Former College President Gene Nichol has accepted an offer to teach at the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill School of Law.

p. College spokesperson Brian Whitson released a statement from Interim College President Taylor Reveley Thursday morning, announcing that Nichol and his wife, law professor Glenn George, will return to the Chapel Hill law school faculty.

p. Before becoming president of the College, Nichol had been the dean of the UNC law school, where George was a professor.
Nichol resigned his position as College president Feb. 12, following the Board of Visitors’ decision to not renew his contract.

p. In an interview with the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Matt Marvin, a spokesperson for UNC law school, said that the controversy surrounding Nichol’s resignation did not alarm UNC officials, and that Nichol and George will help “fill gaps” in the UNC faculty.
According to Marvin, Nichol and George will receive tenured positions July 1, following a review.

p. Nichol did not respond to requests for comment.

The College’s Commencement Committee has selected Pittsburgh Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin ’95 to speak at this year’s commencement May 11.

p. “As a young alumnus whose accomplishments belie his age, Mike Tomlin offers an inspiring example for our new graduates, and we look forward to hearing from him,” said College Interim College President Taylor Reveley.

p. Tomlin recently finished his first year as head coach and has already made a name for himself, leading his team to a winning 10-6 season. The Steelers also won a division title and a spot in the playoffs, making Tomlin the second coach in Steelers history to accomplish all three tasks during his first season.

p. At the College, Tomlin started for three years at wide receiver during the 1990-1994 seasons. He was selected for the first-team All-Yankee Conference in 1994 and set schoorecords in both touchdown receptions and yards-per-catch average.

p. “In Mike’s time here at William and Mary, he displayed outstanding character and leadership,” Tribe football Head Coach Jimmye Laycock said. “He had a way of bringing the best out of those who were around him … That he has been able to accomplish so much, so soon, is a great reflection on his intelligence and ability.”

p. Since graduating, Tomlin has coached at Virginia Military Institute, the University of Memphis, Arkansas State University, the University of Cincinnati and most recently spent five seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a defensive coach.

p. Tomlin’s selection as commencement speaker comes atop several renowned candidates, including former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling and comedian Stephen Colbert.

p. During the commencement ceremony, Tomlin is set to receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters. College Chancellor and retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor will offer opening remarks.

__Controversial speaker addresses students, discusses race and natural ability__

p. Jared Taylor, the editor of race issues journal American Renaissance, lectured Thursday night on the weaknesses of American diversity. Taylor was invited to campus by John Kennedy ’08 in what some believe was a response to the Sex Workers’ Art Show.

p. “It is practically the state religion to assume race is a great strength. Some would tell you it is America’s greatest strength,” Taylor began his speech, “but they seldom have concrete examples.”

p. He argued that there were numbers of obvious disadvantages, claiming that everyone from American founders John Jay and Thomas Jefferson to British author George Orwell had realized the true weakness of racial diversification.

p. Taylor’s speech was peppered with historical examples and scientific studies that all point to humanity’s biological predispositions to xenophobia and consequences such as “the other race effect.” He explained this as a human tendency to remember faces of people from their own race better than those of other races as a result of the functioning of the brain.

p. Among the studies he cited was one by Robert Putnam of Harvard University, which examined 41 different communities in the United States and concluded that communities with greater diversity were less likely to carpool.

p. “Carpooling is based on trust — you have to trust that your fellow is going to be there,” Taylor said. “People in these communities were less likely to participate in community events.”

p. Taylor also addressed the economic effects of diversification.

p. “The diversity industry is built on sand. $8 billion a year is spent on diversity training in businesses; if diversity were a great strength, why would diversity management be necessary?”

p. Taylor then turned his attention to the College community, noting that there were 16 organizations on campus “just for blacks.”

p. “Why are there all these organizations? Because black people want their own little Denmarks,” he said, alluding to his previous mention of Denmark’s homogeneity and the country’s consequent successes.

p. “I don’t blame [the black community;] they’re tired of diversity,” he said.

p. In his speech notes, which Taylor gave to The Flat Hat following the discussion, he had written to “conclude with two irreverent remarks.” He stuck to the script, beginning with one about white America.

p. “White Americans are being asked to celebrate diversity. They are effectively being asked to celebrate their dwindling numbers and influence,” Taylor said.

p. He followed this with a remark that, “the purpose of a university education is to educate you about diversity, and give you the means to get as far away from it as possible.”

p. Taylor then opened the floor for questions. Most of the students and faculty he called on refuted his claims with their own evidence, including Dean of Admissions Henry Broaddus.

