<p>Here is the excerpt of the article that may addresses the comment from the senator to robertr: </p>
<p>“In considering whether to confirm this reappointment, I put great weight in the judgment of the leadership of the University of Virginia,” Norment said in a statement. “For me, President Sullivan’s remarks to a legislative forum held at the university in December were particularly instructive on what is the best course of action in this circumstance.”</p>
<p>He said it is clear that Sullivan believes it is in the best interests of “the university to move beyond last summer’s controversy.”</p>
<p>Just a heads up that the state legislature is in session right now and bills are passing. There was a vote on our rector.</p>
<p>They passed a redistricting bill that was just introduced a couple hours ago. There was a motion to delay so people could read the bill, but that failed.</p>
<p>I think UVA is better off not re-opening the whole Sullivan/Dragas mess. When in a hole, stop digging.</p>
<p>It would be more useful, imo, to focus the effort on some governance reforms for UVA. Ear-marking a seat for a higher-ed type would be a good idea (like it was a good idea to ear-mark a seat for a med school/MD type). If the BOV had had an esteemed professor or university administrator (especially one not from UVA), I doubt that whole thing would have ever happened in the first place.</p>
<p>I’d also suggest expanding the board or dialing back the number of ear-marks for alumni (12 of 17) and VA residents (also 12 of 17), especially if the Gov continues to appoint all 17. For a national/international institution like UVA, having 15 of 17 BOVs currently be VA residents is pretty restrictive to the pool of potential BOV candidates. That’s how/why gubernatorial campaign contributions are such a big factor now.</p>
<p>89wahoo “The elected officials in Virginia have an obligation or two here. One is to listen to their constituents, and those fall generally in two groups here. Friendsand alumni and students who care about the University and want Dragas gone are one, and the the other is the rest of the people, who could care less.”</p>
<p>You are leaving out a third constituency - - friends and alumni who care about the University and want Dragas to stay. All of the players in the palace coup were UVA alumni so it’s foolish to think that Dragas does not have her supporters (obviously not at UVA but in state politics).</p>
<p>On the same afternoon that this vote occurred, the State Senate took advantage of the fact that a fellow Senator, a 79 year old Democratic veteran of the Civil Rights struggle, was away at the inauguration on MLK Day. They quickly rammed through a surprise extremely gerrymandered re-re-districting map for the Senate that makes it very hard for some key Dems to win re-election. The Charlottesville State Senator now will also represent the North Carolina border.</p>