siva Vaidyanathan, College of Arts and Sciences
Penny Von Eschen, College of Arts and Sciences
Rachel Wahl, School of Education and Human Development
Denise Walsh, College of Arts and Sciences
Lindsay Wheeler, Center for Teaching Excellence
Richard Guy Wilson, School of Architecture
Timothy Wilson, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Nicholas J.G. Winter, College of Arts and Sciences
Elizabeth Wittner, Center for American English Language and Culture
Dorothy Wong, College of Arts and Sciences
Katelyn Hale Wood, College of Arts and Sciences
Michael Wormington, College of Arts and Sciences
Caitlin Donahue Wylie, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Chan Choo Yap, School of Medicine
Chongzhi Zang, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
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