p. Broaddus asked how Taylor could “cavalierly dismiss an entire body of research,” then went on to list a number of studies from universities such as Princeton University and Tufts University, all of which he said contradicted Taylor’s arguments.

p. When asked how he would define the term racist, Taylor said. “It is essentially name-calling, and I don’t know what the definition would be. It is the most graceless way of admitting loss of an argument.”

p. Kennedy organized the event by himself.

p. “I thought it would be interesting to introduce a completely different view on [diversity], and to see if I could get funding, too,” he said.

p. Regardless, Kennedy has been criticized for his motives.

p. “It’s most definitely a reaction to the Sex Workers’ Art Show.” Sen. Ray Ciabattoni ’10 said. “[Kennedy is] a noted conservative on campus, and it’s purely in spite of the Student Assembly’s attempt to bring a more diverse thing. That’s his way of snubbing his nose at the campus community,” Ciabattoni pointed out that Kennedy allegedly withdrew funding from the SA when he saw that there was support for it, and he was not going to get “shock value.”

p. “It goes to show that he really didn’t want to promote a diverse campus, he wanted to support his own agenda,” Ciabattoni said.
Kennedy claims that he did not apply because he picked up the wrong form.

p. “I am still hoping they will give a check to Mr. Taylor for coming,” he said.

While diversity has increased at the College since the 1960s, it has come with struggle.

p. Oscar Blayton became the first black undergraduate student at the College when he enrolled in 1963.

p. The circumstances under which he enrolled were unusual.

p. “I had not actually planned to go to William and Mary. I had already paid my room deposit at Howard University in the summer of ’63 and had planned to attend Howard,” Blayton said. “However, I did not have a job during the summer of ’63 and with time on my hands, I decided to engage in some mischief one day. I knew that William and Mary had a policy of not admitting African Americans because my sister had tried to attend a summer session a few years earlier and had been denied admittance in a one-sentence letter that informed her simply that William and Mary did not admit ‘negroes.’”

p. With this knowledge, Blayton paid an unannounced visit to the Dean of Admissions, then Robert Hunt. Blayton playfully demanded that he be considered for enrollment, offering Hunt his SAT scores and high school transcript. The dean listened to him for a few minutes, then eventually escorted Blayton out of his office.

p. Blayton left feeling triumphant.

p. “I did not think that he would consider admitting me — I just wanted to give him a hard time,” he said. “I had accomplished what I had set out to do — that is, hassle a segregated institution.”
Blayton was surprised when, weeks later, Hunt called and asked him to bring his parents to his office. However, Blayton felt the dean’s change of heart was not completely venerable.

p. “I was watching the television during the day and there was a live broadcast of [Alabama] Governor George Wallace standing in the doorway of the University of Alabama building and refusing to allow an African-American woman to enter,” Blayton said.

p. During this infamous event, U.S. Attorney General Nicholas Katzenbach read a statement to Wallace that had been prepared by President John F. Kennedy. The statement reminded Wallace that public universities could only receive funding if they desegregated.

p. “While this discussion was taking place on television the phone rang in my home and it was Dean Hunt on the line,” Blayton said.
Hunt met with Blayton and his parents and told them that the College would accept Blayton if he agreed to live off campus. Blayton accepted his offer.

p. “The only reason I agreed to attend William and Mary was to end segregation there,” he said.

p. Blayton said his experiences at the College were challenging.
“While many of the students and faculty at William and Mary were polite to me, many were not,” he said. “The President of the College, Davis Y. Pascall, never spoke to me during the two years that I was there, and it is my recollection that he would turn his head and ignore me whenever we happened to pass each other on campus.”

p. Blayton later joined the football team in order to make friends and, for the most part, his teammates were friendly. However, unbeknownst to him, the football coaches of the freshmen team went to visit his father. They told him that Blayton should quit the football team because some of the varsity players planned to injure him during scrimmages. Blayton’s father said that his son “would be okay.”

p. Blayton’s experiences at the College ended when he was put on academic probation and suspended for two semesters.

p. “During that period of probation, I was drafted into the Marine Corps,” Blayton said. “I became a carrier-qualified combat pilot in the Marine Corps and wound up staying for six years before returning to college as a full time student at the University of Maryland.”

p. Years later, Blayton still harbors doubts about the College’s efforts to increase diversity.

p. “My time spent at William and Mary was one of the most unpleasant experiences in my life … [and] the fact that President Nichol has been driven from office is evidence to me that the College is still a place of intolerance with very little interest in diversity.”

