The Case of the Coup at UVA

The conspiracy theory floating around last week — that Goldman Sachs and its rich lackeys had engineered a coup at UVA in order to license out the brand to a for-profit education company — has not been verified, but it also hasn’t been debunked. Other rumors have added to the intrigue: That the Board got rid of the president because she refused to cut “obscure” programs like German and Classics or make deep cuts across the board.

Last night the Board of Visitors heard a statement from ousted-President Teresa Sullivan (text here, it’s a great speech, and says basically: I’m good at my job, people love me, and yeah, I’ve been working slowly because this is a university and not a freaking Fortune 500 company). Some 2,000 faculty and students were on the Lawn outside supporting her.

Then the BOV (all appointed by the Governor of Virginia) met behind closed doors for close to 12 hours, adjourning the meeting at 3 a.m. to announce they’d picked an interim president … the Dean of The Commerce School. Most everyone affiliated with UVA is totally up in arms, because it is THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA FOUNDED BY THOMAS JEFFERSON. Sure, rich folks have always been in charge (that’s how the world works!) but until now, the rich folks have mostly supported the mission of the university to be a top-flight academic institution. Not anymore.

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