**1931**
The Cotillion Club sponsored the annual mid-winter’s ball. Dances at the time consisted of three separate events including the formal ball, the informal dansant and the semi-formal evening dance.

p. **1964**
ABC television program “Hootenanny” filmed two back-to-back episodes in Adair Gym. The show, which featured such entertainers as the Brothers Four and Trini Lopez, quickly gave away all 2,000 tickets to College students within a week.

p. **1977**
With the installation of a new automated system, the Wren Building’s bell rang on every half hour throughout the day. Because of the new automated system, it became impossible to ring the bell by hand, and the only time the system could be disconnected was on the last day of classes in order for graduating seniors to ring the bell.

p. **1985**
Although initially planning to obtain membership in the Colonial League, a I-AA football conference, the College withdrew its application due to requirements of spring football practice, post-season play and athletic grants-in-aid would have put the College at a severe disadvantage to the other schools in the league, such as Bucknell and Colgate.

**180 million**
The number of Valentine’s Day greeting cards exchanged every year according to a 2006 U.S. Census press release.

p. **50 percent**
The proportion of cards purchased less than a week prior to the 14th.

p. **32 percent**
The proportion of households in the U.S. that celebrate Valentine’s Day with flowers.

p. **6,000**
The number of marriages per day in the United States.

The House of Delegates unanimously confirmed four Board of Visitor members Friday during a General Assembly session in Richmond. Current BOV members Henry Wolf ’64 J.D. ’66, Anita Poston J.D. ’74 and John Gerdelman ’75 were reappointed to the board while Kathy Hornsby ’79 was appointed to the BOV for the first time.

p. After four years of service on the board, Jim Plumeri ’66 completed his maximum two terms this month.

p. Some legislators were disappointed with the College’s handling of the Wren cross last year and the approval of the Sex Workers’ Art Show last week and had called the BOV members to Richmond to question them.

As part of the Charter Day celebrations Saturday, assistant professor of modern languages and literature Alexander “Sasha” Prokhorov was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award, the highest honor for young faculty members at the College.

p. The Thomas Jefferson Teaching Award is awarded to faculty members in recognization of devotion to students and a passion for teaching.

p. Prokhorov heads the Russian studies department within modern languages. He is also responsible for creating a way to determine the proficiency of the College’s Russian language students.

Conservative radio talk show host Laura Ingraham recently spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), an annual convention for conservative activists, in which she mentioned the Wren cross.

p. “You guys need to be put under glass like that crucifix at William and Mary and viewed with curiosity at the Smithsonian,” she said.
Ingraham introduced presidential candidate Mitt Romney at CPAC, who withdrew from the presidential race during his speech.

The College was a small but vocal part of Saturday’s Jefferson-Jackson Fundraising Dinner, an annual rally for Virginia Democrats held in Richmond that hosted presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

p. About 30 Democrats from the College attended the event, which was held at the Stuart C. Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University.

p. The College’s chapter of the Young Democrats was also in attendance.

p. Both Clinton and Obama, who are vying for Virginia delegates in today’s primary, spoke at the event. Former Virginia governors L. Douglas Wilder and Mark Warner, and current governor Timothy Kaine attended the event as well.

p. “I think tonight was a really great experience,” Sarah Rojas ’10 said. “I’m really glad that so many William and Mary students turned out. Although there was division among the Democratic Party, all of us William and Mary students [were] all hanging out and that was great.”

p. Rojas and six other College Democrats drove from Williamsburg in support of Clinton. They said that they liked Clinton’s speech but were disappointed by the divisions they saw between Democrats.

p. “I was disappointed in the tone that the event ended up taking because I felt like this was a night for Virginians to come together and celebrate being Democrats,” Danielle Garrett ’08 said. “I thought it ended up being a very divided event.”

p. Although both candidates spoke at the event, Obama gave the final speech, and received the majority of supporters and an enthusiastic introduction from Kaine.

p. Both candidates also addressed the rising cost of tuition for the nation’s college students, recommending grant relief and incentive programs for public service.

p. The evening was seen as a generally positive event. “What really amazed me was the huge crowds of college students who had arranged rallies in support of their candidates,” said Liz Pedraja ’09, president of the College’s Young Democrats. “It showed that this is an election young people are really emotionally invested in and that they are ready for a change.”

p. Obama is expected to win today’s primary. Voting booths in Williamsburg for those eligible open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Williamsburg Community Building on North Boundary Street.