p. Thursday, Feb. 28, a panel entitled “A 315 Year Endeavor: The State of Diversity at the College of William & Mary” was held at the University Center. The six panelists were Board of Visitors members Kathy Hornsby ’79 and John Charles Thomas; English Professor Terry Meyers; Norfolk State University history Professor Cassandra Newby-Alexander Ph.D. ’92; religious studies Professor Tamara Sonn; and Hulon Willis Jr., a College alumnus and the son of Willis Sr,, who in 1956 was the first graduate student at the College. The purpose of the forum, according to mediator Ashley Shuler ’08, was to “explore issues of diversity in the context of the College of William and Mary.”

p. One attendee asked the panelists to define diversity. Sonn said that diversity is not merely tolerance of those who are different, but acceptance of those who are different and the realization that everyone can “benefit from diversity.” Newby-Alexander defined diversity as “shared ownership” of the College — students must not see those from different backgrounds as “unwelcome visitors.”
The two BOV members repeatedly stated that they supported diversity on campus. However, Thomas also said that students played a key role in increasing diversity.

p. “I think much of what happens here has to do with the student … that’s what this is about. When the other students come here, that’s when the rubber meets the road,” he said. “We don’t know what happens in the dorms. We don’t know what happens in the University Center. You guys know what happens here. So, in your hearts, if you want your school to be diverse and be open, you have to be diverse and open when you greet new students coming here. I think that’s what I see here. But a lot rests in your hands.”

p. His view was echoed by many of the panelists.

p. “If you have a core group of dedicated people who want to see change, who are determined to effect change, there is nothing you can do stop that core group of people,” Newby-Alexander said. “And, unfortunately, the majority of people are followers, not leaders. They need a voice to tell them where to go, how to get there, what will be there when they arrive. So far, that voice of diversity is not as loud as the voice fearing diversity. And I would say get loud. Get organized. Get determined.”

Last Monday at 11 a.m., a small fire started in a utility room in the Chi Omega sorority house, located in Sorority Court. Alerted by the fire alarm, Susan O’Shaughnessy ’08, the only student in the house over spring break, left and called 911 before the fire spread.

p. Vice President of Student Affairs Sam Sadler said that the cause of the fire was probably electrical.

p. O’Shaughnessy said when the fire alarm went off, she left through the back door and noticed smoke coming from behind the refrigerator. Outside the house, she saw more smoke billowing out from cracks in the siding.

p. O’Shaughnessy and several housekeepers called 911, and emergency responders arrived promptly. In an e-mail to students, Sadler attributed the quick response to an upgrade in the fire alarm system, which immediately notified Campus Police of the fire.

p. “It wasn’t a huge fire, but once the firemen started chopping into the wall I could see the flames in the insulation they pulled out,” O’Shaughnessy said.

p. Sadler, Interim College President Taylor Reveley and members of the Residence Life staff turned out to make sure the situation was under control and that no students were injured.

p. O’Shaughnessy was offered other places to stay while the house was cleaned and repaired. All damage was fixed by Sunday.

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner addressed business ethics, policy challenges, and the world of non-profits in a speech at the Commonwealth Auditorium Wednesday. The speech was sponsored by the Mason School of Business.

p. Warner started his speech with a description of how he learned business ethics and the importance of persistence in the managerial world. He highlighted one tenet of American capitalism that allowed him to succeed as the co-founder of Nextel Communications: competition.

p. “I think sometimes in America, we take for granted what I think is the most unique American value that makes our country better than almost any place in the world, the basic premise that you ought to get a fair shot,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we can guarantee you success, but you ought to get a fair shot.”

p. “I would make the case that one of the areas in our society … that has the most potential to be an increasingly powerful force in peoples’ lives is the non-profit sector,” he said.

p. Yet, as a policy maker himself, Warner also cited problems in the non-profit world.

p. “The challenge in the non-profit sector is often to try to get non-profits to collaborate together,” he said. “It’s a heck of a lot easier to get Democrats and Republicans to work together than it is to get foundations to work together.”

p. Another challenge for the national government as a whole, Warner said, is its inability to grasp an equal footing between spending on oil and the war and taxing, which was beleaguering the nation.

p. The lecture had many moments of humor and laughter over past experiences gone wrong. One such instance was the John Warner versus Mark Warner campaign of 1996 in which bumper stickers were made to tell the two candidates apart.

p. “Back in 1996, my name being Mark Warner managed to confuse the hell out of everyone,” he said. “Our one great idea was a bumper sticker that said ‘Mark, Not John’ and more often than one time, people would [ask] ‘Is that bumper sticker a biblical reference?’ Welcome to the real Virginia.”