Gene Nichol, the controversial president of The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, has resigned. The Board of Visitors, the governing body of the university, decided not to renew Nichol’s contract, which was to expire in June. The board made it’s decision based on Nichol’s two and a half year presidency, during which Nichol removed the historic Wren cross from the college chapel (and later compromising by restoring it to a glass case), refused to fight the NCAA’s decision to remove the feathers from the university’s athletic logo and allowed a Sex Worker’s Art Show to be performed on campus. Multi-million dollar pledges were also revoked under Nichol’s tenure.

The Board of Visitors met last week, but Nichol was informed of the Board’s decision by Rector of the College, Michael Powell, privately on Sunday.


On Tuesday morning, students and alumni found a rash, angry email from Nichol himself, announcing his resignation, effective immediately. In his letter, Nichol details why he thinks he was not renewed and why he could not possibly go on serving as president for the remaining months of his term. He blames the General Assembly for putting pressure on Board appointees (William and Mary is a public university and receives funds from the Commonwealth of Virginia). He blames a “A committed, relentless, frequently untruthful and vicious campaign -- on the internet and in the press -- has been waged against [Nichol, his wife and daughters].” He applauds his efforts to make William and Mary more diverse, criticizing the state of the college in the years before he became president.


Nichol even admits that his email is unauthorized, accusing the Board of bribery: “I add only that, on Sunday, the Board of Visitors offered both my wife and me substantial economic incentives if we would agree “not to characterize [the non-renewal decision] as based on ideological grounds” or make any other statement about my departure without their approval.”


This unauthorized email prompted the Board of Visitors to release a statement statement of their own, announcing Dean W. Taylor Reveley of William and Mary’s Marshall-Wythe School of Law to serve as Interim President. Reveley was the runner-up in the presidential search three years ago.


What has subsequently occured at William and Mary as a result of Nichol’s resignation is a response from the liberal student body that is one step away from chaos. Since Nichol’s email reached student inboxes Tuesday morning, there have been protests, rallies, candlelight vigils, sit-ins, teach-ins and even interpretive dances. There has been an outpouring of anger from liberal students directed at the Board of Visitors (which is mostly made up of liberal democrats, ironically), conservative students, and the staff members of The Virginia Informer, the independent student newspaper which has repeatedly called for Nichol’s resignation or non-renewal.


All of this chaos on campus is entirely Nichol’s fault. Instead of resigning with dignity, he sought the sympathy of the student body and sent a whining, immature email. Instead of letting the Board of Visitors make an official, orderly announcement, Nichol took matters into his own hands, making it personal instead of professional.


This should be a time of healing for William and Mary. After falling in rank and the esteem of its peer institutions, William and Mary needs to regroup, to reexamine its priorities. William and Mary is the second oldest university in the country, the school that educated four U.S. presidents, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. William and Mary needs to regain its prestige, to focus on education again.


Nichol’s non-renewal and subsequent resignation is a positive turn of events for the college. Now William and Mary, which has been floundering for the past several years, can save itself.