__Law School Dean Taylor Reveley to serve in interim__

p. After 16 months of controversy surrounding College President Gene Nichol’s presidency, the Board of Visitors has decided not to renew his contract.

p. Nichol announced in an e-mail to the College community this morning that he would resign, effective immediately.

p. Nichol said in his e-mail that the Michael Powell, the rector of the College’s Board of Visitors, informed him of the decision Sunday after the Charter Day celebrations.

p. “Appropriately, serving the College in the wake of such a decision is beyond my imagining,” Nichol said. “I have advised the Rector, and announce today, effective immediately, my resignation as president of the College of William and Mary.”

p. Nichol also said that he would return to the College’s law school to resume his career in teaching and writing.

p. He attributed the controversy surrounding his tenure to four presidential decisions — his decision to remove the Wren cross, his refusal to ban the Sex Workers’ Art Show, his support of the College’s Gateway Program and his commitment to the College’s faculty diversity.

p. Nichol also criticized the 16-month campaign against his presidency that has occurred since the removal of the Wren Cross.

p. “A committed, relentless, frequently untruthful campaign — on the internet and in the press — has been waged against me, my wife and my daughters.”

p. He added that the campaign against his tenure “has now been rendered successful. And those same voices will no doubt claim victory today.”

p. Nichol also that the BOV offered his family “substantial economic incentives” if he agreed, in the words of the BOV, “not to characterize [the non-renewal decision] as based on ideological grounds.”

p. In a written statement released this morning, Powell denied the implication that the College attempted to censor Nichol’s reaction to the non-renewal.

p. “It is critical to explain that this decision was not in any way based on ideology or any single public controversy,” Powell said. “To suggest such a motivation for the Board is flatly wrong. Indeed, the Board has been repulsed by the personal attacks on the President and his family. The uncharitable personal assaults are unworthy of anyone who professes to care about the College and there should be no joy when things do not work out between good people.”

p. Powell also announced that the College will immediately begin the search for a new president. He said that the BOV will appoint College Law School Dean W. Taylor Reveley as interim president.

p. The College’s Board of Visitors made no announcement at its meeting Friday morning about the status of College President Gene Nichol’s contract renewal.

p. “All I’ll say is there’s no announcement today,” BOV Rector Michael Powell told The Flat Hat. “I don’t ever want to characterize where we are. It’s just the right way to do it. I’m not going to characterize the future.”

p. Powell also addressed last night’s student rally outside the Muscarelle Museum of Art, which drew more than 400 students, faculty and local citizens in support of Nichol.

p. “Anytime our students want to express themselves in a respectful and thoughtful way, to me that’s their right, and their pride.”

p. Powell said, however, that the BOV — while considerate of large movements — does not simply listen to the loudest voice.

p. “It’s about the complexity of the college’s direction, its leadership, its finances, which is one of our biggest strains,” he said. “We deal with issues, strategies and directions, we don’t add up constituencies. We don’t listen to screaming. We would be an irresponsible board if we were so easily pushed into a decision.”

p. Powell also stressed the technical matters that the BOV must consider in assessing the president.

p. “[The BOV is] the supreme governing body of the College, above the president,” he said. “Do you think the average person knows the financial investment portfolio? Do you think the average person knows what the Real Estate Redevelopment Foundation’s doing in buying real estate so you guys will have a bar to go to in three years?”