Board of Visitors' Meeting

Last Thursday, in a packed meeting room with an overflow crowd, the William and Mary Board of Visitors showed its true colors. In the hour devoted to presentations on the Wren Cross issue, a mere ten minutes were allocated to supporters of the Cross. The remaining fifty minutes was a grand concoction of angry accusations, angry faculty, and an even angrier minister of faith, who blatantly called supporters hypocrites spending too much time on a “decorative piece of furniture” and not on doing good works.

The OCU’s assertion that political outsiders have invaded the College through the Save the Wren Cross organization is ludicrous and implies that they couldn’t possibly have a thought in their collective heads that the Great Newt did not put there. Putting aside that pesky First Amendment issue of free speech guaranteed to everyone, including private citizen Mr. Gingrich, every newspaper and magazine article, phone call, radio interview, and protest has arisen from the alumni in general or the public at large. That Vince Haley happens to be employed by an agency of Mr. Gingrich’s is irrelevant to the petition and the concerns of Save the Wren Cross. All the faculty happen to be employed by Gene Nichol – does that make them puppets of his secular philosophy? Gene Nichol is a political outsider, not an alum; has he invaded the College as well?

Without belaboring a point already made repeatedly in the papers, the Faculty petition is flawed, not because I don’t believe everyone who signed it is sincere, but because the very venue is flawed. No one who has ever worked in education or in a corporation of any kind can say with a straight face that hierarchy doesn’t matter. It may not be in the Faculty Handbook, but the fear of losing a job, of angering your boss, of being seen as Not A Team Player is real enough for most people, but especially non-tenured folk. So while the signers may be sincere, there is no way for us to know that for certain based on the environment under which the petition was offered. That fact alone voids the petition.

Hollerith must have a crystal ball up there on that pulpit at Bruton because there is no other way for him to have the power to see into 15,000 calendars, souls, and wallets well enough to determine what we do with the sum of our time, talent and treasure. That a portion of our gifts are used to remind the College and taxpayers of Virginia that the foundations of the school are Christian and that a 300-year-old Chapel should have a cross on display as it has been for 70 years is our choice and Hollerith’s blunder. His arrogance was palpable. His disdain for Cross supporters venomous.

The Commission that the Board created is also lopsided. With a panel comprised of only one Cross supporter and twelve others, is there anyone in Virginia who doesn’t know what the “recommendation” will be in April? This is not remotely fair or unbiased. Since it has a broadly based topic, Religion in the University Setting, I predict that not only will the Commission rule in favor of Nichol’s secular vision for the cross but will endorse a name change for the Chapel as well. My guess: The Wren Annex. The Board of Visitors will slap them on the back and be glad.

And you don’t need a crystal ball to see that.

Karla Kraynak Bruno
Class of 1981 and 1992
James City County